So said TED at our appointment this morning.  We had taken Mike in
ostensibly to have his thyroid levels checked, but mostly because our
little guy is just not himself.  He's having some nice times in the
spring weather, but mostly he just wants to sit with meowmie, and he's
never been a lapcat kind of guy.  He's not lethargic, really; he's
just not interested in much.  He doesn't want to play or explore, just
sit.  He also has not gained any weight back after 2 months on
Tapazole.

I was worried that TED wouldn't be able to tell what we were talking
about, as it's mostly small behavioral things, but he could *see* that
Mike just doesn't feel right.  Ironically, that may worry me even
more.  TED thinks that the Tapazole is not quite doing the job - we
have tweaked the dosage *again* even without waiting for the blood
test results to come back, which will take a few days.  TED is also
checking Mike's liver enzymes, which we will also hear about in a few
days.  We may take Mike for the radioiodine treatment, though our vet
wants to do a "thorough" check of his heart before he will refer us,
because though Mikey's heart rate is down from what it was before the
hyperthyroidism was diagnosed, it's still high, and TED is worried
about cardiomyopathy.

I don't think Mike feels *bad* exactly; I think he feels old.  He
seems to have lost his sense of invulnerability.  He's always been a
scrapper and ready to take on any cat/dog/human/whatever that crossed
his path.  Now he's sticking close to home and close to mom, and seems
to be needing *lots* of security and reassurance.  His conviction of
his invincibility has always driven me crazy, but his losing it is
making me very sad.  I have been mourning the loss of my MightyMike,
and I want him back.

TED said that Mike reminds him of "a person who has given up on life."
But Mike's not that old, and he's not that sick.  The last few months
have been very hard on him, with his misery before the diagnosis and
the adjustments in his Tapazole dosage, but as far as I know he's
otherwise basically healthy, and I don't know why this has had such an
apparent mental effect on him.  TED's other feline hyperthyroid
patient was there this morning also, and she is doing wonderfully well
on the Tapazole.

What do you do for a depressed cat?

------
Krista
Worried Mom