I called into the vet today to get a progress update on Fritz.
He was successfully rehydrated overnight and ate a good big meal last night but today hadn’t eaten all that much. He’s peeing freely which is good but no bowel movements as yet so the vets can’t assess if all is ok there yet.
Fritz when he was about 6 years old
He’s put on about 0.2Kg overnight, most of which is due to fluid replacement.
I had the chance to visit with him and he was certainly perky, in contrast to him being uncharacteristically quiet over the last few days. I got a good meow hello and he had a good loud purr going. I stayed with him for about 15 minutes before he had to back to the infirmary.
However, the vet still hasn’t identified what the underlying health problem is. Fritz is being kept in again tonight so they can monitor his condition now that the drip has been removed.
As there’s no obvious symptom pointing to a specific condition, I’ve asked the vet to run blood tests on Fritz to see if anything shows up there. With a bit of luck, the results will be ready tomorrow (the vet can run the tests in the surgery).
The most likely cause of Fritz’s health problems is old age. It’s possible that one or more organs are beginning to fail, though his kidneys are fine (kidney failure in elderly cats is very common). Again, the vet doesn’t think it’s a thyroid problem as there are no nodules present. There’s maybe a 5% chance it is a thyroid issue if there’s a nodule on the inner side of the thyroid (in Fritz’s chest) where the vet can’t examine.
But for now we’re doing progressive blood tests, starting with the most likely health issues and if they turn up blank, moving on to more specific tests.
Now I just have to wait for news tomorrow…
Tagged with: blood tests • fluid replacement • Fritz • Health Issues • health problems • the vet • thyroid problem • underlying health problem
Filed under: Cat Care
