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Just wondering if anyone would like to share experiences about their cat with hyperthyroid disease? Robin was diagnosed about two months ago...her blood work was *just* over the normal limit. Her only symptom was increased appetite, but when I say increased, I mean she was becoming absolutely ferocious about stealing food right off our plates.
We did fluconazole for a month and then repeated her bloodworks to ensure the hyperthrodism wasn't masking kidney problems. While we knew from the beginning that we would be doing the radio-iodine injection, during that 'test phase' we found the fluconazole gave her very bad diarrhea and she was clearly uncomfortable. She's scheduled to have the injection next month, with x-rays and more bloodwork scheduled in the weeks prior to make sure she's good to go.
So, has anyone else gone through this? Why did you choose radiocat over the meds (or the meds over radiocat?) Or did you go a different route and try alternative treatments? Did your cat have any side-effects from any treatment you tried? If you did radiocat, did it fix the problem in one go or did your cat need a second injection? Did your cat suffer from hypothyroidism after the procedure? How difficult was the follow-up for your cat to tolerate? If you did the fluconazole, did your cat have to increase their dose as they aged?
I'm worried about Robin because she's *such* a lap cat...it's going to be difficult for her when no one can really snuggle her for two whole weeks. Plus I'm probably going to have to lock her up in the guest bedroom because my mother has memory problems and I can't trust her to remember the rules about no snuggling.
My cat had to go the radiation route because the meds gave him horrible diarrhea. By horrible, I mean literally like water. He wouldn't have lived long that way.
It was years ago and I had to leave him in isolation at a clinic in Cleveland for one week, which nearly killed me.
The treatment worked and he never had anymore thyroid problems....he lived for years after that and eventually died of kidney disease at the age of 21.
I definitely would go for the radioiodine treatment in your case. I see in another thread Robin is about 11 years old, so it could be several years of pills and thus even the cost of the radioiodine, though expensive upfront, would probably be less over the longer term. Even with very inexpensive methimazole (looks like you typed the wrong med up there ) after around 4-5 years of meds, plus labs at least every 6 months to verify the med dose, you're about at break even. Somewhere around that time frame anyway.
And that is before considering the hassle of giving twice a day methimazole for years. That can be pretty routine but when the routine goes awry it's a big problem! I come at this suggestion by way of NOT doing radioiodine with Amber. She was 13, and I weighed it and didn't figure it would be cost effective. But what I didn't weigh was the hassle of pilling. And really, for about 3 years or so, there was no hassle. She didn't have adverse reaction to the methimazole. And she took the pills in pill pockets and that was that, a treat each time. Then something happened and she kept finding the pill in them and thus no longer would eat the pill pockets. Pilling became a bigger problem, made more so by a few months later having to add in some things to help her after she was diagnosed with kidney disease and congestive heart failure just before she turned 17. She only lived a few months after that additional diagnosis.
Hyperthyroid affects the heart so it's possible Amber had heart trouble because of some times with the thyroid level not being controlled enough. With it caught early and having the radioiodine treatment fairly soon, there's a decent likelihood you can head off that sort of trouble.
. Even with very inexpensive methimazole (looks like you typed the wrong med up there ) after around 4-5 years of meds, plus labs at least every 6 months to verify the med dose, you're about at break even. Somewhere around that time frame anyway.
Whoops...yes, I did! JJ takes fluconazole for the yeast infections in his feet and I was trying to remember if I'd given him his nightly dose when I wrote that post.
My childhood cat Berries developed hyperthyroid at age 17. She was NOT an easy cat to pill so we used the ear gel. She did ok with that, and didn't need a higher dose as she got older.
Given that she was 17, she had other health problems already (cognitive problems, limited hearing), my parents did not opt for radio cat. Plus, they live in a rural area and would have had to drive a number of hours to get to a clinic--stressful for a cat who didn't travel well.
My cat had to go the radiation route because the meds gave him horrible diarrhea. By horrible, I mean literally like water. He wouldn't have lived long that way.
It was years ago and I had to leave him in isolation at a clinic in Cleveland for one week, which nearly killed me.
The treatment worked and he never had anymore thyroid problems....he lived for years after that and eventually died of kidney disease at the age of 21.
Aww, poor baby...Robin's diarrhea wasn't that bad and she was still making the litter box, but you could tell she was having cramps and just feeling sickly. Luckily the vet gave us the go ahead to stop the med while we wait for her procedure. It seems like side-effects are pretty common with it from what I've read online.
On a side note, one of the reasons I had a falling out with a friend was over his hyperthyroid 19 year old cat. He opted not to do the radio-iodine, which was very understandable both because of her age and her extreme aggression at the vet's office. But he also refused to do the pills or the ear gel, and this cat's bloodwork was otherwise *perfect.* It wasn't a matter of not being able to afford it, or the cat reacting to the meds in such a way that the stress of giving them wasn't improving her life...he just flat didn't feel like doing it.
I *dread* if JJ is ever diagnosed...he's good with 'his' vet that he's being going to since he was a kitten, but has to be doped up on Valium and wear a muzzle everywhere else. And because he's blind, it's like other vet techs just do not want to listen to me when I tell them how aggressive he can be. That combined with the fact that he's not vaccinated makes me terrified that someday he'll chomp someone and end up in quarantine. So the idea of him having to be away from home for three days is a frightening one (though I supposed really they wouldn't be handling him much, if at all, after the injection itself.)
My childhood cat Berries developed hyperthyroid at age 17. She was NOT an easy cat to pill so we used the ear gel. She did ok with that, and didn't need a higher dose as she got older.
Given that she was 17, she had other health problems already (cognitive problems, limited hearing), my parents did not opt for radio cat. Plus, they live in a rural area and would have had to drive a number of hours to get to a clinic--stressful for a cat who didn't travel well.
She lived to age 19.
Just curious...did you notice any redness or flaking where the gel was applied?
Aww, poor baby...Robin's diarrhea wasn't that bad and she was still making the litter box, but you could tell she was having cramps and just feeling sickly. Luckily the vet gave us the go ahead to stop the med while we wait for her procedure. It seems like side-effects are pretty common with it from what I've read online.
On a side note, one of the reasons I had a falling out with a friend was over his hyperthyroid 19 year old cat. He opted not to do the radio-iodine, which was very understandable both because of her age and her extreme aggression at the vet's office. But he also refused to do the pills or the ear gel, and this cat's bloodwork was otherwise *perfect.* It wasn't a matter of not being able to afford it, or the cat reacting to the meds in such a way that the stress of giving them wasn't improving her life...he just flat didn't feel like doing it.
I *dread* if JJ is ever diagnosed...he's good with 'his' vet that he's being going to since he was a kitten, but has to be doped up on Valium and wear a muzzle everywhere else. And because he's blind, it's like other vet techs just do not want to listen to me when I tell them how aggressive he can be. That combined with the fact that he's not vaccinated makes me terrified that someday he'll chomp someone and end up in quarantine. So the idea of him having to be away from home for three days is a frightening one (though I supposed really they wouldn't be handling him much, if at all, after the injection itself.)
They only have to be in quarantine 3 days now?.....that's better, but not good enough, IMO.
I was so pissed that my Nicky had to be in quarantine for 7 days and a guy I worked with at the time had the exact same treatment for his thyroid and was allowed to come to work and everything, even sleep right next to his wife in bed at night. Not fair!
Yep, it's only 3 days now...like you said, much better, but still not great!
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) after around 4-5 years of meds, plus labs at least every 6 months to verify the med dose, you're about at break even. Somewhere around that time frame anyway.
