Happy Easter, Sunday Selfie and an update.

Happy Easter to all of my friends.

I haven't taken any selfies lately as I have been ill again. On Wednesday my mum and dad thought they would have to help me to the Bridge.
I haven't been eating and just lying around looking very miserable. I had just about given up, but my mum and dad know I am a fighter and can make a miraculous turnaround.
I saw my vet and he gave me a shot and gave my mum one to give me 24 hours later.
He said that if there was an improvement I could have it in pill form but they have to watch carefully because of my intolerance to most medication.

I have had the pills for 2 days now and apart from being a bit loose, (not diarrhoea) I don't seem to be having any ill effects from them.
I have started to eat again, not as much as I should but much better than I was. I feel better as well and am more alert. We are hoping the pills continue to work as we have almost run out of options if they don't.

My mum asked me if I wanted to do a selfie today and I said I would if she joined me, so she did.

You can see more selfies with the Kitties Blue at The Cat on my Head.

Tummy, Tail, Toesies and an Update on Tuesday.

We are getting lots of storm force wind, so I have decided the best place to be is on the bed.

There is a nice sun puddle here for me to enjoy.

It gives me chance to show off my tummy, tail and toesies again.

I have to make the most of the sun before the rain comes back.

Here's a bonus for you of my pink paw pads.

UPDATE:
Mum hasn't given an update lately as every time things start well, then it goes wrong again. We have been afraid of jinxing things but lots of you have been asking how I am doing.
I was doing all right on the transdermal gel but after a few days I started to go downhill again getting lethargic and sick.
Mum had ordered holistic Thyroid Gold Support  for me. The first day I ate my food with the drops on it. The second day I wouldn't touch it, so she mixed them with water and gave in a syringe. I was sick afterwards. The same thing happened on the third day and I was violently sick and I had stopped eating again.
It seems that even though it is a natural product that I can't take that either.

I went back to see my vet last Monday and even though I was eating very little, I had put a very small amount of weight on. He checked my heart and said it sounded good. That is the problem with not being on thyroid medication, it can put a strain on my heart and lead to heart failure. Kidney failure can also result from untreated hyperthyroidism. I am being monitored for both but didn't have to get my blood stolen this time.
My mum caught a pee sample from me and that is showing blood again and also high white blood cell count.
My vet wanted to put me on antibiotics but knows how mum feels about them after taking the others in the beginning, and also the convenia injection which she is sure is what made me so very ill.
He suggested to her that I go on oxytetracycline tablets and watch carefully for any adverse effects. I have been on them for 8 days now and my poops are getting better. They do give me wind when I get in the litter box though, so everyone knows what I am doing.
I am also on a low dose of prednisolone to help any inflammation in my gut, and he said sometimes they can also put weight on and make me want to eat which would be good in my case.
Mum weighed me again at the weekend and I had put a little bit more weight on and am now exactly 11 pounds. I had gone down to under 10 pounds when I was at my worst around Christmas.
I always used to be a fit 15 - 16 pounds and we know I will never get back to that, but any weight increase is good.
I am much livelier too and go for short walks when the weather is good. I do tire easily, but maybe one day I will be able to go on longer walks around the fields again. I have my paws crossed that I continue to feel better and am asking you to keep your paws crossed for me too.

Sunday Selfie and an Update.

I am taking part in the Sunday Selfies with the Kitties Blue at The Cat on my Head.

You can see more selfies here.

My Update.
As you know, I was unable to tolerate the Carbimazole for my hyperthyroidism, so after a month off medication to give my body chance to recover I went on Felimazole which is the same as Methimazole. Unfortunately after 2 weeks I was becoming ill again and had to stop them too.
I have been off medication again for a week but recovered much more quickly this time because mum and dad knew to look out for the first signs that it wasn't going well.

Mum has discussed natural medicine with my vet and ordered Thyroid Support Gold for me which will take 3 weeks to get here according to Amazon. That is bacon flavoured drops that can be put on my food.

The vet rang mum this morning and said he has talked to another vet and has been able to get Methimazole as a transdermal gel, so they went out and collected a pack this morning.
I am having it rubbed into my ear once a day to start with to see how I go with it. If it is the ingredients that I am allergic to, then I still won't be able to stay on it. It may be that my digestive tract can't take the pills but I will be okay with it being absorbed into my bloodstream. We will know how I am getting on with it by the time the Thyroid Gold arrives.

T4 Update

Keeping hydrated.

When mum and dad took me to the vet on Monday for my T4 blood test they had to take a poop and a pee sample too. The good news is the poop isn't black and tarry like it was but is very dark brown so is improving. I am doing semi formed poops now as well.
My pee sample was mostly good as well and the amazing thing is that there is no blood in it. That is the first time it has been clear since the first time I went to the vet to find out why I was losing weight about 6 months ago. Two lots of antibiotics hadn't got rid of it and the peeps had said no more antibiotics, we would just take a chance on what was causing it as I was feeling so ill after them. We don't know why it suddenly disappeared but we are very glad it did.
The bad part of the pee sample is that the PH is very high. I drink a lot and always have done, and I pee well too without any problems. Mum will keep a close eye on me to make sure that I keep peeing well.
My vet rang today with my T4 result which we had been hoping would be borderline so I could stay off thyroid pills. It was high!
When I first went on the pills my level was 55 and with the pills it got down to 22 which is right in the middle of where it should be. Now it has gone up to 110. I will stay off pills for just under another 2 weeks to give me a bit longer to recover from the bad effects I suffered from the Carbimazole. When I have had a month rest from them I will go on a low dose of Felimazole which I will have twice a day. Mum and dad will be watching me like a hawk and the first sign of any bad reactions and they will be stopped immediately.
When the vet saw me on Monday he said that apart from being so thin, I looked much better in myself. He said that 2 weeks before I had looked like an old cat who had given up on life and just laid on the examination table with no interest in anything.
I don't give up without a fight. Those mousies will be waiting in the fields for me so I have to keep getting better to sort them out.

Sunday Selfie and Update.

I have been eating a bit better the last couple of days so I thought I would join the Kitties Blue with my selfie this week.

You can see all the other selfies at The Cat on my Head.
Also, mum has scanned all my snail mail Christmas cards for me and you can see them on my Christmas card page. There is also a separate page with my Christmas e-cards on.

I have to go to the vet early on Monday morning for another blood test. This is to see what my T4 reading is now I have been off thyroid meds for two weeks. If it is only slightly raised I may not go back on them. The pills I was taking were Vidalta (Carbimazole). If I have to go back on meds it will be Felimazole which can be given at a lower dose. Those pills can have the same side effects as the Vidalta so mum and dad are hoping my thyroid level is only slightly raised and I can manage without them. If I do have to take them, I will be watched very carefully.
I have been doing black tarry poops which means there is probably digested blood in them. My vet wants to see if they settle down on their own as I have been off the Zantac injections for a few days and haven't even needed an appetite pill for a week. I am very glad to not have the injections twice a day and pills shoved down my throat. I am just having a B12 injection once a week.
Today my poops have turned to dark brown so hopefully that is an improvement.

I have been for a couple of short walks during the week. I haven't been able to go out for the last two days though because it is very windy. Mum says I am so light now that I might blow away like a leaf, and I don't want to do that!

Tummy Tuesday and Update.

I haven't shown you my tummy for a while so I am giving you two tummy shots today.

That is mum's old furry dressing gown that I am laying on. She made me a nest from it when I was first ill and now it is my comfort bed and I am keeping it.
I am still only eating if I have appetite pills and eat better some days than others. I am looking brighter and happier and have even been for a short walk in the field by the garden. Dad carries me back though because I am still very weak.
I don't like all the nasty pills and injections but mum says I have to be brave because it is to make me better so I can go hunting mousies again one day.
When mum weighed me I had put 0.8 of a pound on in 4 days which is about half of what I had lost in 10 days. I am nearly 10 pounds now so have a long way to go to get back to my average of between 15 and 16 pounds but hopefully I am heading in the right direction now.

At Last - A Good Update.

At last we can post something positive.
As I said in the previous update, Flynn has one good day and then one bad day. Lately the days have started bad but got better later in the day giving us hope he was getting better. The next day though and he would be back to not feeling good.
Yesterday was different! He still didn't want to eat. I rubbed the AD diet onto his paw and he would clean it off. He ate a small amount that way. In the afternoon he was looking for food as he usually does so I opened a fresh tin for him. He sniffed it like he usually does but instead of walking away, he sat down to eat. By the time we went to bed last night he had eaten most of 3 85gram tins, approximately 8 ounces. He has eaten another small tin this morning and also a few treats. He is still having the appetite pills every day. They had stopped having any effect on him but appear to be working again.
Our vet rang me yesterday with his blood test results. The liver and renal numbers are all good. His lymphocyte level is very slightly raised. He doesn't think that is anything sinister but more likely caused by inflammation caused by prolonged diarrhoea.
He started on a short course of Metacam but we have to watch carefully to ensure the diarrhoea doesn't return. He is on Zantac twice a day which hopefully will guard against that.
He has been very good to pill but has now started to fight it. Hopefully that is a sign he is feeling better. I was able to give him his 2 pills this morning in pieces of chewy stick treats which is better for him.
He has had no diarrhoea for 2 days now so we are cautiously optimistic.

Okay that's enough from mum. I know you want to see the main man, and I don't mean my dad.
Thank you everybody for all the purrs and prayers. I know that is what is helping me feel better. Thank you for all the suggestions too. Some I liked better than others, but mum said we had to try.
Those are some of my Christmas cards behind me, and I also got more than my mum and dad. I am going to get mum to scan them all so I can put them on my snail mail card page. I will let you know when it's done.
We are sorry we haven't commented much lately but hopefully in the New Year we will get back into it again.

Update - Monday Evening.

Note: Several people have suggested the transdermal gel for the thyroid medication. I asked about this when he first went on the pills but it is not available in the UK. I also checked online, not because I doubted my vet but just in case I could find somewhere that does it that they did not know about. There is a compounding laboratory, but the thyroid medication is not licensed to be compounded into a gel. I also looked into the possibility of having it shipped here but that can only be done under special license. 

Thank you once again for all the purrs and helpful suggestions for Flynn. He is spending all his time either on the chair in the sun, or on the bed wrapped in my furry dressing gown.
The last update on Saturday I said he was eating a little and I was cooking some fish for him. He never touched the fish or ate anything else that day. What started as one of his good days went downhill very quickly. He seems to get one good day then one bad day. He stayed on the bed and looked very ill. I don't think he was in pain, but we all know they are very good at hiding it. He was in obvious discomfort though.
We talked all through the night and said we mustn't keep trying for our sake when it was not in his interest, and the bad days were getting worse each time. We intended ringing the emergency vet in the morning. Yesterday morning there was a very slight improvement so of course we didn't ring the vet. We want to give him every chance to recover if it is at all possible.
We collected some more Zantac injections and also B12 which we gave immediately and also an appetite pill. Later in the afternoon he started to improve and even ate a sardine (thanks for the suggestion Bonnie).
Today I rang the vet who has been treating him and we took him in for another blood test to see if anything different is showing up yet. We are expecting his T4 to be raised as he is off thyroid treatment for the time. He is to continue with the Zantac, but now in pill form rather than keep injecting him twice a day. We brought home some Hill's Prescription AD diet too. He has eaten 3/4 of a tin, and also one of his small tins of food as well. They weighed him and he has lost nearly one and a half pounds in 10 days so it is very important to try and keep him eating one way or another. He is so very thin and frail, but still so full of love.
After all this doom and gloom the good news is he has done a firmer poop yesterday and today.
As long as he is able to keep fighting and has a chance to get better, we won't give up on him.
Please keep purring for our boy, he needs them to help him through this.

Update- Saturday

Firstly thank you to everyone for all your good wishes, emails and suggestions on how to help Flynn.
The vet rang me again this morning to check on how he is doing.
I was able to tell him that he started eating about 3pm yesterday and had a reasonable amount, not as much as I would like, but a huge improvement on nothing!
As he has eaten, that means he doesn't have to be hospitalised at this point.
He is peeing and pooping. He still has diarrhoea but not as liquid, more of a cow pat.
I told him my biggest worry is that I had given him a Mirtazapine on Christmas Eve and also the night before that, neither of which had any effect. I was afraid that if he felt a bit better from the Zantac injections it would be those pills that were encouraging him to eat. It seems that this is what is happening as he only ate a very small amount this morning and nothing since.
The vet said he doesn't want him to have anything at all apart from the Zantac which we are injecting him with twice a day, not even the fortiflora as he doesn't want anything to mask how he is doing.
He is drinking on his own and we are also giving him additional water via syringe.
I have cooked him some fish which is cooling and hope that will tempt his appetite.
He is very thin and frail but looks much brighter today. He is sleeping at the moment and looks much more comfortable and relaxed.
Several of you have suggested Cyproheptadine as an appetite stimulant. I have some Periactin left from Eric and #1 from the Poupounette told me that is the other name for it. I won't give him any before I ring the vet on Monday morning, but I will ask if it is okay to give it then.
Thank you again for all your good thoughts and purrs for our boy. Ivor and I appreciate it very much.

Purrs Desperately Needed. Updated

UPDATE:
We have just got home and have been given hope for Flynn. The vet thinks it is a severe reaction to the thyroid tablets and he is to come off his thyroid meds for a week. He is having Zantac injected every 12 hours to try and stop the diarrhoea which has been ongoing for 3 months now despite various treatments. Also he hasn't eaten for 2 days, and very little for 2 days before that. The Mirtazapine no longer works to encourage the appetite. He MUST start eating by tomorrow morning as he is running an increased risk of getting fatty liver disease. The Zantac may make him feel more like eating. If this works he will be tried on a different thyroid pill at a later date. 
He appears to be in discomfort rather than pain and looks for his food but then walks away. At this moment he has 3 different flavours of wet food down, cooked fish and kibble and nothing encourages him to eat it.
Please keep our boy in your thoughts.

Flynn is going to the vet this morning. He is very ill. Please purr and pray for him that we can bring him home again.

Eric's Day Flashback and an Update.

This week the flashback comes from June 2008 and tells of how we first got our plant pots.

Do you remember the great big plant pot we found in the greenhouse? Mum had put weeds and cut grass in it to throw away. We decided it was a good place for napping but only one of us could get in at a time.Mum told us not to get to attached to it because it was soon going outdoors so she could put her tomato plants growing in the greenhouse.

Well, she didn't take it out, but she put another one in there as well, and put nice sweet horse hay in there for us to sleep on. Look we have one each. We were hoping she wouldn't plant her tomatoes too soon.


Look what she did! She left our big plant pots for us to nap in, and planted her tomatoes around them. That means we can come in here all summer and nap if we want to. Thanks mum, just make sure you don't water us when you water the tomatoes.

Flynn Update:
Mum rang up yesterday to see if my blood test results had come back yet. My vet was day off so she spoke to a different vet.
The thyroid number scale used in the UK is different to the readings used in the USA. My vet said she would like my number to be between 20 and 25, and before I started the pills it was 55. Last time it was 21 and this time it is 22 so it looks like I am on the right dose to keep it where it should be.
My kidney and proteinurea results are all okay too so we are happy with that. Now if I could just get my appetite back......