Kitty is feeling better.
Mar. 28th, 2003 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elbalesThanks, you guys, for the support. It helped.
She was shocky when I got her to the vet on Tuesday; her temp was down from a normal of 101F to a not-so-good 97F. They stuck her on a heating pad all day. That was probably the only thing she liked about the entire visit. When we went back for a follow-up visit on Wednesday, she went into a withdrawn state, clearly telegraphing "I'm not here; I'm just going to curl up now and not look at anyone, and that means I'm not here, right?" Poor kitty.
Her thyroid gland is still healing from the radioactive iodine that killed the fatty tumors she had. So the gland is now *under* producing T4, which leads an overall slowdown in the metabolism (including kidneys, which 'means more waste products in the blood), and to anemia (insufficient signals to the bone marrow to make red blood cells). My, the things you learn about mammalian metabolism when you own a cat... I'm giving her T4 pills and every-other-day injections of a drug that promotes production of red blood cells. Fun fun. She gives me that accusing "But you said we were DONE with pills!" look every time.
She is well enough to run around the apartment chasing (and being chased by) the other cat. I'm petting her more, because I got a pretty rude reminder that I will not have her around for too many more years and I'd better enjoy her while I can. The other cat is jealous. ^_^
She was shocky when I got her to the vet on Tuesday; her temp was down from a normal of 101F to a not-so-good 97F. They stuck her on a heating pad all day. That was probably the only thing she liked about the entire visit. When we went back for a follow-up visit on Wednesday, she went into a withdrawn state, clearly telegraphing "I'm not here; I'm just going to curl up now and not look at anyone, and that means I'm not here, right?" Poor kitty.
Her thyroid gland is still healing from the radioactive iodine that killed the fatty tumors she had. So the gland is now *under* producing T4, which leads an overall slowdown in the metabolism (including kidneys, which 'means more waste products in the blood), and to anemia (insufficient signals to the bone marrow to make red blood cells). My, the things you learn about mammalian metabolism when you own a cat... I'm giving her T4 pills and every-other-day injections of a drug that promotes production of red blood cells. Fun fun. She gives me that accusing "But you said we were DONE with pills!" look every time.
She is well enough to run around the apartment chasing (and being chased by) the other cat. I'm petting her more, because I got a pretty rude reminder that I will not have her around for too many more years and I'd better enjoy her while I can. The other cat is jealous. ^_^
