Question: I Have A Cat That Will Be 16 Next Month. She Was Never The Most Active Cat, And Always Teneded To Be Overweight. 3 Years Ago, She Had An Overactive Thyroid So She Lost A Few Pounds, But By The Time I Got Her To The Vet(they Only Gave Her Thyroid Meduicine), She Went Blind The Very Next Week. I Brought Her Back To The Vet, They Put Her On High Blood Pressure And After A Week She Regained Her Sight(an I Switched Vets As Well). After A Week Or So, I Took Her To A Specialist Who Injectied Her With A Radioactive Pill Her Hyperthyroidism. I Gave Them Speificic Instructions To Keep Giving Her The High Blodd Pressure Medicine. When I Picked Her Up 6 Days Later, She Was Blind Again Beciause They Had Failed To Give Her The Medicine For The Past 2 Or 3 Days(so They Said...they Might Have Never Given It To Her). A Mix Up With Comunication With The Staff...so They Said. Since She Was Radioactive, I Was Not Allowed To Visit Her. So When I Picked Her Up, She Was Bling, And I Gave Her Siouble Dosages Of Teh Blood Pressure Medicine, But About 2 Weeks Latwer, She Lost Her Sight Agai And It Never Came Back. Since That Time, It Seems That She Gets Bladder Infections(blood In Urine, Excessive Thirstiness, Plus Excessive Wrination..litter Box Is Filty After A 1/2 Day) Quite Frequently. They Used To Come Every 6 Months, But The Past Year She Has Been Getting Them About Once Every 2 Months! She Has Been Getting Blood Tests Every 6 Months. They Kept Telling Me She Is Okay, Except For The Frequent Blood In Using. Since I Last Had Her Blood Tested(on This Past Christmas Eve), My Cat Had Been Losing Weight(she Tends To Throw Up...not Every Day...once Every 5 Days Or So...but When She Does It's A Lot!). So I Brought Her Back To The Vet(the Vet I Was Going To Left The Practice, So I Went To Another Vet At The Same Practice...it's A Very Large Practice With A Lot Of Specialists). She Had My Cat Get An X-ray, But She Said That Was Okay And Now I Should Get A Sonogram For Her. I Really Do Not Knwo Whet That Will Tell Her. I Am More Worried About Disabetes. So Her Main Problems Are Chronic Blood In Urine(and When This Happens She Has Massive Amounts Of Urine And Is Alsways Thirsty) And Wiiegt Loss(which Sems To Have Stabalized But She Has Lost A Lot Of Muscle Mass). Before I Went To The Vet The Last Time, This Is The Note That The New Vet Sent To Me When I Called Up To Say That The Cat Had Been Losing Weight: I Was Reviewing Autumn's Hx And It Looks Like The Areas Of Concern Have Been The Liver And The Kidneys/urinary Tract. While The Lab Values Are Not That Abnormal, It Doesn't Always Correlate With Clinical Signs. I Would Suggest Xrays And Possibly An Ultrasound. I Always Want To Rule Out Cancers In The Older Cats -especially When The Lab Work Is Ok. There Are Certainly Appetite Stimulants That We Can Try But We Are Not Addressing The Reason For The Poor Appetite. Whatever You Would Like To Do Is Fine. I Know Autumn Is A Senior Citizen But I Still Want To Be Sure You Have Allof Your Options. So My Questin Is...what Is The Best Treatment For Her? Should She Be Getting A Sonogram? By The Way, She Has Another Bladder Infection...the Last One Just Cleared Up Last Month...so She Is On Antibiotics Again.
Answer: I Think The Ultrasound Is Good Idea As Noninvasive Test Which Can Sometimes Give Useful Information. You Should Probably Realize That Fus Or Feline Urologic Syndrome Is One Of Biggest Failures Of Modern Conventional Allopathic Medicine. In My Opinion, Holistic Vets Do Much Better Job On These Cases Although They Can Be Difficult. I Would Learn More About Holistic Vet Care In Pet This Age By Seeing Book The New Natural Cat By Anitra Frazier Which You Can Get At Amazon Or Dr Pitcairns Guide To Natural Health For Dogs And Cats By Richard Pitcairn, Dvm, Phd. Also See Www.theavh.org For List Of Homeopathic Vets In Your State. I Think Cats At This Age Dont Respond That Well To The Polypharmacy Approach And I Would Explore Holistic Options Or At Least Learn More. |
