An update on the patient

Smoky actually wanted to eat this morning.  That’s a huge improvement.  For a cat who usually inhales his food, the fact that he didn’t want to eat last night was discouraging.  He showed up for his pill pockets but didn’t want to eat them either.  We had to drop them down his throat.  He’s a creature of habit all right.

Today he’s eaten two meals and he’s holding his head up higher and his neck is straighter.  He’d been showing signs of Cervical Ventroflexion while at Angell in the midst of his Thyroid Storm.  It was still obvious when he got home last night.  He was walking a little bit like a horse.  He’s been better today, climbing the stairs and getting up to his food bowl without difficulty and hold his head up.  The usual cause of Cervical Ventroflexion is a vitamin deficiency which, as I understand it, can happen when the thyroid goes ballistic and when cats stop eating like Smoky did.

The other cats have clearly figured out that Smoky is not feeling well.  They’ve been leaving him alone.  The dogs have not quite caught on and are still treating him like he’s a toy to be chased.  We’re working on that.

At this point we’re just feeding him as often as we can and getting his medication into him as easily as possible.  He’s doing a lot better, thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.  We’re taking it one step at a time until he’s back on his feet and then we can go in and get the thyroid that caused all of this to begin with.

~Kelly