Libby's Diagnosis

Since we moved to WA three years ago we noticed a change in Libby. She was losing weight and every now and then she would have diarrhea. We thought it was the change of environment as sometimes moving can be quite stressful to an animal. So we left it alone and assumed she would get better.

Then we also began to notice that she wasn't grooming herself as good as she once did. We constantly had to cut off knots around her neck area because brushing wasn't working. We figured, oh she's just old and doesn't feel like grooming herself anymore. At times she would vomit too but since this didn't occur often we dismissed it as anything serious.

And a couple of weeks ago she seemed she was losing even more weight. I found her inside Riley's playroom laying on a toy couch. She never goes into Riley's playroom and when I found her trying to sleep on that tiny thing my heart broke. I really thought she was living her last days given she's 14 years old and all.  So we finally took her to the vet. Her current behavior confirmed to me that something was really wrong.

She was weighed and we couldn't believe how little she weighed. She has never been a heavy cat even in the prime of her life but when the scale showed 5 lbs we were dumbfounded. Not good. The vet came back and told us what she thought could be wrong with her but we wouldn't know for sure until they did a blood test. Of course, when it comes to our pets we sometimes hesitate about spending a significant amount of money on them so Jacob and I discussed it. He even called around to other veterinarian hospitals and ours was the least expensive so we went ahead and had them draw blood.

Here she is wanting to leave the vet as soon as we got there. Funny how animals know they're at the vet.

About two days later the vet called us with the results and she confirmed what she had initially thought Libby had. Libby has an overactive thyroid and the vet said that Libby will need to be put on medication and will have to take it for the rest of her life. The rest of the blood work looked normal so that was a relief.

She has to take two pills, morning and night. The first couple of tries were a bit challenging but then I remembered to pull back on her neck and her mouth easily opens. So now I have no problem at all. The kids would need to learn how to give her the medication for when we're not home to do it ourselves.
Vet says that it will take some time for us to see improvements on Libby. I really hope she begins to gain weight within a couple of weeks. She's so skinny.

And the other day I began to get teary eyes because I realized how much I care for her. Yeah, I love her to pieces but it's not until something like this happens that you realize how much they are a part of your family. We are all concerned and sad about Libby's condition. Thankful that it can be treated and that hopefully she will begin to feel better soon.

I pray for her nightly now and I tell the kids to do the same. We love her! She's our girl!!!