Wiz, dx

My vet told me today that other than thyroid, Wiz's blood tests were good. I asked her how long I might expect Wiz to live, and she said she didn't know, because Wiz is already past the normal life span of a cat.

Wiz has a hyperthyroid. I asked the vet if it's contagious, and the vet got very, very quiet. I laughed, and said that I wished it could be because I could use to lose weight like Wiz has. She laughed too. She must have thought for a minute that her patient who usually understands the medical information had fallen off her nut.

Wiz has 3 choices. We can surgically remove her thyroid. We can zap her thyroid. We can take pills every day, twice a day, for the rest of her life. I doubt if Wiz can handle anesthesia at age 19, zapping would cost about $1000 and they would keep her for four days (hm, I could get a little sleep), so pills are really the only viable option on that list.

Wiz, however, does not take pills. I have tried. She spits them out, if I can get them in her mouth at all. I had to try the pink liquid antibiotic that most of us have tried to convince kids of it's yummy taste. It's amazing that such a small cat can get liquids on the ceiling.

However, there is another way. The medication can be compounded into chewable treats. The vet had given me some samples, inert tablets, to give Wiz to see if there is a flavor out of the five that she likes.

Wiz just said yes, to all of them. I doubt if I can get a less expensive human equivaent of this because most people do not want chewable tablets flavored in seafood, tuna, liver, chicken, or beef. Understandably so.

The vet also thinks that getting Wiz's thyroid back on keel might, just might, help with the night screams. I hope so. If she manages to get into the basement, there is an echo through the whole house. When she was younger, she would get one of those small superballs and stand at the top of the basement steps, and drop the ball. It sounded eerily like someone walking on the stairs. She would do this for hours. I am a light sleeper. Still, it was an improvement over the cat I had before who liked to flush the toilet for hours.

I wonder which flavor would be best?

Molly has non-functioning adrenal glands, Wiz has a mal-functioning thyroid gland, and I wonder if I should take Baby in to have her pituitary gland tested? This seems to be a glandly family.