Hi,

I am so sorry that your cat (and you) are going through this. I have a couple of thoughts. First of all, when your vet ran the labwork and said the T4 was fine.....that may or may not be true. The reason I say this is cats can have what is called "sick euthyroid" -- this means that the T4 number comes up normal because whatever disease process is going on in the body is altering the value. As soon as the disease process is treated, the cat becomes hyperthyroid. The way we distinguish this is that we run what is called a "Free T4". This looks at a different portion of the thyroid hormone system and can really hone in on what is going on.

I would also be curious if your vet did a urinalysis. If so, was there sugar (glucose) in the urine? Your cat may be diabetic. This might not have shown on regular labwork if it was sent out to the lab because glucose is used by the cells as soon as the blood is drawn. You can have a normal glucose on labwork if there was any delay in processing the sample. A urinalysis would make the database complete. I would be looking for diabetes and a urinary tract infection.

You can have a urinalysis and a free T4 done for very little cost. If you just had the labwork done at a lab, they will do an "add on" test for much less than the regular price.

The final issue is that he may in fact have cancer. A one view x-ray is not really a thorough study. It takes 2 views to really see any particular part of the body. Cancer sometimes is only found by abdominal ultrasound - this usually costs about $200.

My advice to you is to spend a little bit more (less than $100) to have the urinalysis and free T4 done. Your answer is likely to be found there.

I hope I've been helpful. Please let me know if you need more information.