I took her to the vet yesterday ($29 for a check-up? Is that normal?) and her new age estimate is 12 to 13 years old. I was pretty surprised. She's so small in bone structure that I didn't think she was full-grown. Her other fun bits include:
-exposed, blackened nerve in that chipped canine (tooth will have to come out, surgically)
-kitty plaque pushing her gums off of her teeth (surgery will remove it)
-4.5 pounds
-overactive thyroid keeping her weight down
-heart murmur
-undersized kidneys
We're going back to the vet today for blood work ($180). The vet hasn't tested for worms, despite the fact that she was found running loose in the city; instead she's certain that November's weight is because of her hyperactive thyroid. It was described to me as her thyroid keeps her body in a running-a-marathon mode that will damage her kidneys and heart, as well as keeping her from relaxing (this I haven't seen) and burning calories faster than she can keep them in. There's a medication for it, however, that I would be able to just swab on one of her ears daily (roughly $30/month).
We can't get her teeth fixed until she's back up to a stable condition and has gained weight, and the vet thinks that because of that blackened nerve and the hardened plaque, her mouth is in almost constant pain. We had to explain to the vet a couple of times that she'd gained quite a bit of body mass since we'd started taking care of her a couple of weeks ago, too. Nobody in the house believes that this cat is 12 or 13 years old, though none of us have veterinary training either. She's just so small!
The vet did check for any microchips that would say who November really belonged to, but none of their readers found any. Maybe I should set up a "click here to donate to Special Expensive Rescue Kitty With Medical Problems" thing somehow.
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