Anyone with experience with hyperthyroid in a cat?

[Curmudgeoness]

I do not want to deal with this. I just lost one cat two months ago from renal failure, and now the other cat has just been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. There are times in life where we don't know how to get through it all, and this is one of those times for me.

The vet presented two options. One is twice daily meds for the rest of his life, and this would include blood tests every month until we are sure we have it under control. The other option is radioactive iodine treatment which is a cure. The cure will be expensive, about $1500. The meds for control are less expensive but when you add in cost of bloodwork and who knows how many office visits for this monitoring, I am not sure if it will be cheaper.

I asked what happens if nothing is done, and that is just not an option since it is apparently death by a multitude of organ problems.

This cat is only 8 years old. He has been losing weight, which is why he went to the vet. One problem is that my vet tells me that although all the other bloodwork looked good, hyperthyroidism can mask kidney problems and we would have to wait until the thyroid is controlled before we know that all else is well.

So I am thinking that I would like to go with the radioactive iodine for a cure, but the cost will hurt a lot, and if there is an underlying issue, I will have put every bit of money I can get my hands on into the treatment and will have nothing to treat any other problem. I also could do the meds to get it under control, make sure that there are no other troubles, then go with the cure if all is well.

Does anyone have experience with either the meds or the iodine treatment?

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Eerie coincidence . . . .

We took our 14 year old cat in for a routine check-up just this afternoon.

She'd lost nearly a pound and a half since her last visit. The vet felt her thyroid and said it seemed like it maybe, just might, could be enlarged. That would/could account for the weight loss. She also formally declared her a "geriatric" cat (which seems to automatically trigger higher rates for everything :eyes: ). We went with a full set of blood tests. We'll know either tomorrow or early next week, whenever the blood work comes back, what the issues are.

The vet said, in her experience, cats tend to get hypothyroidism while dogs tend to get hyperthyroidism. She also said it is pretty easy to treat, but went no further. From what you're saying, "easy" is not how I would describe the cure!

She also had a heart murmur. The vet described it as a "very noticeable" murmur. Our options are to do nothing and hope for the best, or go to a kitty cardiologist (Really??? A kitty cardiologist????) and get the real story. We're opting to do nothing.

We're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. I certainly hope that you are overreacting and will not have to give up.

I have been reading about hyperthyroidism in cats all evening, and this is very common in cats. They say that a vet cannot usually feel the thyroid in a normal cat, so if your vet noticed it, I would not be surprised this is the problem. It is also very treatable from what they say. My first instinct (to start with meds and make sure there are no underlying problems) seems the treatment of choice, although my vet was more inclined to go with radioactive iodine). After losing a renal failure cat, and hearing that the thyroid condition can mask kidney problems, I don't think that I should sink that kind of money into him without knowing all else is fine.

One thing that may make you feel better, and that is if there is hyperthyroidism, it can cause heart problems that can reverse themselves or at least be less of a problem after the T4 levels get to a normal level. I had a cat with a murmur for years---most of his 17 years, and it was never serious enough to affect his health.

So it seems that if you have hyperthyroid, I would treat that first and see how it works to correct any other problems. Good luck. These furballs are just always worrying us, aren't they?

[Stinky The Clown]

3. We have five furballs!

Two cats and three dogs.

The cats are brother and sister, but from two different litters.

The dogs range from 10lbs to 95lbs.

Every one of them have been to the vet in the last three weeks.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. Ouch, that has to hurt the pocket book. Is everyone else ok?

I did the first pill today, and he threw it up (has not had a problem with vomitting before). I stuck it back down his throat, these pills are $1 a piece. I will have to see how this goes.

[Lorien]

8. It's the other way around: cats get hyperthyroidism, dogs get hypothyroidism

hyperthyroidism will always end up killing the cat (usually from heart failure) if untreated.

[Critters2]

16. My first cat had hyperthyroidism and dilated cardiomyopathy.

Once we got the thyroid issue under control with medication, the heart condition improved. The thyroid condition was causing the heart disease. If your regular vet didn't check further as to the reason for the heart murmur, the cardiologist may be a good bet. It's likely the two conditions are related, and treating one will help the other.

Good luck!

[Curmudgeoness]

17. He gets bloodwork tomorrow to see if the meds are helping,

and if there are any other problems that were masked by the T-4 readings. It will be a few days before I get the results, but I am hoping for the best. I'll post if there is anything further to report.

[Lisa0825]

4. DUer hyphenate has a kitty that went to Radiocat...

and kestrel said it is a very good treatment.

Here is the outcome update thread for hyphenate's kitty...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=134206

and the original thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9318720

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Thanks, Lisa, I knew someone would be able to get me that link.

I remembered when this original thread was active. I never saw the followup and always wondered how that had gone. I guess I don't know how to search well, because I tried a search in the archives before posting. I was trying to find out who it was and where they took the cat. I guess it is the same company (Radiocat) my vet wants me to go in Pittsburgh.

Thanks for the information.

[Lisa0825]

7. I volunteer with a rescue, so I was really interested in the info about Radiocat...

I probably read every word on their website. I really liked what I read! They seem to really go above and beyond to both make the pet-patients comfy and at ease and to comfort the families that love them. They keep the patient/staff ration at levels so that each patient gets individual attention, and they ask for articles from home favorite foods, etc. They'll even play audio of video or you for them. It sounds like much much more than a pet hospital.

[Lorien]

9. I'd opt for the iodine treatment if your kitty's kidneys are healthy enough for it

my beloved cat Peewee died from complications from hyperthyroid disease. His kidneys weren't in good enough shape for the radioactive iodine. He hated the twice a day doses of tapazole, which have the side effect of anxiety and depression (in both humans and cats). so eventually I had to put him on liquid Prozac as well! The Prozac helped his mood considerably, but the tapazol did not control his hyperthyroidism. Soon he was having seizures and needing chest taps. He was at the vets for a chest tap when he died of heart failure. He was my best friend; I had raised him from when he was only two days old, and he died at age 13. All of the treatments set me back over $7,000, but I would have given anything for him. $1,500 sounds like a bargain in hindsight.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. OMG, Peewee was gorgeous! I know what you mean...

what am I working for if it isn't to take care of fur babies! So far, so good with the tapazole, but he is not a good sport about getting pills. I just hope that I am doing the right thing with waiting to do iodine treatments until I know everything else is healthy with Ashes. My vet had said that she would do the iodine for her cat (in fact, that is what she is doing) from the beginning. I have looked at cost either way, and yes, iodine treatment will be cheaper in the long run.

How did your vet know that his kidneys were not healthy enough for the iodine? Did it show up in the original blood tests that they took to determine hyperthyroidism? I am going to be holding my breath for the next three weeks until the next bloodwork.

And just in case you ever have to deal with a cat and pills again, my vet gave me a tip that is really helpful. Have a syringe with water in it with you, and as soon as you put the pill in the mouth, get some water in the mouth to make the cat swallow. This has helped me greatly. Well, until he figures out how to get around the swallowing.

[Lorien]

11. I use pill pockets for pills (made by Greenies). If they don't eat them on their own

you can coat them in a freeze dried chicken treat, like liv-a-littles, and they'll usually gobble them up. Peewee's tapazol was made into a tuna flavored liquid by a compounding pharmacy, as was his prozac (but I know that such pharmacies aren't always easy to find). Yeah, it was bloodwork that determined that his kidney's were in bad shape. I only wish that I had found out much sooner. He may have lived many more years if I had. :-(

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Yep, Pill Pockets are great, but are not working this time for me.

Ashes had pills at another time, and I found that those worked great. But he just has zero appetite right now, and I tried them this time. He did take it but chewed at it which doesn't work. Then he threw it up. Uck. The shooting water after the pill is working right now.

You just never know whether finding out sooner about the kidney disease would have mattered. It did not to my cat, Pudding. She was diagnosed when the numbers were not too high, but every month they jumped greatly. I had four months. You just never know.

I will try to find freeze dried chicken treats to see if that works. I sure hate to throw those pills at him all the time.

[travelingtypist]

13. That's what my little girl died of.

Her kidneys failed. She was 17.

[Curmudgeoness]

14. My kitty is so much younger, only nine. Was she on meds

for the hyperthyroidism? I just lost my other kitty from renal failure too, and that took so much out of me. Now, just two months after she died, I am facing this. I am dealing with meds right now, in pill form, and this is not easy and it isn't even three weeks. Within 2 weeks, I find out if there is any other problem that may have been masked by the thyroid in the bloodwork. That is when I will have to make another decision about how to go from here.

I am sorry you lost your baby girl. It just sucks to lose a pet.

[travelingtypist]

15. They tried to medicate her, but it was too late.

I noticed she had lost some weight, took her to the vet. She was gone in a week.

Good luck with your fur baby.