Cat Thyroid Disease Causes

This link was sent to me first by Evan followed by several other friends over the next few hours:

The article starts: An epidemic of thyroid disease among pet cats could be caused by toxic flame retardants that are widely found in household dust and some pet food, government scientists reported Wednesday. And goes on from there. I found it very interesting, though at this point it's probably too late.

I keep wondering, after reading the article, if it might have been something I bought and brought into the house. Maybe some sheets, a mattress, or something else. My carpet is the original stuff and over 10 years old, so we can probably rule that out. There's no fabric in my blinds. Or maybe it's not even this. But it's still interesting.

Scooter Update 2.0

Scooter went in for a follow-up visit today.

Here's what I had given to the vet. (This refers to her original condition):
I just want to reiterate a few points: The morning Scooter had her incident she was fine. She was jumping up on tables, playing, being her usual rambunctious self. When I came home, she couldn’t move. When she tried to stand up, she would fall over and was unable to maintain any motion at all. She was lying in an unusual spot on the floor in an unusual position. I do not dispute the Thyroid diagnosis, but that is not a sudden onset condition with all these symptoms. I think that there is/was something else at work, and the Thyroid condition was certainly there but is probably unrelated to what actually happened.

Then I listed all of Scooter's current symptoms:
NONE OF THESE SYMPTOMS WERE EVIDENT PRIOR and all were sudden onset:
1. She doesn’t walk with a normal gait. She lists to the left like a poorly loaded ship as she moves. And on stairs especially, she walks near the wall so she doesn’t fall. (I bought her stairs so she can get in and out of my bed easily.)
2. The faster she moves, the harder it is for her to keep balance. If she runs, she falls over, especially if it’s on the stairs.
3. She can jump UP onto objects with no trouble (my bed, the counter, the table) so her muscle strength appears to be pretty good. But if she jumps down she lands and the falls forward, hitting her head and often rolling head over heels.
4. She has trouble climbing though. For example her litter box (4” tall) is an enormous challenge for her and she sometimes gives up and uses the floor next to it. She tries, but watching her try to balance and crouch isn’t fun.
5. She’s far more lethargic now – she just lies in her bed most of the day. I know that may sound normal for a cat, but it isn’t normal for Scooter. She used to run around with her bizzy-balls and drop them all over the house and scream at the top of her lungs for me to come throw them so she could chase them. When I used to come home, the house was a mess. This was true right up to and including the morning she fell ill (because the house was a mess when I got home and she had eaten that day as well).
6. She’s lost a lot of her hearing. I can actually sneak up on her if she’s not looking my way. Nobody should ever be able to sneak up on a cat. Especially my cat.
7. She is grooming approximately normally and seems happy if somewhat bored because she doesn’t want to move around much.
8. She also can’t talk except a quiet squeak.

So that's what's up with Scooter as of today. The Vet agrees there's something else going on. They currently have a cat there with the same exact condition (symptoms 1-4) but that cat has been there for months and they are unable to determine what's wrong. I suggested an equilibrium problem or a stroke. I was told cats don't have strokes in the sense humans do, so that wasn't it. The Vet agreed an equilibrium problem was possible.

Scooter had a new batch of blood work and thyroid tests. All pretty much normal. They are very concerned about her kidney results. In cats with thyroid conditions once the condition is controlled sometimes a kidney condition becomes evident. They're going to check her again next week.

They checked her (always nasty and gummed up) left ear and were sure she had ear mites. I told them it's always full of gunk which I generally clean every few weeks and that Scooter's regular vet has tested. Another test later, and it isn't ear mites. They've never seen so much ear gunk before considering they cleaned her out last visit too.

They've had me get non-drowsy Dramamine and suggest I give her a 1/4 tablet per day until next Tuesday and then I will bring her in again for more tests. After that the emergency vet is on vacation for 2 weeks.

Also, my condolences go out to Tom O'Drain whose mother passed away this morning.

Cat News

A number of you have inquired about Scooter's well-being. Thanks to those who cared. My vet is a good vet (a very overpriced vet, but I'll take overpriced any day over cheap and not good). She's been on antibiotics for a week to clear up any infection she might have had prior to said surgery.

Today, she went to the vet for a tooth extraction. At her age (18 or 19) that's a risky proposition. However she wouldn't eat, so that was the plan. She was dropped off this morning promptly at 8am. Lots of hugging and such, because I was told up-front this was a very risky operation at her age.

Showed up at 4:30pm for cat pick up as instructed. Vet came right out to see me. First, Scooter's doing well. She had her first bath in several years, ears cleaned, nails trimmed, all of which can't be done to Scooter while she's conscious because she tries to kill anyone who has the temerity to trespass on her person. She also had her teeth cleaned, her gums scraped, and all that good dental stuff we all hate.

But she didn't have an extraction. After all that cleaning, the vet decided it wasn't needed. There was so much tartar on the tooth, he thought that was the problem. His careful inspection prior to surgery saved her the operations (though the sedation is what's risky, not the extraction). How many of your vets would second guess themselves?

On the bad news side, he believes that the first blood test was wrong and is sending a second one out. He thinks she's got a thyroid problem because she has all the symptoms. So he's testing T4 instead of T3 whatever that means. We'll know Saturday. If so, she's on medication for life. That's good because it'll cure her, but it's bad because my body is already rough from one week of giving her antibiotic. It also means travelling anywhere will be out of the picture because no pet sitter can even catch her to give her medication. So it's me at home for quite some time. I will discuss with the vet if there's alternatives for this situation.

More as it becomes available.

(Addendum: Here's a full link with all sorts of details about the drugs, side effects, additional treatments, and so on).