Mewdy Blue

Mewdy Blue

Today Mewdy Blue my 14-year old blue shorthair (Bluebird’s brother) took a trip to the veterinarian. He is so funny when it comes to car rides; he always gets carsick. That’s not what’s funny. Today, he started vomiting as soon as I put his harness on!

We used to go for walks all the time and he just loved it. He’s such a ham he loves the attention he gets and he loves showing off but most of all I think he likes the feeling of being outside. That’s the only way I’ll let him out though. It's been a while since we went for a walk so now he just associates his harness with car rides. No fun.

This time he was visiting Dr. Tammy because he hasn’t been eating well and is a little lethargic. When I say he is sleeping all the time I’m aware that, yes, he’s a cat and that’s what cats do. But that’s not like him. Mewdy Blue is fairly active normally.

He really wasn’t lethargic though when we started trying to draw blood. Even before the needle came out he knew something was up and started wiggling and struggling. Luckily we did manage to get enough blood for the chemistries. The most remarkable finding from the labwork showed that he had some high levels of the liver markers and his cholesterol.

A high cholesterol can indicate many things: hypothyroidism, diabetes, kidney disease and hepatic lipidosis. Well, his glucose and his kidney values were normal so we are leaning toward the hepatic lipidosis right now. After all, he hasn’t been eating normally and his ALT (liver) value was a little high. Hepatic lipidosis, also known as fatty liver disease, is seen in cats that don’t eat for several days. The body starts sending fat to the liver to develop fuel but the liver doesn’t process fats very well and the liver cells (hepatocytes) start to store the fat. This then leads to liver failure. Fatty liver disease must be treated as quickly as possible.

Why doesn't the Gentle Doctor have any cats?

So my job now is to get him eating again and give him fluids to help wash out any toxins. I also need to isolate him so I can determine FOR SURE whether he has diarrhea or not. I have seen him having normal feces but that doesn’t mean he always does. Tomorrow he will spend the day in a cage. He will be angry by the time I let him out but at least I’ll know the truth. As for his eating habits, he is normally on canned D/D duck for a food sensitivity. Dr. Tammy, however, suggests that he might be getting tired of the same food all the time so she sent us home with some cans of Royal Canin canned rabbit.

Tonight I was barely able to get the food into his bowl before he was devouring it! So I guess that answers that question. I gave him fluids later and he doesn’t seem upset about that so we’ll be fine tonight. 

When you have a multi-pet household the fun just never ends!