Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Buddy's health update

Buddy keeps losing weight, even after starting his thyroid medication. He's lost nearly half a pound in a month, and the poor guy doesn't have much more to loose, he's pretty frail. I took him in last Friday for a followup so we could see if we had the right thyroid medication dose. The blood work results indicated his thyroid and kidney values are both good. Yea!


The vet listened to his heart and heard a murmur. This is new. She's now suspecting he might have heart disease - probably cuz he insists on only eating junk food! He'll only eat Friskies! We've tried all sorts of fancy, expensive, high end wet food and he refuses to eat any of it! Friskies and only Friskies! So, now Friskies lovin Buddy has got a referral to visit the cardiologist, for an ultrasound and further diagnostics. I'm incredibly thankful that Buddy's got good kitty health insurance. Buddy, you are worrying me.

12 comments:

  1. Lots of purrs and purrayers to Buddy. We know he'll get the best care possible, though we have our paws crossed there's nothing seriously wrong with his heart.

    As for eating only junk food, I have a similar situation with Derry, though he'll eat some mid-level canned too. I tend to think it has more to do with genetics, however...How many times do we hear about a 20-year old cat who ate only grocery store dry cat food all his/her life? My coworker feeds raw (makes her own) to her cats and she lost two last year, one to CRF and one to cancer, nothing to do with the food.

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  2. Get well soon, Buddy! When we switched our kibble-lovin' kitties to wet food, Angel refused to eat it. Actually, she didn't recognize it as food! So, we sprinkled grated parmesan cheese on top, and she got to licking...and ate some canned food! Yay! After that, we slowly reduced the amount of cheese, and now of course we don't use it at all. You can also try brewer's yeast (nutritional yeast)...it has a smell like kibble, so Buddy may be attracted to it, then get some wet food on his lips, and hopefully keep on eating! Good luck!

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  3. sending purrs to you and Buddy....we hope it isn't anything serious.

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  4. Purrs, prayers and hugs to dear Buddy from all of us.

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  5. Oh Buddy, Honey, please...let the Vet find the right thing for you. You are scaring your daddy.

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  6. We hope Buddy's condition turns out OK. We just went through this with Mr Jinx and all of his tests came out OK. So we didn't know what to do with his problem his problem with weight loss. So the Vet suggested giving him an extra meal of kitten food. Guess what? In a month he gained a pound and seems to be OK. I hope that Buddy's case is as simple as Mr Jinx's turned out.

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  7. Oh no, it's a little scary when our babies aren't well. I think Charlie is doing well with his Thyroid meds but he seems to have lost weight also. I'll be taking him back for another check up soon. Purrs and hugs for you and Buddy!
    Linda

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  8. We are sending Buddy lots of healing purrs.

    XOXO

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  9. Sammy lost weight the first couple of months on his thyroid meds but he's "stabilized" now.....we think part of that might be due to the fact he gets his thyroid pill crushed up in strawberry yogurt every morning which he adores but no doubt is putting weight back on. Anyway, hopefully Buddy will stop losing weight as well. Sam also has a slight murmer but his vet doesn't think it's anything to worry about at his age (almost 15). Sending PURRS for Buddy...........

    Hugs, Pam (Mom of Sammy)

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  10. Sending lots of thoughts and purrs for Buddy and yourself!

    That sense of powerlessness to help your furry babies when they are ailing is one of the worst feelings there is. My 21-year-old Rosie is not hyperthyroid, but she is frequently checked for it as she has renal disease and the two often go hand-in-hand. Also, Rosie has a heart murmur, and she has had it for years now. Hers has so far proved benign, as is the case with some cats, but we continue to monitor it nonetheless.

    Although I am certainly no veterinarian and can offer no true information on Buddy's case, I do want to throw out there that for a couple of years not long ago I worked at a feline specialty clinic and one thing I learned there is that a lot of cats with hyperthyroidism develop heart murmurs (and some develop what's called a gallop rhythm or other various abnormalities of the heart). During my time at that cat clinic, there were numerous cases in which once the cat started on methimazole and became better stabilized, the heart abnormalities improved or in some cases disappeared altogether.

    Of course, as you already know, there is still the chance that Buddy does have true cardiac disease. But luckily, since you have a visit with a cardiologist today, your waiting game and uncertainty can end.

    I hope you receive good news today for Buddy! But one last thought I want to leave with you is this: Please don't lose hope even if you find out that Buddy does have cardiac disease. There are a number of medications that can be tried for any number of cardiac diseases. And also remember that just as with humans, no one can put an expiration date on your cat. There was a time when because of my Rosie's renal disease and a scare with pancreatitis and hepatitis that I was told I would likely not have much longer with Rosie. That was over two years ago and she's still going strong.

    I apologize for this novel-length comment, but it's hard not to become passionate about our furry babies. I wish you and Buddy the best!

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  11. sending tons of purrs and prayers to Buddy. I don't think the food has anything to do with the murmur. I think it is just genetic. My Angel Bobo had one too, he ate anything and everything....hoping all goes well!

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  12. Thank god for insurance!! Don't you wish cats could just speak English and tell us what's up?! It's so hard not knowing.

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