Took Henry to the vet today, as he has been a little knobby lately down his spine. He's always been a very sleek and elegant cat (he's 11) but lately he's just been looking a bit too thin--like David Bowie on a very bad day. No other changes at all in personality, eating, toileting, so that's all good. They did a full blood panel and he's just a bit over ideal.

I had a quick read through on some of the threads here and many of them seem to be about cats with far worse problems, like kidney failure and the like. Since the vet seemed pleased that this is all that was wrong with him, I'm assuming that these types of complications aren't inevitable.

So, should I be terribly worried? Does anyone have experience with this? Is there anything we can do with his diet to make him happier and healthier (and a little plumper)? I tend to overworry

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

Hi there, I'm sorry to hear your poor kitty has been going through this bless him. I believe this is quite a common problem in older cats which is worrying for any pet owner but once caught and treated correctly can be managed quite well. I would worry less now the vet is aware of it and I assume treating it.
I'm not an expert on this kind of thing but I'm sure someone will come along and advise you if there is something you can do with his diet, although if he's been given treatment I'd think you'll see some kind of improvement very soon.
Hope he improves quickly x

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Staffy x Lab almost 10...Fizz
Ginger Tom 2 1/2...Tilly
Bichon x King charles spanel 1 yr 10 months
Latest addition Tex the black shep 11 1/2 years foster pooch
How can I forget my fish..i have 13 tropical fish too...err...2 cats 2 neon and one lemon tetra...2 err...will have to go look and get back on that one i can't remember the names lol
My Dogs are the centre of my world
RIP Dolly Sadly Passed away 7pm 6/3.2011

P S...I would try and stick to his usual diet providing the vet has given treatment, if you change it now to put some weight down once the meds kick in he'll be used to a new diet and possibly gain too much....just a thought ...oh and its not over worrying it's being a loving owner

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Staffy x Lab almost 10...Fizz
Ginger Tom 2 1/2...Tilly
Bichon x King charles spanel 1 yr 10 months
Latest addition Tex the black shep 11 1/2 years foster pooch
How can I forget my fish..i have 13 tropical fish too...err...2 cats 2 neon and one lemon tetra...2 err...will have to go look and get back on that one i can't remember the names lol
My Dogs are the centre of my world
RIP Dolly Sadly Passed away 7pm 6/3.2011

Thanks Clare. The vet is going to put him on some sort of meds--I can't remember the name now. We took Kelso too for a new eruption of his demodex mange and he got new meds and all the names are getting confused. Plus, they had to special order Henry's--she gave us a choice between twice daily pills, twice daily liquid, or rubbing something on his ear. We figured the 3rd option was best. The poor cat has never taken a single pill his entire life. He might be an angel about it, but rubbing an ointment on his ear seemed really simple. Anyway, when his Rx comes in, then he'll start treatment.

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

Sounds like methizmole...and i agree, any treatment that has the max efect wth the least stress is the best for the poor lad, being ill is bad enough without having pills rammed down his throat too bless him ...my cat takes pills fine but i pick my times,,,i pretend to give the dogs one and he gets that jealous thinking they're getting something he's not that he'd take anything i gave him lol. There are other treatments available for this problem i cats but by the sounds of it this one is the nicest for him if it works well, it is good to know that if it doesn't have the desired affect there are other options though i suppose.
Fingers crossed that it works for him x

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Staffy x Lab almost 10...Fizz
Ginger Tom 2 1/2...Tilly
Bichon x King charles spanel 1 yr 10 months
Latest addition Tex the black shep 11 1/2 years foster pooch
How can I forget my fish..i have 13 tropical fish too...err...2 cats 2 neon and one lemon tetra...2 err...will have to go look and get back on that one i can't remember the names lol
My Dogs are the centre of my world
RIP Dolly Sadly Passed away 7pm 6/3.2011

Sorry to hear that, Dagny.

No personal experience here but I didn't want to read and run, hope the little guy settles down with his meds - hugs to you and Henry.

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Harry: Ginger & White b. September 2002
Oscar: Black b. 7th May 2011
Kitty: Grey Tabby b. 7th May 2011

Our lovely cat family

Sorry to hear about Henry Im sure the meds will help him though Simba was around 15 when he had both his glands taken out & has been a lot better for it since he has never been a big cat but his weight went down to less than 3kg even though he was eating for england, he's now just over 3kg & wonderful

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All my children have paws!

Sorry to hear about Henry's diagnosis but there are far worse ones! Once the condition is controlled then he should regain weight and former body conditon.

If you're in the US you're very lucky to have the compounded version of the methimazole which is the transgel. We have to rely on pills though there are other more permanent options as well. Sounds to me it's been caught in the very early stages which is good. It's extremely important to adeqately control hypterT because the increased metabolism can damage other organs inc the heart and kidneys. Conversely over control from over-medicating can cause problems too. The general consensus therefore is a very low dose start.

Since you're in the US I would highly recommend joining the Yahoo HyperT group where you'll find an excellent set of people who are currently dealing with cats with this condition. They'll advise you more!

feline-hyperT : A support list for people whose cats have been diagnosed as hyperthyroid (hypothyroid also welcome).

Thanks, Ianthi. For once I feel happy to be over here---I'm always envious of your non-pill form wormers over there. I'm really surprised we have a med that is more convenient and sensible! The vet didn't say anything about bringing him back for follow ups (she's the new person our usual vet has brought in as filler because he's been so terribly busy--we don't even know her name! so the jury is really out on her so far). I have hypothyroid myself and I know I went back every few months in the beginning to get my doseage worked out. It would seem logical that we do the same with a cat. I'll inquire when I pick up the meds on Monday. The kittens are going in for their snips (more to worry about!) so I'll be there for both.

Thanks so much for the link--I'll definitely join.

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

That's encouraging. His weight wasn't down as much as I would have thought. Like I said, he's always been a slender cat. He and Ellie have very Asian body shapes, so we think there's some Siamese in there or something similar. He's ordinarily around 4.9kg and yesterday he was down to 4.7kg, which isn't much of a difference but it is enough to make his legs look miles long and we could feel all of his spine knobs.

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong