Cat of the Month - May 2024 - Ollie & Milly
CAT OF THE MONTH MAY 2024
So, summer seems to have finally decided to stay for a while at least. The Vet2Cat crew are sweltering away in the Vet2CatMobile with its broken air-con, so we can sympathise with all your cats with their big fur coats on! The moult is on, so remember to brush your cats to remove dead hair, and possibly add in some fur ball paste one to two times a week to help with all the extra fluff they are ingesting!
Without further ado, we announce the winners of Cat of The Month May 2024. A double act this time – Ollie and Milly!
Ladies first, so Milly is a dinky 16-year-old very floofy longhaired cat, with a few of the usual suspects of old cat illnesses going on – hyperthyroidism and chronic kidney disease, she currently hasn’t ticked the hypertension box, but we are keeping a close eye on this. Nurse Estelle is a frequent visitor for Milly as she needs a good de-matting every few weeks.
Her slightly younger pal Ollie, or Othello if he’s having a posh day, is 13 & a bit years old big fella. Now Ollie is turning into a bit of a medical enigma. So much so, we have had to send him to see medicine specialists over at Optivet Referrals. For one thing, Ollie is a rare example of HYPOthyroidism (too little thyroid hormone production, as opposed to the usual hyperthyroidism that Milly has – too much thyroid hormone production). Ollie was HYPERthyroid several years ago and was sent away to a specialist centre to receive radioactive iodine therapy – a curative treatment for hyperthyroidism. Our working assumption is that he became hypothyroid because of the treatment, one of the potential risks– Ollie is very unlucky, as this is very uncommon. He also has some form of inflammatory disease going on, causing him to drink excessively, the primary cause of the inflammation remains elusive. Blood tests performed by the specialist also indicate he has subclinical hypersomatotropism – say that 5 times quickly!! This is an excessive production of Growth Hormone from a gland in the brain which explains why Ollie is a very big cat; fortunately, so far he doesn’t have signs of diabetes which often occurs with this condition. And more recently he has added Horner’s syndrome to his list of ailments, which is in the process of being investigated. This syndrome looks like it’s an eye problem but usually isn’t – one eye has a very narrow pupil, a bit of a droop, the third eyelid comes across and it waters more – but it is actually a neurological problem – one of the nerves running to the eye being affected.
Talk about complicated! Despite of all this, Ollie is a lovely boy, and lets us do all his check ups and blood tests etc with only a hint of disapproval!
Ollie & Milly are much loved fur-babies, and their hooman wouldn’t be without them. We wish them both all the best with their various problems.
