She’s alive and stable now. Diet did it! ... She’s
my cat, my precious little pea, a gentle, fragile and beautiful creature, who has weathered a few storms these past two
years. Now in her 11th year, ‘Tiggy’
entered our life on a frigid day in 2003-(It Was a Brutal, Barbaric Way to Die 5/2012). The day we met, I fell in
love –again! The death game she played that morning,
courtesy of a member of the human race, destroyed her whiskers completely and
nearly killed her. Her view of the world and everyone in it, is somewhat skewed
now. ... (Even I am suspect, at times.)
Tiggy has always been different, not wanting to be held or
petted, even by me, and is easily stressed. So I leave her alone as much as
possible while talking to her and letting her know that I love her to pieces.
... I massage her neck and head area, daily, near
the location of her overactive thyroid, hoping this little bit of on-site attention
will quell any disturbance arising out of this important gland. ... Her morning routine of sitting on the window
sill, near me as I work, is a calming and invigorating ritual she has come to
love and expect.... (Fresh air is Mother Nature's gift to her) ... We talk and all is well. A visit to the veterinarian is a stressful event,
usually requiring a bath when we return home. ... (Funny, though, being bathed
by me, her caregiver and rescuer, is no big deal now. She understands why.) It
generally takes two to bathe a cat but in her case that would be a worst case
scenario since any help might cause her grave concerns and their motives,
suspect). ... We now have a system that works for us. Stress
is such a nefarious condition for everyone and animals, too, so I try to keep
her and her thyroid gland as happy as possible, with peaceful, mindful
approaches.
When her crisis began, I thought she was dying. Her face, emaciated; her frame, somewhat angular
and rigid, told a foreboding story. She had lost 10% of her body weight. I
believed her time was near. A routine of ritualistic food buying was begun in
the hopes she would put on weight. (It
worked for a time.) ... Then came the diagnosis: hyperthyroidism. A yearlong battle
to stabilize this gland ensued. ... One high cost treatment option was rejected
outright, fraught with too many variables. (Then I read where it might need to be
repeated, in rare cases.) ... A pill,
administered twice daily, created another dilemma: she lost her appetite completely. ... A once daily topical version was then begun,
proving worse than the pill, as this cream set her liver 'on fire’,
sending its ALT enzyme soaring to new
heights. This treatment option was stopped, immediately. ... We had
hit the wall! There was nowhere to turn until Hills Pet Food came to our rescue and saved the day. It
was Sept/2012.
A most controversial approach, ten years in development at Hills Pet Food, had been found.
...It was called diet! ... What a revolutionary idea! ... What a gimmick! ... Food to fix this serious medical condition, had
been formulated and tested. ... And it worked!. ... This thyroid food- in wet and dry forms- literally
saved our little girl’s life. Though her gums were showing signs of ‘wear’, using Hills
T.D. feline food (for gums and teeth) helped in stabilizing both her liver
and her gums- though it was not a preferred choice for the thyroid, on a
regular basis. ...It was a daily delicate balancing act. (Droplets of water are blended with her wet food, several times daily, to reduce incidence of crystal formation in her bladder)
Y.D. and the
occasional T.D. are mainstays in her diet now. .. Recent blood tests attest to the diet’s
influence in stabilizing our kitty cat, in every way. She runs about while
interacting with her dog peers-all 4- when two are visiting. Loud noises and
barks rarely upset her. She purrs
whenever I enter her bedroom and comes when called. We talk. ...
She is doing well and we owe it all to diet. Imagine that!
Maybe, there is a lesson there. Thank you, Hills, for answering
our prayers.
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