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Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
Our 11 year old cat who is usually pretty spry just lies around
everyday and doesn't eat as much and is losing weight. She has increased thirst too. All of this sounds like diabetes, but she has also lost her voice. She doesn't purr anymore and when she does meow (which isn't very often anymore), she sounds really hoarse and it usually either sounds like a little squeak or kind of a hiss. She doesn't seem to have any pain anywhere in her body. We've got her an appointment with the vet, but we tried to put it off for a while hoping it was just a cold or something, because it's so traumatic for her to go to the vet, and we hate putting her through that. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with her? I'd just like to hear some guesses before her appointment tommorow. Thanks! |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
Could be damage to the throat
a tumor diabetes many possibilities Make sure you list all the symptoms so the vet knows Was the furball exposed to the any bad pet food list in mass pet food recall wrote in message ups.com... Our 11 year old cat who is usually pretty spry just lies around everyday and doesn't eat as much and is losing weight. She has increased thirst too. All of this sounds like diabetes, but she has also lost her voice. She doesn't purr anymore and when she does meow (which isn't very often anymore), she sounds really hoarse and it usually either sounds like a little squeak or kind of a hiss. She doesn't seem to have any pain anywhere in her body. We've got her an appointment with the vet, but we tried to put it off for a while hoping it was just a cold or something, because it's so traumatic for her to go to the vet, and we hate putting her through that. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with her? I'd just like to hear some guesses before her appointment tommorow. Thanks! |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
She needs to see a vet ASAP. Don't delay.
Gail wrote in message ups.com... Our 11 year old cat who is usually pretty spry just lies around everyday and doesn't eat as much and is losing weight. She has increased thirst too. All of this sounds like diabetes, but she has also lost her voice. She doesn't purr anymore and when she does meow (which isn't very often anymore), she sounds really hoarse and it usually either sounds like a little squeak or kind of a hiss. She doesn't seem to have any pain anywhere in her body. We've got her an appointment with the vet, but we tried to put it off for a while hoping it was just a cold or something, because it's so traumatic for her to go to the vet, and we hate putting her through that. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with her? I'd just like to hear some guesses before her appointment tommorow. Thanks! |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
On Apr 3, 5:38 pm, wrote:
Our 11 year old cat who is usually pretty spry just lies around everyday and doesn't eat as much and is losing weight. She has increased thirst too. All of this sounds like diabetes, but she has also lost her voice. She doesn't purr anymore and when she does meow (which isn't very often anymore), she sounds really hoarse and it usually either sounds like a little squeak or kind of a hiss. She doesn't seem to have any pain anywhere in her body. We've got her an appointment with the vet, but we tried to put it off for a while hoping it was just a cold or something, because it's so traumatic for her to go to the vet, and we hate putting her through that. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with her? I'd just like to hear some guesses before her appointment tommorow. Thanks! Good luck with your appointment tomorrow. Don't be surprised if they want to check her thyroid levels. Hyperthyroidism can cause rapid and significant weight loss in older cats, and also causes hypertension which results in larger amounts of urine loss from pressure effects in the kidneys. I'm not sure about the voice, but the thyroid is in the neck region, and if there is a mass effect in the neck, it could theoretically affect both the thyroid and the larynx. Diabetes is still a strong contender too, and more reason to go sooner rather than later since it can occasionally present as a silent killer, even in people, where the diagnosis gets made after someone passed away in their bed. Fortunately you already have an appointment made. Weight loss in cats should always be attended to immediately, since they can die quite quickly even from plain digestive complaints that result in a biochemical storm known as fatty liver. Is your cat at all overweight to begin with? --tension |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
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Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
wrote in message
ups.com... Our 11 year old cat who is usually pretty spry just lies around everyday and doesn't eat as much and is losing weight. She has increased thirst too. All of this sounds like diabetes, but she has also lost her voice. She doesn't purr anymore and when she does meow (which isn't very often anymore), she sounds really hoarse and it usually either sounds like a little squeak or kind of a hiss. She doesn't seem to have any pain anywhere in her body. We've got her an appointment with the vet, but we tried to put it off for a while hoping it was just a cold or something, because it's so traumatic for her to go to the vet, and we hate putting her through that. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with her? I'd just like to hear some guesses before her appointment tommorow. Thanks! You should definately get some blood work done. My cat has those same symptoms, he has kidney failure and he's anemic, but without the blood work it's hard to tell for sure because those symptoms can apply to other things too and you need to know so you can treat your cat properly. Good luck, I hope it's something that can be cured. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
On Apr 4, 7:34 am, "Moongal" wrote:
You should definately get some blood work done. My cat has those same symptoms, he has kidney failure and he's anemic, but without the blood work it's hard to tell for sure because those symptoms can apply to other things too and you need to know so you can treat your cat properly. Good luck, I hope it's something that can be cured. Well, it's not good news. According to the vet, she's a very sick cat. She has some sort of auto-immune problem and she's severly anemic. Basically now we have no choice but to give her steroids twice a day that will either make her better, or, if she has a kidney or liver problem, make her worse, and kill her. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
Make sure you get another vets advice
When will the blood work be back? wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 4, 7:34 am, "Moongal" wrote: You should definately get some blood work done. My cat has those same symptoms, he has kidney failure and he's anemic, but without the blood work it's hard to tell for sure because those symptoms can apply to other things too and you need to know so you can treat your cat properly. Good luck, I hope it's something that can be cured. Well, it's not good news. According to the vet, she's a very sick cat. She has some sort of auto-immune problem and she's severly anemic. Basically now we have no choice but to give her steroids twice a day that will either make her better, or, if she has a kidney or liver problem, make her worse, and kill her. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
Matthew wrote: Make sure you get another vets advice When will the blood work be back? wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 4, 7:34 am, "Moongal" wrote: You should definately get some blood work done. My cat has those same symptoms, he has kidney failure and he's anemic, but without the blood work it's hard to tell for sure because those symptoms can apply to other things too and you need to know so you can treat your cat properly. Good luck, I hope it's something that can be cured. Well, it's not good news. According to the vet, she's a very sick cat. She has some sort of auto-immune problem and she's severly anemic. Basically now we have no choice but to give her steroids twice a day that will either make her better, or, if she has a kidney or liver problem, make her worse, and kill her. Well, they can't even test the blood. They tried a couple of times (she loved being dragged back out to have blood drawn again, as you can imagine) and they can't do anything with it because she's so anemic, so they can't determine if she has any kidney or liver problems. So she says the only thing we can do is to give her the pills and see if she gets better or worse, and if she gets worse, there's nothing that can be done for her. They first suspected diabetes and ruled that out through a urine test. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
wrote in message ups.com... Well, they can't even test the blood. They tried a couple of times (she loved being dragged back out to have blood drawn again, as you can imagine) and they can't do anything with it because she's so anemic, so they can't determine if she has any kidney or liver problems. So she says the only thing we can do is to give her the pills and see if she gets better or worse, and if she gets worse, there's nothing that can be done for her. They first suspected diabetes and ruled that out through a urine test. How would the vet know your cat is anemic without a blood test? The symptoms sure sound like it, but I didn't think you could know for sure without testing the blood (I'm certainly not a medical expert though!) Anyway, I don't know about liver problems, but if it's kidney problems your cat can be treated. It's more like palative care, but she could have much more time. My cat has surprised everyone at the vets with how well he has been doing these last few months even though he has kidney failure and anemia. In fact he's in my lap right now tapping me to keep petting him. I don't like that your vet says there is nothing that can be done. If you can, try for a second opinion. My thoughts are with you. I really hope the pills she is taking now really help her. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
I agree with getting a second opinion. There seems like too much guess work
with your vet. Gail "Matthew" wrote in message ... Make sure you get another vets advice When will the blood work be back? wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 4, 7:34 am, "Moongal" wrote: You should definately get some blood work done. My cat has those same symptoms, he has kidney failure and he's anemic, but without the blood work it's hard to tell for sure because those symptoms can apply to other things too and you need to know so you can treat your cat properly. Good luck, I hope it's something that can be cured. Well, it's not good news. According to the vet, she's a very sick cat. She has some sort of auto-immune problem and she's severly anemic. Basically now we have no choice but to give her steroids twice a day that will either make her better, or, if she has a kidney or liver problem, make her worse, and kill her. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
wrote in message ups.com... Our 11 year old cat who is usually pretty spry just lies around everyday and doesn't eat as much and is losing weight. She has increased thirst too. All of this sounds like diabetes, but she has also lost her voice. She doesn't purr anymore and when she does meow (which isn't very often anymore), she sounds really hoarse and it usually either sounds like a little squeak or kind of a hiss. She doesn't seem to have any pain anywhere in her body. We've got her an appointment with the vet, but we tried to put it off for a while hoping it was just a cold or something, because it's so traumatic for her to go to the vet, and we hate putting her through that. Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong with her? I'd just like to hear some guesses before her appointment tommorow. Thanks! ---------- Just wanted to comment about the lost voice. When my cat Molly was still alive, she completely lost her voice at one point. The vet said it could be a tumor but it could also be benign growth on her vocal cords. At any rate, the vet treated it empirically with an injection of corticosteroids saying that if that if her voice didn't return in a few days, I should bring Molly back, and they would look down her throat (under anesthesia). The corticosteroid injection worked, and Molly got her voice back partially. She had a hoarse voice for the remainder of her life. She lived approximately one more year until she succumbed to chronic renal failure at the age of 17 (we had her euthanized), but this was not related to the voice problem as far as I know. She stopped purring several weeks before she died/we had her euthanized. It does take energy for cats to purr, so when a cat stops purring, it could be because the cat is weak/lacks the energy. After you see your vet, please post again, and tell us what he/she said. Purrs to you and your kitty. Best regards, ---Cindy S. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
wrote in message ups.com... Matthew wrote: Make sure you get another vets advice When will the blood work be back? wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 4, 7:34 am, "Moongal" wrote: You should definately get some blood work done. My cat has those same symptoms, he has kidney failure and he's anemic, but without the blood work it's hard to tell for sure because those symptoms can apply to other things too and you need to know so you can treat your cat properly. Good luck, I hope it's something that can be cured. Well, it's not good news. According to the vet, she's a very sick cat. She has some sort of auto-immune problem and she's severly anemic. Basically now we have no choice but to give her steroids twice a day that will either make her better, or, if she has a kidney or liver problem, make her worse, and kill her. Well, they can't even test the blood. They tried a couple of times (she loved being dragged back out to have blood drawn again, as you can imagine) and they can't do anything with it because she's so anemic, so they can't determine if she has any kidney or liver problems. So she says the only thing we can do is to give her the pills and see if she gets better or worse, and if she gets worse, there's nothing that can be done for her. They first suspected diabetes and ruled that out through a urine test. -------- I should have read your follow-up before I responded. (I am back on the computer for the first time in two days). My vet gave Molly a steroid injection. Why is your vet doing pills rather than an injection? Best regards, ---Cindy S. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
wrote in message ups.com... Well, they can't even test the blood. They tried a couple of times (she loved being dragged back out to have blood drawn again, as you can imagine) and they can't do anything with it because she's so anemic, ........What do you mean? The couldn't find a vein? Is she dehydrated? Did they put her on IV to rehydrate her? So she says the only thing we can do is to give her the pills and see if she gets better or worse, and if she gets worse, there's nothing that can be done for her. ........Second opinion. buglady take out the dog before replying |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
If there are kidney issues they should be able to tell from a urine test is
she's leaking protien which is a sign of kidney problems. Celeste wrote in message ups.com... Matthew wrote: Make sure you get another vets advice When will the blood work be back? wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 4, 7:34 am, "Moongal" wrote: You should definately get some blood work done. My cat has those same symptoms, he has kidney failure and he's anemic, but without the blood work it's hard to tell for sure because those symptoms can apply to other things too and you need to know so you can treat your cat properly. Good luck, I hope it's something that can be cured. Well, it's not good news. According to the vet, she's a very sick cat. She has some sort of auto-immune problem and she's severly anemic. Basically now we have no choice but to give her steroids twice a day that will either make her better, or, if she has a kidney or liver problem, make her worse, and kill her. Well, they can't even test the blood. They tried a couple of times (she loved being dragged back out to have blood drawn again, as you can imagine) and they can't do anything with it because she's so anemic, so they can't determine if she has any kidney or liver problems. So she says the only thing we can do is to give her the pills and see if she gets better or worse, and if she gets worse, there's nothing that can be done for her. They first suspected diabetes and ruled that out through a urine test. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
On Apr 4, 8:57 pm, "buglady" wrote:
wrote in message ups.com... Well, they can't even test the blood. They tried a couple of times (she loved being dragged back out to have blood drawn again, as you can imagine) and they can't do anything with it because she's so anemic, .......What do you mean? The couldn't find a vein? Is she dehydrated? Did they put her on IV to rehydrate her? So she says the only thing we can do is to give her the pills and see if she gets better or worse, and if she gets worse, there's nothing that can be done for her. .......Second opinion. buglady take out the dog before replying Since she's so anemic, her blood is sticking together and in order to test to find out if she has liver or kidney problems they need to seperate parts of the blood, which they're unable to do. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
I don't buy this.......
Gail wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 4, 8:57 pm, "buglady" wrote: wrote in message ups.com... Well, they can't even test the blood. They tried a couple of times (she loved being dragged back out to have blood drawn again, as you can imagine) and they can't do anything with it because she's so anemic, .......What do you mean? The couldn't find a vein? Is she dehydrated? Did they put her on IV to rehydrate her? So she says the only thing we can do is to give her the pills and see if she gets better or worse, and if she gets worse, there's nothing that can be done for her. .......Second opinion. buglady take out the dog before replying Since she's so anemic, her blood is sticking together and in order to test to find out if she has liver or kidney problems they need to seperate parts of the blood, which they're unable to do. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
"Gail" wrote in message link.net... I don't buy this....... Since she's so anemic, her blood is sticking together and in order to test to find out if she has liver or kidney problems they need to seperate parts of the blood, which they're unable to do. ........I don't either. Blood gets thick when you're dehydrated. If the veins are flat there's not enough fluid in them. buglady take out the dog before replying |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
On Apr 4, 5:47 pm, "cindys" wrote:
She stopped purring several weeks before she died/we had her euthanized. It does take energy for cats to purr, so when a cat stops purring, it could be because the cat is weak/lacks the energy. Everyone who has mentioned the loss of voice has also mentioned their cat was found to be anemic. I wonder, since we still aren't one hundred percent clear on the mechanism of purring, whether the anemia makes it difficult to generate turbulence in the blood flow around the vocal cords. Turbulence in the blood flow was proposed as one possible mechanism for purring. Perhaps you need to have a minimum hemoglobin level for good purring. Don't think that would apply to meow-ing though. --tension |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:04:39 GMT, "Moongal"
wrote: How would the vet know your cat is anemic without a blood test? The symptoms sure sound like it, but I didn't think you could know for sure without testing the blood (I'm certainly not a medical expert though!) When Kira's anemia was at its worst, her blood was very thick. The vet brough the sampe back to the room and showed it to me. He said it was obviously worse, and we increased her meds. The bloodwork confirmed his beliefs. The prednisolone did help her anemia, and for about a month, she had great bloodwork results and was back to normal. Unfortunately, she dropped back, and it was too late that time to save her. My vet also prescribed a liquid supplement for anemia, another medicine that goes after parasites that don't always show up in tests, and a supplement to help her nutrition since she wasn't eating as well. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:58:24 GMT, "buglady"
wrote: "Gail" wrote in message hlink.net... I don't buy this....... Since she's so anemic, her blood is sticking together and in order to test to find out if she has liver or kidney problems they need to seperate parts of the blood, which they're unable to do. .......I don't either. Blood gets thick when you're dehydrated. If the veins are flat there's not enough fluid in them. It does get thicker, but it is still testable, mostly. One of the tests could not be done the time Kira's blood was really thick, but they were able to get results for the rest of it. It was visibly thick, and still above the level for no-0regenerating anemia, so I would suspect that worse levels could be even thicker. Kira was panting because she was having trouble getting enough air with the reduced blood flow. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
"tension_on_the_wire" wrote in message ups.com... On Apr 4, 5:47 pm, "cindys" wrote: She stopped purring several weeks before she died/we had her euthanized. It does take energy for cats to purr, so when a cat stops purring, it could be because the cat is weak/lacks the energy. Everyone who has mentioned the loss of voice has also mentioned their cat was found to be anemic. When Molly lost her voice (meow), the vet did not do any bloodwork. She simply gave Molly the corticosteroid injection empirically and told me to phone her if I didn't see any improvement. If there were no improvement, her plan was to look into Molly's throat under anesthesia. At the time, Molly was still purring fine. Molly did get her voice back as result of the injection, and she didn't have any blood work done (at that time), so there is no way to know if she was anemic or not. The vet told me that during the course of her career (around 25 years), she had only come across cats with laryngitis three times before. In one situation, it had been a tumor. In another situation, it was polyps on the vocal cords. In the third situation, the cat died of another ailment before the cause of the laryngitis was diagnosed. Molly never lost her purr until nearly a year later (shortly before she died). I wonder, since we still aren't one hundred percent clear on the mechanism of purring, whether the anemia makes it difficult to generate turbulence in the blood flow around the vocal cords. Turbulence in the blood flow was proposed as one possible mechanism for purring. Perhaps you need to have a minimum hemoglobin level for good purring. Don't think that would apply to meow-ing though. But now you're saying that the anemia might be connected to inability to purr, not inability to meow, whereas above you stated that everyone who mentioned loss of voice (i.e. inability to meow) also mentioned that his/her cat was anemic. So, I'm not sure what you're trying to say, but in the case of my cat, inability to meow did not seem to be related to anemia (because she got her voice back after the corticosteroid injection, which would not have improved anemia, if she had it).. Inability to purr may have been related to anemia, but it's hard to say in Molly's case because by the time she stopped purring, she was already at the endstage of CRF and quite weak, and we had her euthanized several weeks later. I do find it an interesting theory, however, that inability to purr may be related to anemia. I wonder if there has ever been any research done in this area. Best regards, ---Cindy S. |
Lethargy, voice loss, weight loss, thirst
On 4 Apr 2007 20:50:32 -0700, "tension_on_the_wire"
wrote: On Apr 4, 5:47 pm, "cindys" wrote: She stopped purring several weeks before she died/we had her euthanized. It does take energy for cats to purr, so when a cat stops purring, it could be because the cat is weak/lacks the energy. Everyone who has mentioned the loss of voice has also mentioned their cat was found to be anemic. I mentioned anemia as those symptoms matched Kira. But she was never unable to purr. Even during her worst times, she snuggled with me and purred. Her voice loss was only for a couple weeks, not total, and not during the worst of her anemia. Just at the beginning when I didn't yet know what was going on. |
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