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scary news
Nov. 29th, 2006 04:23 pmDaddy-O has been losing weight the last few months, and when i realized last week that he actually weighed less than Iceberg Slim, i got really worried. he saw the vet yesterday, and this morning we got back the results of his blood tests.
he's got a severe case of hyperthyroidism, which is probably the cause of the heart murmur and definitely the reason he's lost weight. this would ordinarily be best treated with radioactive iodine, but he also has some minor kidney dysfunction. that rules out radiation treatment, so he'll be needing surgery to remove the enlarged thyroid. before we can do that, however, he needs to get thyroid and heart medication for a couple of weeks to see how things stabilize.
it turns out that the hyperthyroidism minimizes the effects of the kidney dysfunction, because the increased metabolic rate makes his blood pump through his kidneys more often -- meaning that there are more waste products in his blood and less in his urine. when he takes the thyroid medicine, his heart rate will slow down. that won't make the kidney disease worse, per se -- but it will cause its full effects to hit him. so we need to wait and see what happens before we do anything.
he doesn't seem sick, mind you. other than being more anxious than he used to be -- which is also a symptom of the hyperthyroidism, apparently -- he behaves exactly as usual. but i can feel his ribs, and his little heart thumping away in doubletime, and it's scaring the crap out of me. i've been afraid to ask how this will impact his lifespan, but at 15 he's already 76 in cat years, which is pretty damn old.
i'm trying really hard not to think about it.
he's got a severe case of hyperthyroidism, which is probably the cause of the heart murmur and definitely the reason he's lost weight. this would ordinarily be best treated with radioactive iodine, but he also has some minor kidney dysfunction. that rules out radiation treatment, so he'll be needing surgery to remove the enlarged thyroid. before we can do that, however, he needs to get thyroid and heart medication for a couple of weeks to see how things stabilize.
it turns out that the hyperthyroidism minimizes the effects of the kidney dysfunction, because the increased metabolic rate makes his blood pump through his kidneys more often -- meaning that there are more waste products in his blood and less in his urine. when he takes the thyroid medicine, his heart rate will slow down. that won't make the kidney disease worse, per se -- but it will cause its full effects to hit him. so we need to wait and see what happens before we do anything.
he doesn't seem sick, mind you. other than being more anxious than he used to be -- which is also a symptom of the hyperthyroidism, apparently -- he behaves exactly as usual. but i can feel his ribs, and his little heart thumping away in doubletime, and it's scaring the crap out of me. i've been afraid to ask how this will impact his lifespan, but at 15 he's already 76 in cat years, which is pretty damn old.
i'm trying really hard not to think about it.
