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El Protoolio wrote:My 14.5 year old orange tabby cat was diagnosed with hyper thyroidism a few years ago. Eats a prescription diet (YD) and seems fine most of the time but every once in awhile has bouts of watery stool. Usually he shits solid and tidy. Most recent bout was a few days ago and he s eating and drinking and pissing but I don t think he s shit in two days. He seemed a little lethargic but appears normal now, except I think he s holding it in because he s afraid of it. He may have shit and covered it up but usually when he s going through that he shits outside the box and drags his dirty ass around like he did two days ago.My question is is diarrhea a symptom of hyper thyroidism? He might have eaten something disagreeable or just gotten a bug but I m curious if there s any causation between the thyroidism and diarrhea?Not typically connected but I've seen a few outliers. If it's been years on the y/d then I would assume the hyperthyroidism is under control and thus not a factor so if recent thyroid hormone levels have been good, I'd be looking for other causes.

wellbutrin wrote:Tommy wrote:8 lb, 10-yr old female cat has a lump on one side of her rib cage. Feels as hard as bone but it's round and almost the size of an earbud. Guessing an x-ray is in order here?Potentially relevant: She had a non-cancerous fatty lump removed from her back about 4 months ago. She had it for a few years and it had gotten the size of a gum drop.A needle aspirate would likely be more useful/diagnostic but if it needs to be removed an x-ray might show if there is dramatic bony involvement.Roommate's cat. She took her into the vet, they gave her an x-ray, said not to worry, basically called her crazy for just noticing it, and sent her on her way $250 later. (side note: I also just noticed it a day apart from the roommate, independently, and I hold/pet this cat a lot). It did seem to come out of nowhere.

wellbutrin wrote:El Protoolio wrote:My 14.5 year old orange tabby cat was diagnosed with hyper thyroidism a few years ago. Eats a prescription diet (YD) and seems fine most of the time but every once in awhile has bouts of watery stool. Usually he shits solid and tidy. Most recent bout was a few days ago and he s eating and drinking and pissing but I don t think he s shit in two days. He seemed a little lethargic but appears normal now, except I think he s holding it in because he s afraid of it. He may have shit and covered it up but usually when he s going through that he shits outside the box and drags his dirty ass around like he did two days ago.My question is is diarrhea a symptom of hyper thyroidism? He might have eaten something disagreeable or just gotten a bug but I m curious if there s any causation between the thyroidism and diarrhea?Not typically connected but I've seen a few outliers. If it's been years on the y/d then I would assume the hyperthyroidism is under control and thus not a factor so if recent thyroid hormone levels have been good, I'd be looking for other causes.So I took him in very soon after this and he had developed type 2 diabetes. Been giving him insulin for three weeks or so now and he s just getting his strength back and acting normal. Thanks for your advice.

My 22-year-old cat has a very swollen face. My vet has narrowed it down to either a serious dental issue/infection or cancer of the mouth, but says that an x-ray is necessary to determine which. (Blood & urine test results were surprisingly normal, except white blood cell count is through the roof.)My vet is insisting that my cat needs to be anesthetized in order to be x-rayed. It seems that an x-ray would be possible without the anesthesia (but what do I know...). I'm surprised by that and wonder what your take on this x-ray matter is. Thank you.

KrisPoulin wrote:My 22-year-old cat has a very swollen face. My vet has narrowed it down to either a serious dental issue/infection or cancer of the mouth, but says that an x-ray is necessary to determine which. (Blood & urine test results were surprisingly normal, except white blood cell count is through the roof.)My vet is insisting that my cat needs to be anesthetized in order to be x-rayed. It seems that an x-ray would be possible without the anesthesia (but what do I know...). I'm surprised by that and wonder what your take on this x-ray matter is. Thank you.dental x-rays require anesthesia because the sensor has to be placed in the mouth and the pets don't like that so they spit them out or bite them and they are very expensive. also they generally will not just lie down with an x-ray machine right next to their head and not move while you take the images.

El Protoolio wrote:wellbutrin wrote:El Protoolio wrote:My 14.5 year old orange tabby cat was diagnosed with hyper thyroidism a few years ago. Eats a prescription diet (YD) and seems fine most of the time but every once in awhile has bouts of watery stool. Usually he shits solid and tidy. Most recent bout was a few days ago and he s eating and drinking and pissing but I don t think he s shit in two days. He seemed a little lethargic but appears normal now, except I think he s holding it in because he s afraid of it. He may have shit and covered it up but usually when he s going through that he shits outside the box and drags his dirty ass around like he did two days ago.My question is is diarrhea a symptom of hyper thyroidism? He might have eaten something disagreeable or just gotten a bug but I m curious if there s any causation between the thyroidism and diarrhea?Not typically connected but I've seen a few outliers. If it's been years on the y/d then I would assume the hyperthyroidism is under control and thus not a factor so if recent thyroid hormone levels have been good, I'd be looking for other causes.So I took him in very soon after this and he had developed type 2 diabetes. Been giving him insulin for three weeks or so now and he s just getting his strength back and acting normal. Thanks for your advice.Cornelius Cattus Rex has recovered nicely. So much that his diabetes went into remission. He turned 15 in November. The only issue is back when he got sick he started pooping outside the box which was often diarrhea. He d still piss in the box but not poop. Eventually the diarrhea went away, I went from one box to two, tried different litters, tried different levels in the box because I thought he might not feel stable walking in there even though he does to piss, and finally went back to one box. I keep paper around it for the poop and twice I ve seen him stick a paw in the box to touch the litter and proceed to poop outside it. Every great once in awhile he will leave one in the box but he goes out of it regularly. His thyroid is under control, he s no longer needing insulin, I scoop it regularly and keep it clean, he s eating, he has his strength back, I had him checked for kidney problems and UTI and he s fine. He s no longer on YD, his thyroidism is controlled by a medicine I apply to his inner ear twice a day, so he s just eating regular normal wet cat food. So what s up? Why after 15 years of perfectly tidy litter habits is he shitting on the floor next to the box? I m baffled and so is my vet. I m just happy he s healthy but if I could stop this I would like to.

wellbutrin wrote:Vansassa wrote:Hi! Any insight as to why a cat would have some white feces? I've never seen this before. Keep in mind this is a feral cat from outside, so who knows what she's been eating, but she looks incredibly healthy and clean. She was in heat if that makes any difference. No other cat from the colony has had this either, and we've spayed/neutered 18 cats from there so far. Thanks, vI've seen a white coating on feces from cats that eat raw/wild diets. In a healthy cat, dietary causes are the only possibility given that only severe biliary/liver disease can cause it medically in which case she'd be super sick.

wellbutrin wrote:KrisPoulin wrote:My 22-year-old cat has a very swollen face. My vet has narrowed it down to either a serious dental issue/infection or cancer of the mouth, but says that an x-ray is necessary to determine which. (Blood & urine test results were surprisingly normal, except white blood cell count is through the roof.)My vet is insisting that my cat needs to be anesthetized in order to be x-rayed. It seems that an x-ray would be possible without the anesthesia (but what do I know...). I'm surprised by that and wonder what your take on this x-ray matter is. Thank you.dental x-rays require anesthesia because the sensor has to be placed in the mouth and the pets don't like that so they spit them out or bite them and they are very expensive. also they generally will not just lie down with an x-ray machine right next to their head and not move while you take the images.

El Protoolio wrote: shitting on the floor Taking the whole picture into consideration, my guess would be that a) there is an orthopedic/neuropathic issue that makes traversing into and out of the box difficult or painful or b) it is behavioral (ie he's old and doesn't give a shit [ha] anymore)there are a few ways to test these theories. the first thing i'd do would be to make getting into the litterbox as easy as possible by using a super shallow box (~1 tall) and see if things improve. there are also a couple of medication trials to consider for pain and even a few for behavioral problems though i've found that they rarely work well in cats.