A Diagnosis from the Vet

[wordweaverlynn]

Now we know why Gabriel has been cranky, losing weight, and getting scruffier. She's hyperthyroid. Two pills per day from now on. I hope I can get her to take them in those little pill/snack thingies, or I'm going to have gouges to the bone.

Comments

[lavendertook]

Saki loves getting her thyroid pill quarter in the Greenies pill pockets--they are the treat she most looks forward to. I hope you have the same luck with Gabriel.

I spilt the Greenies in half and roll the pill quarter in the half, because one half is a small biteful that Saki gobbles right on down, but a whole pill pocket is a large enough portion to chew and, therefore, manage to eat around the pill. So I recommend doing that. It also works out well because they are damned expensive--the price has just gone up and around here they're now about $10 to $12 a packet, so it really helps the budget to halve them and make them go twice as long. I spend more on them than her methamazole tablets.

Also, those are exactly the symptoms Saki had, and it took her being on the pill for a little while to uncover that she also had kidney disease going. So we're treating that by also having her on Hill's Science Diet's special kidney diet. Purina also has a kidney diet. Once I had her on that for a while, along with the thyroid pill, her weight came back and her fur returned to it's normal, healthy texture. She's 12, going on 13 now and going strong. So I hope your vet recommended a follow up visit to monitor this and see if there is any underlying kidney disease to treat once her thyroid levels stabilize in a couple of months.

[threeringedmoon]

I used to have luck mashing pills into a bit of tuna fish (or other aromatic food) for cats.