Purrs and best wishes!  I hope he's better in the morning, and I hope he
can be helped - quickly.

Joy

"LOL" <arbitrarilyyours@hotmail.com> wrote
<snippetty>

I'm so sorry you are having such trouble with Mike's dosis. We are sending
many many purrs that you and TED find the right balance for him. Nikki
becomes very clingy each time she's refused to take her medicine, but I've
never seen the red-eye thing. {{{{Krista}}}}

We will keep purring and praying for Mikey. Please keep us updated.
Jazz & his mama

...

Purrs for little Mikey - let's hope he's feeling better soon.
Helen Wheels

Many continued purrs & good wishes for Mike

helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove dependency on fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

Betty is sending purrs that TED will be able to fix up Mike so that
he'll be back to his happy self.

Aww. Many purrs you find the right dosage soon. I know it sometimes takes
several adjustments. Hang in there.

((((Hugs)))))
Karen

Don't feel bad about it. We'll keep purring for as long as it takes.

Many purrs for Mike to feel better really soon!
Elisabet and Hugo Katt

{{{Krista, Dave and Mikey}}} I am so very sorry that Mikey isn't
responding the way you had hoped. We will continue to send purrs and
healing thoughts and meatloaf meditations for him as well as soothing
thoughts to you and Dave.  Hope all is much better soon.

Julie, Hobbes, Selena and Lacey

(ps:  The Thing in  a Bag is still hidden in the living room. It seems
that out of sight out of mind works on both cats and humans.  I will
send it sometime this week, however)

....

Krista,
Do not hesitate to ask for support.  Purrs and prayers and cyber hugs are on
the way from our home to yours.  Oh yeah, and some meatloaf meditations as
well. \
Best wishes to you and Mikey,
Annie

<snip>

No problem here with your asking for purrs, and we're sending
mega-purrs that TED can find the correct med levels.

Lots of purrs and best wishes for TED to find what is wrong with Mikey and
solve the problem soonest (and hugs for his worried slave),

<snip>> I do hate to keep asking for purrs for Mikey, but he is my soulmate

Oh, Krista!  Revving up all the kitty motors here for poor Mikey and for
you!
love,
Christine

Krista:

I just now starting reading your posts about Mikey and I am so sorry
you are having these problems.  My late baby Prissy had
hyperthyroidism and CFR, which is a common combination of ailments,
and I learned a fair amount about both of them while treating her in
the last couple of years of her life (she didn't develop these
problems until she was almost 18).  I tried to go back to your earlier
posts to find out something about Mikey so that I wouldn't waste your
time with suggestions that might not be of any use, but I couldn't
find out some things that might be relevant.  Here is a list of things
to consider; please forgive me if some don't apply to you in light of
my ignorance of Mikey's past treatment, age, etc.

1.  You will be almost certainly be able to stabilize his
hyperthyroidism with Tapazole once you get the dose right.  I
understand you live in a rural area with few vets and that your
current vet has only seen a couple of cases of hyperthyroidism.
That's unfortunate (it's also kind of surprising since hyperthyroidism
is relatively common among cats) because no matter how bright he is or
how much he reads, there's no substitute for experience.  Not to put
too fine a point on it, your vet may be learning from his experiences
with your cat.  But if the only problem is hyperthyroidism, it will
probably mean just that the ride may be a little bumpier than it might
be with a vet with more experience in treating the ailment.  As far as
the latest episode, I know it's distressing to see the cat go through
down spells, but a lot of the time it takes at least a couple of days
for their systems to stabilize after you start/stop some medication.
Bringing him in unannounced before 48 hours is up and demanding that
they cure him (unless he appears to be having some kind of acute
episode) is probably pointless and you may start to get your vet and
his staff annoyed and the "boy who cried wolf" syndrome may develop.
Better get used to having to wait some of these things out because
some of the treatments take time to work.  I *would* call them and
tell them about your concerns and to describe any symptoms that they
were not aware when you took Mikey in, though. I think good vets
appreciate owners who care enough to call with new developments or
concerns no matter how short a time it's been since the vet examined
the cat.

2.  Once you get his hyperthyroidism under control, Mikey needs to
have his kidney function checked because hyperthyroidism masks CRF.
You probably already found that out.

3.  Seriously consider radiation treatment if Mikey is not a senior
cat (I didn't find anything that indicated how old he was).  My cat
was too old for it to be feasible, but I have talked to some who have
had it done and IMO it's the way to go if your cat is facing years of
being treated with Tapazole, which is essensially a band-aid fix that
requires pretty constant monitoring and tweeking.  I know you said you
lived hundreds of miles from a vet school (I thought I saw in one of
your posts that you live in South Georgia, I know Auburn has a great
vet school although you may have an animal clinic that performs the
procedure closer than that), but it would be a one time thing.  It is
pretty expensive (over $1000 I think), but over the long haul the cost
evens out since you don't have to pay for the Tapazole and the
frequent blood tests.  Even if Mikey doesn't like to travel, the trade
off would IMHO be worth it if he's otherwise a good candidate for
radioiodine treatment (after all, we take our cats to the vet even
though they don't like it).  In any event, you have time to consider
it since they have to stabilize the hyperthyroidism with Tapazole
first before the feasibility of radiation treatment can be known.

4.  Relaying anecdotal evidence from people I have talked to,
including the staff at my cat-only vet, I understatnd that surgery to
remove the tumor from the thyroid is apparently no longer considered
an attractive option in many cases.  Apparently the operation is often
fairly tricky and the long-term success rate is not all that great
considering what the cat is put through.  If a cat owner is willing to
put his cat through surgery, which is not cheap, he/she probably
should consider radiation treatment instead.

I hope Mikey's condition stabilizes real soon and he gets back to his
old self.  It's always hard to see the furbabies having medical
problems.  It sounds like he's in great hands.  At least it looks like
you have been able to zero in on what his problem is and start to
treat it.  I'm sure it's just a matter of a ahort time before he's all
better.

MAJOR purrs for Mike and you to get some relief.  It's so hard when a kid is
sick.
Sam

I am really concerned about his red eyes and tear ducts. I hope the
dosage can be titered quickly. I really don't like the way the dose
was put so high so that you had to go off it. My vet, with Sheba's
insulin, started at a very low dose and gradually increased it to a
level. And some of my clients in Home Health care are dosed gradually
upward with their various meds. That way there isn't such a shock to
the body. Sometimes an unreasonably high dose of something can trigger
a histamine reaction.

Many Super Purrs for Mike.
CATherine

Keep us posted Krista... I hope this can be resolved with a lower does of
tapazole.

Hugs,

Fuga

<SNIP>

{{{{{{{{{{Krista}}}}}}}}}}}
Sending healing purrs, I hate the thought of any animal being in distress.

Poor Mike and poor you :-(  Purrs that he will be better soon!

Ginger-lyn

Purrs that they find a good/workable treatmen for Mike. Never be afraid to ask
for purrs.
Suz
Macmoosette
Thank Heavens There's Only One
=^..^=   =^..^=   =^..^=   =^..^=  =^..^=  =^..^=

I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.

Hi Krista:

I've only had time to do two quick lurks the last couple of days but I want
you to know that I've been sending calming healing thoughts to your Mike and
strength and stamina thoughts to you ... all aided by Otis' loud rumbling
purring.

You're really giving your all to Mike and I know he must realize what you're
doing for him.  I hope you find a solution SOON.

Susan M
Otis and Chester

"LOL" <arbitrarilyyours@hotmail.com> wrote in message > We get home at 5:00
to a frantic kitty.  Not the same as before

I'm sorry to hear that.  Purrs for Mike to improve with a lower dosage.
--
Britta
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album

Lots of Purrs and scritches, poor Mikey {{{{{{{ Mikey}}}}}}} Jean