Will you share your knowledge about dealing with hyperthyroid cats?
My 13 year old spayed female was recently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She seems to experience few symptoms – vomiting once to twice a week and diarrhea once a week. She is beginning to get a noticeable case of the skinnies, especially around the hips, but nothing too bad – her spine and ribs are not showing or anything like that. Her appetite has tapered down somewhat – she tends to pick at her food over a long period of time rather than scarf it down like she used to.
My question is, what can I expect if I choose to not treat this? It’s not whatsoever an issue of money; I can afford the pills and yearly bloodwork. I also don’t mind pilling her twice daily. It’s a matter of something that the best physician I know (my mom) has told me: Treat the patient, not the disease. Which is to say, if the symptoms are not hurting her, then the treatment may turn out to be harsher than the disease itself would be, just on it own. And the side effects of the hyperthyroid meds seem to be kind of nasty: vomiting, anorexia, fever, anemia, and lethargy – and from long-term use, there’s a small possiblity of liver damage and bone marrow suppression (so the internet tells me). And I know that at least in humans, hyperthyroidism is sometimes left untreated if the symptoms are not too bad.
I need more information in order to make this decision. Do symptoms worsen as time goes on? Will having the disease shorten her life, and does treatment have the potential to lengthen it?
That’s just the most important question – I welcome any and all suggestions and stories. Thank you, jellies!
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Well, from what I know about hyperthyroidism, untreated in cats or in people, it can damage the heart. Of course there are other issues, but that sounds like your biggest concern.
My cat was diagnosed in May with hyperthyroidism. We gave her the medication, Methimazole. It seemed to work. Then in December she died. We’re not sure if it’s related or not, the vet thought she died of a kidney or liver failure. We took her off the meds in November and tried to give her antibiotics and appetite enhancers instead, but it was hard to get anything down because she wasn’t eating. We’re really not sure if it’s related or not, but that was my experience.
You could consider taking your pet to a holistic vet. I can only tell you how things went for me, but when my elderly chihuahua mix had problems, I took her to the all-night animal hospital. The vet there said the cost would start at $1000 and go up from there, and even then he could not guarantee anything. So I hunted up a holistic vet. She got my dog going on some special vitamins specially for her heart, kidneys, etc. She gave me another 18 months with my sweetie. I know there are holistic supplements for thyroid problems. Hope this helps. Let me know if you’d like me to get you more info.
Blessings
And it did not cost anywhere close to $1000.
My cat had this. She eventually had to be put down, because she would not take her medication and got down to 2lbs (she was a very tiny cat to begin with, never over 9lbs.
It was difficult to watch, and the vet didn’t really do anything other than give us meds that she refused to take. She threw up pretty much every single day of her life, not sure why, the vet never knew why either. The thyroid issue was diagnosed later in life, and I believe it damaged her kidneys.
She did live to be 17 years old though.
I can only relate my human experience with hyperthyroidism. It was extremely unpleasant to deal with the symptoms I had. The medication routines sucked, too, but were definitely better than the symptoms and/or death.
Based on what @syz said above, you’ll have to treat your kitty eventually… in that case, I’d say the sooner, the better. Best of luck to you and your feline friend. :)
Wow, I just found this question and am glad to see these responses. We received the word today that my 13 year cat is hyperthyroid. Because they caught it quickly, we know that there hasn’t been any kidney or liver damage yet. (Per the vet’s blood work.)
Right now we’ve decided to go ahead with the radioactive iodine therapy. It’s supposed to be a one time treatment. If anyone has had a pet go through this treatment, I would love to here your experiences
Yes, thanks for the responses, everyone. I am also thinking that the radioactive iodine treatment looks good, and I would love to get your opinions. For now, I started her on the methimazole, and even after only 3 pills there seems to be a difference – she is licking up all the food she can like a starved thing, and seems much more playful.
@wildpotato – I’m going to keep this in my “following” activity. I’ll come back to let you know how Cloudy does. If you go ahead with the radioactive iodine treatment for your cat, please come back, too.
My cat came home yesterday from her treatment. She went in Wednesday and came home Friday. She will not have to have any further treatment or medication as far as I know. She has to have bloodwork in a month to make sure that everything is good inside. She had no trouble with the boarding.
Two things:
1. It’s not cheap. $950, but less than medicine for the rest of her life.
2. We have to save all of the litterbox waste for 4 weeks. Then, that waste gets saved for 7 weeks before we can throw it out.
Will let you all know what the bloodwork says next month.
Whoo, tedibear, you must not be living in New York at the moment – round these parts the treatment is about 1800. It still might be the most cost-effective solution in the long run, though. Thanks for the info. I did hear about the waste-removal thing; never thought about the complications from having a temporarily radioactive cat before. My vet is telling me that if I want to go through with it, they’ll have to not only do the treatment itself but also run a whole bunch of unrelated tests, just to make sure my cat’s not about to keel over from something totally random like a lung tumor. Did your vets have you go through extra tests to make sure your cat is a good candidate, like that?
@wildpotato – She already had what my vet calls “senior bloodwork” so that may be the reason she didn’t have to have anything else tested. They check things like BUN, creatnine, insulin, etc.
I just posted a question of my own on this topic before I found this one.
My cat was diagnosed last May and could not tolerate the Methemizole.
Had a horrible reaction, hyper, obsessively grooming, a bad skin reaction, he was a mess and took days to return to normal after stopping.
I considered the radio active iodine treatment but at 14 I am not sure I want to spend the money when other issues will arise as well. I am hoping to find some holistic treatments. His weight is down but not too badly, yet.
I am just watching and feeding him a quality diet still.
Holistic treatment requires treatment by a holistic vet. They DO exist. If you look in the yellow pages, you might find an advertisement. Otherwise, check the bulletin board at your local health food store(s) for names. Here’s a site I found (there may be other organizations as well, so poke around). holistic vets that has a search engine for veterinarians in your area.
Be prepared to travel and pay more for services. A holistic vet will spend a lot more time talking to you and examining your cat, but in my experience, it is worth every penny.
Three years ago, I took my dog to the 24 hour emergency vet because she appeared to be having severe health issues that came up suddenly. The vet had no idea what was wrong, (thought my dog was dying). He said the cost would be $1000 and would go up from there, and there was no guarantee about how things would turn out. (YIKES!) So I took my little sweetie down the road to a holistic vet.
This vet gave me some supplements, medicine, put the dog on a special diet, and we had our dog for 18 more months before she passed away.
I forgot to report back, sorry!
Cloudy had her follow up bloodwork and is doing great. All of her various levels are just fine. I do have to weigh her every couple of weeks for the next 6 months, but otherwise, we’re done.
@Coloma – My cat will be 14 in August and I felt it was worth it. (Just my opinion, though.) She probably has 6 to 8 more years with us as and it was cheaper than pills for that length of time. I’m sorry your kitty couldn’t take the pills and do hope that you can find a good treatment for him!
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@Petcompanion
I will keep that oin mind for future reference.
I lost my Gadwicke last Saturday, he already had a heart murmer and the thyroid condition excarbated that pre-esiting condition. His sister died of heart failure at 2 yrs. of age, so he had a long and happy life anyway.
Just an update. Cloudy had her 1 year bloodwork check and her thyroid numbers are great!
@tedibear
Great news!
I wish my guy could have tolerated the medications, but, he had a wonderful last year.
Thanks everyone! Cleo is doing very well now – I kept her on the methimazole. I use Pill Pockets to get her to eat them, and they work like a charm.
@wildpotato – YAY! So glad to hear that Cleo is doing well and that there are no pill hassles. So happy for you and your kitty! :D
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