Kitty woes
Took Schmendrick back to the vet yesterday. The appointment was at 2:30, so I came home from work early, and he already seemed perkier (I hadn't given him any methimazole since Tuesday morning), and it looked like he'd eaten a bit. He was still a bit off, though-- after I put him into the carrier, he didn't start mewing until we pulled into the vet's parking lot, and normally he complains the entire time. Also, he normally wanders around the exam room exploring, but this time, once the vet had finished examining him, he just went under a chair and hid.
He weighed 10.7 lbs, which means he's lost almost half a pound since the last visit a couple weeks ago, which is almost certainly because he's barely kept any food down for the last 5 days. But the vet said his hydration and color were good, so no systemic drug reaction and no liver issues (I was really worried about the latter.) The vet agreed with me that it was probably the oral methimazole that was making him so sick, and that it was pretty obvious that we should switch him to the ear gel version of the thyroid meds, since it won't interfere with his digestive system. We also talked about the radioactive iodine treatment; while it is pricey (around $1000 at the clinic that does it in Springfield, though I heard quotes that were double that from my vet friend in Bloomington, so I guess our local rate is cheap by comparison), it's also the gold standard for treating hyperthyroidism in cats, and once it's done they usually don't have to be medicated anymore. I told him I was interested in pursuing that, but not till after the holidays, and not till he's stabilized a bit-- in his current state, I don't want to send him off to have some stressful experience where he has to be quarantined for almost a week. My vet says they schedule those treatments at least a month in advance anyway, but he agreed that it would be good to try the ear gel, see if we can get Schmendrick's weight back up, and test his T4 levels in a month before moving forward with Operation:Radioactive Cat.
So all of that was reassuring, and my vet didn't seem like "OMG, EMERGENCY INTERVENTION, STAT!!!" (which was more like my inner monologue.) So I drove up to Portland and went to dance class with RB at Datura (it was awesome, by the way), and got home around midnight, where I found that Schmendrick hadn't eaten any more food, and had thrown up again. Since his belly was empty, it was just liquid, but it had kind of weird pinkish color. As I was mopping it up with paper towels, I looked at the damp spots in the paper towels and noticed they were flecked with blood. D: I suspect his poor stomach (or maybe esophagus) is just so irritated at this point that that's why, but it did cause me a freakout. Debating whether to call the vet back, or see if it was a one-time thing. When I got up this morning, he seemed to be feeling bad again and hadn't eaten anything overnight (though he slept next to me all night, and when I got up I discovered that the furnace had switched itself off at some point and had to be reset, so it was pretty chilly in the house... so perhaps he wanted warmth more than food, especially now that he doesn't have lots of extra padding anymore.)
I guess I'll see how he's doing tonight when I get home, and if the vomiting blood thing seems to get worse, I'll call the vet's office.
I just want my handsome cat to feel better. Isn't there any kind of anti-emetic for cats? If we have medicine to make children stop feeling nauseated and not throw up, why can't there be something similar for pets?
He weighed 10.7 lbs, which means he's lost almost half a pound since the last visit a couple weeks ago, which is almost certainly because he's barely kept any food down for the last 5 days. But the vet said his hydration and color were good, so no systemic drug reaction and no liver issues (I was really worried about the latter.) The vet agreed with me that it was probably the oral methimazole that was making him so sick, and that it was pretty obvious that we should switch him to the ear gel version of the thyroid meds, since it won't interfere with his digestive system. We also talked about the radioactive iodine treatment; while it is pricey (around $1000 at the clinic that does it in Springfield, though I heard quotes that were double that from my vet friend in Bloomington, so I guess our local rate is cheap by comparison), it's also the gold standard for treating hyperthyroidism in cats, and once it's done they usually don't have to be medicated anymore. I told him I was interested in pursuing that, but not till after the holidays, and not till he's stabilized a bit-- in his current state, I don't want to send him off to have some stressful experience where he has to be quarantined for almost a week. My vet says they schedule those treatments at least a month in advance anyway, but he agreed that it would be good to try the ear gel, see if we can get Schmendrick's weight back up, and test his T4 levels in a month before moving forward with Operation:Radioactive Cat.
So all of that was reassuring, and my vet didn't seem like "OMG, EMERGENCY INTERVENTION, STAT!!!" (which was more like my inner monologue.) So I drove up to Portland and went to dance class with RB at Datura (it was awesome, by the way), and got home around midnight, where I found that Schmendrick hadn't eaten any more food, and had thrown up again. Since his belly was empty, it was just liquid, but it had kind of weird pinkish color. As I was mopping it up with paper towels, I looked at the damp spots in the paper towels and noticed they were flecked with blood. D: I suspect his poor stomach (or maybe esophagus) is just so irritated at this point that that's why, but it did cause me a freakout. Debating whether to call the vet back, or see if it was a one-time thing. When I got up this morning, he seemed to be feeling bad again and hadn't eaten anything overnight (though he slept next to me all night, and when I got up I discovered that the furnace had switched itself off at some point and had to be reset, so it was pretty chilly in the house... so perhaps he wanted warmth more than food, especially now that he doesn't have lots of extra padding anymore.)
I guess I'll see how he's doing tonight when I get home, and if the vomiting blood thing seems to get worse, I'll call the vet's office.
I just want my handsome cat to feel better. Isn't there any kind of anti-emetic for cats? If we have medicine to make children stop feeling nauseated and not throw up, why can't there be something similar for pets?