Blog
Cat health tips, daily care guides, and Micords usage tricks.
Carrier anxiety, medication battles, and vet-visit struggles are common challenges for cat owners. I once envied everyone else's 'angel cats' — but it turns out good training really works. My white cat was aggressive as a young adult due to a lack of early socialization, and vet visits became genuinely stressful. After years of consistent positive reinforcement, both cats now go to the vet without attacking anyone.
Sharing why I chose not to buy pet insurance for my senior cats. By the time pet insurance became widely available in Taiwan, my cats were already senior-aged, and pre-existing conditions like kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and pancreatitis left most policies unable to cover them. After weighing high premiums against limited coverage and waiting periods, I opted for a self-managed "medical reserve fund" approach — paired with daily health tracking to catch problems early.
My 18-year-old CKD cat's cardiac function was already at the borderline between normal and abnormal. While subcutaneous fluids help kidney function, they also burden the heart — and over-hydration can cause edema or, in the worst case, pulmonary edema. This experience taught me that more fluids is not always better. The right balance requires working closely with your vet.
After my 18-year-old white cat was diagnosed with CKD, subcutaneous fluid administration became a nightmare — she'd panic and bolt every time. I discovered through foreign articles that not every kidney cat absolutely needs sub-Q fluids, and started encouraging voluntary water intake instead. After over a month, her creatinine dropped from 2.6 to 2.0.
Gastrointestinal bleeding complications caused her hematocrit to drop into the low 20s. The vet raised the possibility of a plasma transfusion. We decided to wait one more day — and her values miraculously improved. Pancreatitis combined with CKD dramatically increases the risk of dangerous low blood pressure. This is why having a 24-hour hospital was not just helpful — it was essential.
After a week in the hospital, my cat came home still with a nasogastric tube in place. She needed 180 cc of nutritional formula per day in small increments every 3 hours around the clock. One terrifying moment when the tube came out — I had to cut it with scissors immediately to prevent her from swallowing it. Gradually, she started eating on her own again.
My 18-year-old cat had been eating less and sleeping more for months — I assumed it was just normal aging. Then one day she vomited four times and refused to eat. An emergency vet visit revealed acute pancreatitis with multiple critical lab values. We ended up hospitalizing her with a nasogastric tube. The hardest lesson: eating less and sleeping more is NOT normal aging in senior cats.
After I-131 radioactive iodine therapy, my orange cat's TT4 dropped steadily from 6.2 to 1.6 and has remained stable. The 5-day lead-room isolation with no visits was tough, but after 6 months of follow-up care and weekly subcutaneous injections for kidney support, he's doing great.
After the hyperthyroidism diagnosis, I chose radioactive iodine (I-131) therapy — the treatment with the best chance of a cure. This covers the pre-treatment workup (bloodwork, X-rays, cardiac ultrasound), the required medication washout period, and the anxious waiting period before the procedure.
My orange cat — always a noisy one — suddenly showed increased urination, drooling, and a weight loss of over 1 kg. His TT4 came back at 6.1 and the diagnosis was feline hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism can mask underlying kidney disease, and this experience drove home just how important it is to track weight, water intake, and urine output every day.
A guide to the most common blood test values and what they mean — and how to use Micords to track trends over time.