| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 496.1 | | DELNI::MANDILE | Toepick! | Tue Feb 09 1993 11:32 | 15 |
| My mom's Burmese is about the same age. He also has gone
the thin route. My mom's other Burmese did the same thing.
He hit 13-14, and got really thin. He was 16 when he had to
be put to sleep.....
I think it is safe to say this may be a trait of the aging
process for Burmese. He eats well, and other than the seeking
out of warm places, is fine. No fat makes him seek out heat.
When you have no padding, being picked up could cause discomfort.
Same with petting along the spine. Just be extra gentle when picking
her up....
Since she is going to the vet, mention the vomiting and etc. This
could be signs of an illness, or that she was just unhappy that the
litterbox was moved....
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| 496.2 | THYROID CONDITION? | MKOTS1::PASKALEY | | Tue Feb 09 1993 11:33 | 20 |
| From your description and the age of Neely it sounds like she might
have an over active thyroid. It is very common in older cats and very
easily treatable with daily thyroid medication. When you take her to
the vets (and I do it sooner than later) have the vet do a "geriatric"
workup which should include a kidney profile as well.
As far as her litter habits, as cats get older they take less and less
to change in their environment. You might want to put the box back in
its original place and see what happens. I would also be concerned
about her litter habits combined with her throwing up. It could just
be a virus or it could be something a bit more serious. Again, I think
a trip to the vet is warranted.
My cat is 18 yesrs old and had kidney problems as well as a thyroid
condition. Maintaining her on a low protein (8% or less) wet food (no
dry at all - vet's advice) and daily thyroid medication and she's fine.
Good luck and let us know what the vet says.
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| 496.3 | | CHEEKO::BARLOW | i THINK i can, i THINK i can... | Thu Feb 11 1993 15:26 | 33 |
|
A couple of ideas. Did the vet check her stool for parasites?
That could really mess up her weight. And if she's dangerously
thin, then maybe moving a distance to go to the bathroom was too
much for her thin body to take. I think you made a wise choice
moving the litter box after she urinated on the pillow.
My first cat lived to be 20 years old. Neely is not that old
so I wouldn't give up hope yet. On the other hand, if she
is incontinent then your friend will have some hard decisions to
make. If Neely is in constant pain, then your friend will also have
a hard decision to make but in a sense, she shouldn't feel guilt
about it. It's hard to part with a loved one but death is not
always a bad thing for the one dying. I have heard of many people
who decide that it's time to die and then they go. I am quite
sure that animals do the same. I'm sure if Neely has decided that
she is not happy living and she needs a rest, your friend will only
be aiding Neely towards Neely's own choice. I haven't said this
very well. I guess what I'm getting at is that it could be that
Neely's urinating on the pillow was a way to impress her condition on
her owner; or a way to make your friend aware that Neely is unhappy.
Hopefully, the vet will find an easily solvable problem and all this
death-stuff will be irrelevant.
Rachael
PS: I hope I stated things kindly. I don't mean to upset you.
I'm just trying to give you and your friend a different paradigm
to view the situation through, should you need to.
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| 496.4 | NEELY | DELNI::PIERCE | | Tue Mar 02 1993 17:05 | 23 |
| THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO MY 12 YEAR OLD LAST SUMMER - AT HER
YEARLY CHECK-UP THE VET NOTICED A DRAMATIC WEIGHT LOSS. ENDED UP
IT WAS A HYPERACTIVE THROID. THEY DREW BLOOD AND DID TESTS TO CONFIRM
IT (BLOOD WAS SEND TO TUF).
THEY TRIED MEDICATION BUT IT DIDN'T WORK - THE LEVELS THEY CHECK
DIDN'T IMPROVE AS THEY HAD HOPED. SO SHE HAD ONE THYROID REMOVED.
SHE IS IN GREAT SHAPE NOW - STILL A LITTLE THIN BUT GREATLY IMPROVED
FROM BEFORE THE OPERATION. THE VET SAYS SHE IS IN EXCELLENT SHAPE
FOR AN OLDER CAT.
THE THYROID PROBLEM IS QUITE COMMON IN OLDER CATS. HAVE THE VET CHECK
FOR IT - IF THIS IS THE PROBLEM AND YOU'RE LUCKY - IT WILL BE TREATABLE
WITH DAILY MEDICATION (TINY LITTLE PILLS WHICH ARE EASY TO GET DOWN
THE THROAT). THE PILLS DIDN'T WORK ON GLORIA SO MY "ONLY" OPTION
WAS TO HAVE THE OPERATION. SHE CAME THROUGH IT WITH FLYING COLORS
(ALTHOUGH SHE DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ME FOR ABOUT
A MONTH AFTERWARDS!).
PLEASE TELL YOUR HOUSEMATE TO HAVE THIS CHECKED ASAP. IF IT'S
THE THYROID, IT'S EASILY REMEDIED!
PLEASE KEEP US UPDATED!
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| 496.5 | update | FSOA::DJANCAITIS | New Year, NEW ME !! | Mon Mar 22 1993 11:58 | 25 |
| Finally have a chance to put in a brief update on Neely......
Visit to the vet was helpful......basically, his opinion is that
she does not have a thyroid condition, mainly because she isn't
exhibiting some of the other "key" symptoms...however, she does have
very small kidneys and he said that she may be starting to have problems
in that area.
What was decided was to first, try to build her up by changing food to
the vet's K/D canned & dry - he also said to feed her the dry in smaller
allotments, that part of the vomitting might just be eating too much too
fast. After awhile on the K/D, we'll have her re-evaluated and, at that
time, if she's still not putting on weight or losing more, the vet will
draw blood for both kidney & thyroid tests. He didn't want to do it
at this visit because she is so underweight - the vet said she should
weight 8 pounds +/- and she weighed in at **just about 6 pounds ** !
The good news is that, so far, she seems to *like* the new food (she
can be a really picky eater), so we're in the wait&see routine for now.
We're also being really careful to keep the other kitty OUT of the food
and water so we can more closely monitor what she's eating & drinking.....
Keep your fingers crossed and thanks for the support so far !
Debbi, Ginny & the gang
|
| 496.6 | update on Neely - news is not good | FSOA::DJANCAITIS | stressful waiting | Wed Jul 28 1993 10:46 | 35 |
| Update on Neely - the news isn't good - we brought her back to the vet
last week - I had to take Peanut in for his yearly shots, Missy to be
checked so we asked if we could get Neely in at the same time....
She's down to 5-1/2 pounds, another 1/2 pound down from the last visit.
The vet checked her over throughly and suggested drawing blood for
a complete profile - Neely never even moved while they tried to draw
the blood and it took quite a while, coming *very* slowly.........
Ginny, Neely's mom, called the vet's yesterday for the results - Neely
has the beginnings of KIDNEY DISEASE - we're putting her back on the
K/D food but in order to do this, have to move her into Ginny's bedroom
during the day so the other cats can be prevented from getting into her
food - the two little girls (Missy & Patches) LOVE the K/D but the vet
said it's very *bad* for them to be eating it (still too young and need
higher protein).........Neely HATES being moved, seems to hurt her when
she's picked up so it's not a fun routine but a necessary one............
Ginny's going to try to get her to eat more of the K/D and have her
rechecked in a month - the vet says if things don't improve by then, if
she continues with the vomiting, etc., they could try an IV-Flush (?)
but Ginny doesn't want to put Neely through any more pain.............
It's really hard to watch Ginny going through this, it's hard for her
knowing that the end may be near, so any words of support, advice,
comfort you could provide would be most welcome....for me, what can I
do to make it easier for her, what can I say/do to support her thru
this ? For both of us, if things don't improve, what should we expect,
how long can Neely go on ? and .....if you want to write to Ginny
directly (she's not a noter in this file usually), you can send to
WMOIS::CHAMBERLAINV.
Sadly,
Debbi J
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