HyperThyroidism and a Cautionary Thought...

Hey, guess what!
The "feral" de-clawed, neutered emaciated boy-cat that showed up on our shop door step is hyperthyroid. Cost me $400.00 to find that out. He'll have to be on medication for the rest of his days. Just like me. I was diagnosed as hyperthyroid just over a decade ago, after I had unexplained problems with heart palpitations. Mr. Stinky, as he's been christened by my co-workers, in honour of his um, farts, has started to look less like a stick, and more like a cat.

Don't get me wrong, the diagnosis was helpful, since I now know why Mr. Stinky hasn't gained any weight, although he's been getting as much food as he'll eat, every day. This will save me $$ in canned cat food, which Mr. Stinky had insisted was the only food he would eat. Turns out he'll eat other food too:)
Now, if you came into my shop, and saw this cat, would you think I was abusing him, judging by his condition? I really wonder how many cases of emaciation are disorders of the thyroid. To find out takes a blood test, big $$.

When this cat started losing weight, did his owners worry that someone would call the SPCA on them? Why would owners of a de-clawed neutered sweet hearted tabby dump him behind a metal-working industrial area? Because of his farts? Or was the cat simply lost? We'll never know, he isn't microchipped. Mr. Stinky would love to find a new home, he's really not an ideal sign shop companion, as most of my customers might start remarking on the increase of hairs in their shipments. I'm having a great time though, it's been years sincde a cat gave me several daily hugs.

Flip and Blaze are so bored and annoyed with me, I haven't been taking them to hell I mean work for a while. And I come home STINKING of cat, every work day. Flip in particular has started haranguing me as soon as I get home, and she's really working those guilt strings I was born with.

Seeing as how I have a B.Sc. degree, as well as living with the disease myself, I have a smitchen of knowledge about hyperthyroidism. I've been doing some more reading about it. I have a baaaad feeling that our food industry have (through lack of foresight years ago) caused many of our current problems with our thyroids/immune systems/chromosomes. Also, do not forget, plastics have also been shown to negatively impact our thyroids. 

This is from the "Merck Veterinary Manual", 1973. Listen to this.
"The discovery that thyroxine or thyroactive substances, such as dessicated thyroid and thyroprotein, influence milk production, growth rate, reproduction and, in chickens, egg production and feathering, has led to considerable experimental use of these materials. Thyroid administration during the decline phase of milk production in cattle has been shown to increase both milk and butterfat production."

Now, I am SURE our milk and egg producers did not do anything that would affect our health. Yeah, right. Here's a hormone that will increase something that normally decreases! More profit, less cost, YAY!

Another gem from Merck "Antibiotics have been used in poultry feeds since 1950 as a means of increasing growth rate and improving feed efficiency. They are still effective for this purpose and are used at a level of 2 to 10 mg/kg of feed depending on the antibiotic used. However, in some countries regulations now restrict this usage for certain antibiotics, and care should be taken to comply."

Space requirements in egg-strain birds, by floor area for a full grown bird? One to one and a half square feet. To stand in, forever, until the bird croaks. This was 1973. I betcha a thousand bucks that space requirement is now halved, but I'll go look it up before I confirm it. Less for the animal is always more for us. Not all of us, I am making my sweeping proclamatons/generalizations again. Our technology has allowed us to thrive. At what future cost, is now upon us, whether we listen or not.

Now, I know this sounds ridiculous, and to most maybe it is, but I still feel, in my bones, that how we've improved/increased/accelerated our food, has also diminished/decreased/slowed down our own abilities to be healthy, on our own. In GENERAL, I'm talking. Don't shoot me, eh, Paige;)

Take my wonder dog Flip. Flip's mom's owner gave the bitch antibiotics, during the pregnancy, why, I don't know. Several of the pups in the litter were born with severe cleft palates, and had to be euthed. Flip has an inverted hoo-hoo, one functioning kidney, a bad tummy and the worst set of hips my vet had seen for years.

Oh, crap. Never mind. It's just, I've been gestalting a lot of information over the years, and it's really weird how many of my worry-wart forebodings are being read about. The word antibiotic means "against life". A great article in Discover magazine describes our inner globs of life, which are so important to us, but are waiting to kill us if we lose our ability to co-exist with them. Dirt isn't as bad as we think it is. Hey, it's not dirty unless you get sick from it. Fecal implants can actually save lives. Ayup, they can. So there, all you dirt-o-phobes!

I will end this incomprehensible post with weird pictures I've taken lately.

Scary plants, huh? You should have seen Blaze bouncing the lines of cabbages, hilarious. I video-ed, but it's 73 freakin' MB. My life is ticking by too fast to wait for that size of file on not-highest-speed.

We were on dial-up for awhile, wow, was that fun! Not. Thanks to my ISP, for frying your own modem, by blasting it with too high a signal. Is that why my ears are ringing?
Do you think they would tell me? Me either...

Be careful out there.

OH, and sorry for the overly dramatic title of the last post. I could read all kinds of bad court rulings into those words the CRA was spouting. Courts have ruled? What? When? Who could possibly say that a charity dedicated to preventing cruelty couldn't advocate against that cruelty, without the risk of being considered a non-charity?
And since when is it okay to NOT stop cruelty, if the person being cruel is benefiting from the cruelty? Doesn't that mean dog-fights are actually legal, because it is a benefit to the fighters?
What? Never mind, it is Canada speak. And I'm easily confused these days.
Apparently.