I had Elijah for almost 18 years. He was always a chunky kitty, so when I noticed he was losing a lot of weight, I had a feeling that his thyroid was working too hard, (probably caused by a tumor), speeding up his metabolism and making him super hungry, all the time, and causing his body to eat his fat and muscles. I only knew about hyperthyroidism because I’m in the pet food industry and have been trying to help others with their hyperthyroid kitties.

It made me so sad for Elijah, knowing there wasn’t much I could do for him at his age, aside from try to feed him as much as I could, while not exacerbating the thyroid. I did my research and there were so many “tips” out there, none of which helped or made sense. He was too old for radiation therapy, there were mixed results with the ear cream, (side effects include vomiting and anorexia, which defeats the whole purpose!) and there was no way I was putting him on Hill’s prescription food, (which are filled with plant material that his body didn’t need). My question was, what caused the hyperthyroidism, in the first place? Once I realized that everyday things could have caused this, I was furious! As usual, my ignorance has caused one of my babies to get sick. Awesome. Moving on.

I knew from my research that his hyperthyroidism was connected with his failing kidneys, and was causing his blood pressure problem, including his blood clot in his foot. I knew his time was almost up, which broke my heart. I also knew that, had I fed him a better diet, this may not have happened, or may have been delayed a few years, but there was nothing I could do about the past. I fed him as much as I could until the day he couldn’t breathe and we took him and put him down. It was so sad, but I was determined to keep Missy healthy as long as I could.

I got her onto all canned food, (she would not eat raw) and gave her supplements to keep her healthy and had her for 3 more years (and never had failing kidneys or hyperthyroid!). When she lost her battle with lung cancer, I was completely broken and my life was empty of purrs. I made the decision, that when I got cats next, they would be fed only raw meat!

As always, email with questions and take a looksie at those links!

Amanda