namrfumot

His name is Tribble (or Ibby for short) and this month we are celebrating his 16th birthday.

All his life he has seemed to have bad luck. When he was like 6 he had urinary tract disease and had to have surgery twice to correct the problem. Thankfully he hasnt had any problems with it in like 8 years.

He once had a weird little bump on him that they removed. It proved to just be what equalled a large mole.

And back in April he started to lose weight (he had always been a beefy cat). We took him to the vet and they said he had an overactive thyroid gland. They gave us a medicine called Tapaozol which we give him in cream form by rubbing it in his ear. Everything was going great. He gained back a pound and a half and everything. Then like 10 days ago he started to ignore his regular cat food, something he NEVER did before. He acted totally normal (purring, cuddling, etc). The only way I could get him to eat anything was by making him a hamburger or something. So yesterday we went to the vets and the did blood work and the whole ten yards.

Their only guess now is that his body has become resistant to the medication. So for the next week I am not to give him any Tapazol until he starts to eat his cat food again (He can have hamburgers, etc in the mean time). Once he eats his cat food again, I start the Tapazol again. If he starts to hate his cat food then they know his body is not liking the meds, making our only option sugery

I know this probably boring to most of you but its freaking me out big time. I LOVE this cat. Got him when I was eight. I have a hard time remember my life before he was around. He sleeps in my bed everynight, I buy him xmas gifts, we had a special shrimp dinner for his b-day, etc. He is literally treated like a king. I'll be a mess if anything happens to him. Even thought he is just a lump of fuzz hes been around for 2/3 of my life, I dunno what I'll do if hes not there to share my dinner, or steal my pillows. What scares me about the potential sugery is his age, although the doctor said thyroid sugery is only performed on older cats it's still highly risky.

I just needed to vent because my gf thinks I'm over-eacting. I need some encouraging words.

Gil Jawetz

We have a 16 year old that had some similar symptoms: lack of appetite, lost weight. The vet diagnosed inflamatory bowel disease and put her on a strict diet of IVD (something like that) that has only one form of starch and one form of protein (duck and green peas, I think). The idea is that unlike dogs, cats have internals that respond best to just one form of protein and starch each (I forgot the name; dogs are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they can eat anything, cats are not) She also gets transdermal (ear cream) medication. She's much better but obviously at 16 there's only so much that cn be done. Maybe you wanna ask your vet about inflammatory bowel disease.

But I feel your pain! Just make sure he's happy!

icondude

Pics?

The Edit King

This is really tough, and God forbid you lose your pal, but I know what that's like because I recently lost the kitty love of my life..."EggBuns" to kidney failure, and we were a mess.

She was getting her teeth cleaned, and we believe it was the anesthesia that did it.

(That was before we learned that they should always do blood tests on older cats before any "knock-out" surgery or procedure, to see if they can withstand the drug, but they didn't mention anything about it, and we didn't know.)

Some people do just fine with "replacement" cats.

We on the other hand, have decided not to have any more pets.

Oh sure, we still have Sgt. Pee Pee (which was a "companion" kitty that we got for EggBuns), but after she goes, that's it.

I don't know what else to tell you but to take a deep breath and muster all the courage you have and face the fact that the possibility of loss is just as much a part of life as the possibility of gain.

That there is a time to say hello, and there is a time to say...goodbye.

T. E. King

Cool Kitten

Did your vet consider giving him Tapazole in a pill form?
Good luck with the treatment- i hope he'll be ok.
I lost my cat a year ago to lymphoma and i don't think i'll really get over his death. I tear up every time i think about him.
The good thing is that there are treatment options available, and with luck Tribble will be just fine.

General Zod

Sounds to me like you've given this cat 16 years of happiness. Not sure what more a cat could ask for.

I would push for medication and dietary supplements (You may need to force-feed him), but I wouldn't put him through surgery at his age.

Phil L.

Our cat Scooter has been getting Tapazole (in pill form) for over a year now.
About a month ago he started exhibiting similar symptoms as your cat. Scooter would not even come down for dinner and started to drop weight.

But as soon as we were ready to take him to the vet yet again, he started eating and is now gaining the weight back.

Sometimes I think these cats just go through some weird cycles that they hopefully work out on their own.

Good luck with your kit.

namrfumot

The tapazole in pill form (I assume) will do the same thing as the transdermal cream. His exact words were that "he might have built a resistance to the medication." I will certainly ask him though.

They can do blood work on older cats to see if they will make it through a sugery? I know that anything is still possible but they can say "yeah he has a good chance", or "no he probably wouldnt make it?"

I have this terrible fear of dropping him off for the surgery (if it comes to that) and that being the last time I see him. Not the way I want it to happen, I want to be able to say final goodbyes.

EDIT: One side effect from the Tapazole they mentioned was that he might want to stop eating and have diarrhea. Which he has had a few times. So hopefully by stopping the meds for a while, his system will "chill out" and the meds will take effect again after that.

The Edit King

(...if you were talking to me) I didn't say that.

What I said was that the blood test verifies if the animal can physically withstand the anesthesia.

Eggbuns was like 16 years old too. We brought her home after the cleaning and she was okay for a couple weeks.

When we brought her back, they did a few tests, said her kidneys were failing. A short time after that (when she couldn't and wouldn't eat anything, and only threw up all the water she drank), sadly, we put her to sleep.

It got to the point, we had to ask ourselves, "What's best for her?"

I mean, sure we wanted to keep her around forever! But there came a time for us to do what was right, for her.

She was suffering everyday. Losing weight, heck she was always fit as a fiddle! Strong and quite beautiful! But she would meow quietly and it was almost like she was asking me to help her stop the hurt.

Well, we finally did, and she's not suffering anymore. She's resting now.

TEK

namrfumot

If it does come to the point where he needs sugery I'm not sure what I would choose.

As of right now he is 100% happy. Still purrs when you barely touch him, plays with toys, sleeps in my bed, bugs me at every meal just like he has always done. So I feel like he still has alot of good time left in him.

I wouldnt want to give up until I knew I did everything I possibly could for him. I wish cats could talk so I could just ask him. But isn't a quick surgery worth the chance of another couple years of happiness? Granted he could get worse by then so the decision will be easy.

The Edit King

A couple years of happiness for who?

If you believe in your heart that it's best for him, do the surgery.

If it was my cat and I felt that way, I'd do it!

We would do it for our child, if we had one!

People do that for their children all the time!

I mean, if they really believe it will help them, they do it!



TEK

namrfumot

I agree I have to be careful not to make a selfish decision here. But as of RIGHT NOW if you could see him you'd know hes not ready, he's enjoying life too much. I have seen cats that you can just tell that they are ready to go (much like yours sounded).

The Edit King

Well HECK, namy!!!

Have fun and enjoy EVERY SECOND!!!

Maybe now you feel better knowing a little more of what you will do when the time comes!

I hope you do (feel better that is), because I do, for you!

THEEK

AGuyNamedMike

Aw man, that got me.

I hope things go well for Tribble.

icondude

I've always found that the best way to get over a cat is to get a replacement as soon as possible.

JasonF

I thought maybe this thread was started by one of kvrdave's neighbors.

Sorry to hear about Ibby. I know what you're going through, since we've spent the last six months trying different treatments for our cat's leukemia. Thankfully, though her blood cells are apparently all messed up, it doesn't seem to have affected her behavior or temprament.

It's funny -- we're willing to do so much for our pets, yet they can't even comprehend what's going on.

namrfumot

heres an update:

His appetite seemed to return alot yesterday. from the time i got home from work till i went to bed he ate:

like 9 cocktail shrimp
1 1/8 hamburgers
2 small piles of dry cat food

I let him walk around the backyard for a while, something i never do cause hes an indoor only cat, and that seemed to invigorate him and make him hungry as hell.

This morning for breakfast he had a few shrimp and more dry cat food. hopefully tomorrow i'll try giving him some moist cat food and see what he thinks.

Goblincat

Try giving him a jar of turkey or chicken baby food. My cats get it about once a month and it is their favorite thing in the world to eat. Once they hear the cap pop as I open it, they come running into the kitchen at full speed.

namrfumot

turkey flavored baby food??

Phil L.

Ya they got turkey flavored baby food.

About four years ago we lost a cat to cancer and baby food was one of the last things we were feeding him.

We have no kids and you should have seen the bewildered look on my face, standing in front of the baby food aisle (which must stretch 15 feet wide) trying to pick something out.

Goblincat

Yeah... One time one of our cats was having trouble keeping food down, so the vet suggested we try the baby food for a week. She said it was real easy on the stomach, very easy to eat, and tastes great to the cat. It worked great.

My cats like the ham flavored stuff too.

JasonF

I've found the easiest way to give a pill to my cat or one of my rabbits is to crush the pill and mix it with baby food. Works every time.

A funny thing is that, like Phil, I've got no kids. And since one of my rabbits is on maintenance medicine for the rest of his life, I always buy baby food. As a result, the grocery store computer is constantly spitting out coupons for things I'll never need like diapers and second stage baby food.

namrfumot

wow..i thought baby food only came i veggie flavors. i'll buy some tonight..

thanks guys

Phil L.

Same with us.
Even a year after our cat died, I could look at the bottom of our grocery receipt and see that we had apparently accumulated $7.20 worth of "Baby Bucks" which I guess is some in-store redemption program for frequent buyers of baby products.

DVD Polizei

I hope your cat gets better.