Ya know, CG....there's so much that is unknown with our critters...without them having the ability to tell us exactly how they feel or where they hurt, we're left to 'hunt and peck' through a list of symptoms and trying to treat those symptoms.
Autopsies, or necropsies, are fascinating to observe or take part in. Raising livestock, I always thought the most important animal was the one I had autopsied because it could provide some information about overall herd health.
My best friend and I did an autopsy on a small lamb one time....little motherless thing. Seemed to be doing pretty good with bottle feeding...but developed seizures. Vet gave me some medicine (started with a p, as I recall). For a couple of days that seemed ok....but then it was like she had one big seizure after another and just died.
Things were pretty tight financially at that time as Gene had gone on dialysis, but disability had not kicked in yet....so I called this best friend crying and she comes over and announces 'we' will do the autopsy and if we find something 'odd', she would run it in to the vet or call her vet about it anyhow.
While I never had a problem bringing a sick baby into my home, I knew Gene would draw the line at making any part of said home a 'coroner's office'. So we did it outside (this was late January-cold, snow on ground).
Considering the 'crude instruments' we had to use, we actually did very well! Thankfully, Diane had taken a number of biology and zoology classes in college.
While we didn't find what caused the seizures, we did find an anomally in the liver tissue--there were several oocysts. Diane talked with her vet and I can't remember what imedical condition it was indicative of.
Sometimes, friend, we can drive ourselves batty trying to figure out what went wrong....and our energy should be spent trying to maintain the health and wellbeing of the rest.
Missie's lucky to have you as her slave. :)
I have been reading about the hyperthyroid thing and it is a real must to control in order to prevent kidney failure, heart problems, liver problems and hypertension! Yikes. I assume the same things would hold true for a human with hyperthyroid disease...makes MeanEars simple by comparison.