Hi all, probably looking for people to tell me what I'm already going
to do!  Anyway, I'm quoting here from Max's House (www.maxshouse.com -
thanks Phil P.!):  "The most common clinical signs of hyperthyroidism
in cats are weight loss, ravenous appetite, vomiting, excessive
drinking and urinating, hyperactivity, and diarrhea. Often the
haircoat looks unkempt and dull."

I've got a 9.5yo Balinese male, whom I've posted about before
regarding possible renal failure.  Subsequent bloods showed normal
renal function.  The problem was that he eats like a horse, yet over
the past 6-9 months has gradually lost weight and is now as skinny as
a rake (when he first came to me in 2003 he was a little underweight,
but this is much worse).  He does vomit occasionally (which I was
worried about when thinking about renal failure, as it runs in his
family), has diarrhoea and his coat has been unkempt ever since he
came to me.  The problem with that is that I thought the coat problem
was due to bad teeth and gums and therefore a reluctance to groom
himself, but it hasn't improved since all his bad teeth were taken out
(yet he eats chicken necks and dry food now which he wouldn't before).
Behaviour-wise, he is as bright as a button, always happy and sparky,
and trots about the place looking self-important.

My problem is this:  I took him in to my vet, who did the "elderly cat
screen" and agreed that yes, there is something seriously wrong with
him but he is unsure what.   He did however worry about FIP as I had
had a teenage kitten die of this within the past 6 months (but that
kitten had no contact with this cat).  I mentioned thyroid function
tests, but he didn't want to test that on the first pass.  Bloods came
back, and he was NOT in kidney failure as I worried he might be;  but
his white cell count was elevated (I think 22 from memory;  vet didn't
give me a differential either).  So he ran a coronavirus titre and
that was apparently sky-high, raising the index of suspicion for FIP.
In fact that is what this vet thinks my cat has, full stop.  He hasn't
yet advised euthanasia but advised us to isolate him, and use
precautions against transmission, etc (even though from what I have
read a cat with active FIP is not actually infectious).

All this was about 8 weeks ago.  Since then, no change in Harry's
condition at all.  Still emaciated, still eating like a horse (2 cans
Hills a/d per day, plus lots of raw meat with a vitamin supplement and
he only weighs less than 3kg!), still some diarrhoea and vomiting.
Still very much interested in life and socialisation too.

So could he be hyperthyroid?  Can that cause an elevated white cell
count?  (He was tested for FeLV too, recently and 12 months ago (and
FIV tested 12 months ago) and has never been an outside cat since I
had him, anyway).  Could a "sky-high" coronavirus titre be a red
herring? (Or even, a result of his system being stressed by another
general medical condition).

I wanted him tested for toxoplasmosis but they didn't have enough
blood for it;  he gets so stressed when travelling I didn't want to
take him back for that test alone.  But I think I'll have to get his
T4 tested for my own piece of mind, if nothing else...

Has anyone had a similar experience?

Asking for thoughts...
Cath