A Health Update.

Dogs don't have the monopoly on playing with sticks!

This photo was taken on Monday and you can see how well I am looking now. I wasn't so happy earlier in the morning though.
Mum called me in from the garden and I came running with my tail held high. Next thing I knew I was being stuffed into the PTU.
When I have to travel in the box on wheels I always sing my warrior songs. This time I screamed them out. Dad was afraid I would give myself a heart attack and mum held my paw all the way there, but I am proud to say I never let up for a single minute.
When we got to the vet he took us into his examination room the back way, probably because he had heard me screaming blue murder all the way there.
He checked my heart and mum and dad were sure it would be racing because I had got myself so worked up been singing so loud. He said it sounded good and was very pleased with it. Mum had caught a pee sample the night before so he tested that. There is still a trace of blood in it and the white blood cell count is still raised. It has been like that since I first became ill and before I had the antibiotics which had caused me so much trouble. Everything else was good.
Then I had my blood stolen. He did it in the room with mum and dad there so I wouldn't stress myself again.
The results came back this morning. As most of you know, I am unable to take any sort of hyperthyroid medication as it works against me and makes me very ill. Instead, for the last three months I have been taking a very low dose of Prednisalone which can suppress thyroid function to a certain degree and also increase appetite and weight.
Mum thinks we may use a different scale of numbers for measuring T4 levels in the UK. Anything over 55 is considered to be hyperthyroid. The last time I had a T4 test my level was 111, double what it should be. This time it is 65 which is much better but I still have hyperthyroidism. It shows that the pred has been working well. My vet said he could raise the dose slightly but that could bring other steroid associated problems and would prefer not to do that. Mum and dad said they definitely don't want to do anything that could cause more problems. With my thyroid still being overactive, in time it will put too much strain on my heart Instead I am going to have a daily pill to help protect my heart and also my kidneys.
My vet is very pleased with my progress and says I look a totally different cat to the one he saw when mum and dad rushed me into him when he was the on duty night vet 6 months ago.