Hyperthyroid diagnosis in 11 year old cat (eating, weight, feline, kidney)
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Hi,
I took my cat to the vet last week for a normal checkup & shots. Have not noticed anything wrong with him at all and did not expect any bad test results.
The vet recommended a more expensive thyroid test than what he normally gets due to his age. This was also a new vet at the practice we have always gone to so I'm not familiar with this vet.
The vet called me a few days later and told me that he is hypothyroid & I have 3 options for treatment, medicine, the radiation treatment, or Hills y/d diet.
I chose the diet because that is the easiest and my cat eats ANYTHING so I figured he would eat it.
He ate it for 2 days and has been throwing it up now & eats it but keeps begging for something else.
I thought the radiation treatment would be my next best option because the frequent blood work & vet visits required with the medication would end up costing as much, if not more.
The vet gave me a brochure for the place that does the treatment but doesn't know the location and the brochure does not even say and I left a message but have not heard back.
I'm very worried about what to do and would love to hear anyone's experience or opinion about this.
Of course, to make things even more complicated, I am relocating to a smaller city in 2 months and won't have a vet there or really know anyone to get a good recommendation.
did you call them back?- the place for the treatment???
my opinion.... change the food. raw is best but since kitty has compromised system a high quality canned food will do for now. you must work it in over a week or 2... depends on kitty, each kitty is different... need a canned food that is Grain FREE., no fish.
I did try to call them a few times, but I guess they may have left early for the holiday, but I will start calling again this morning. I just feel like my vet's office is not being very helpful right now.
My cat has been on high quality canned food for a few years, because I had a diabetic cat that passed away 2 years ago & was aware of how bad some foods were. I've never seen the list you posted before though.
This hills y/d food does not have good ingredients so I really don't like the idea of it.
Thanks for your advice.
Hi,
I took my cat to the vet last week for a normal checkup & shots. Have not noticed anything wrong with him at all and did not expect any bad test results.
The vet recommended a more expensive thyroid test than what he normally gets due to his age. This was also a new vet at the practice we have always gone to so I'm not familiar with this vet.
The vet called me a few days later and told me that he is hypothyroid & I have 3 options for treatment, medicine, the radiation treatment, or Hills y/d diet.
I chose the diet because that is the easiest and my cat eats ANYTHING so I figured he would eat it.
He ate it for 2 days and has been throwing it up now & eats it but keeps begging for something else.
I thought the radiation treatment would be my next best option because the frequent blood work & vet visits required with the medication would end up costing as much, if not more.
The vet gave me a brochure for the place that does the treatment but doesn't know the location and the brochure does not even say and I left a message but have not heard back.
I'm very worried about what to do and would love to hear anyone's experience or opinion about this.
Of course, to make things even more complicated, I am relocating to a smaller city in 2 months and won't have a vet there or really know anyone to get a good recommendation.
Yes, kitties do get hyperthyroid issues when they get older. I have had two that did come down with it. One lived to be 16 without medication for it and the other almost 20. I couldn't get them to take medications, was never told to change their food and thought that the radiation was rather cruel and too expensive. I would put the kitty back on his old food if he was eating it and then when you get to where you are going to live, find a vet and explain your concerns to them.
Sometimes vets run tests just because it is the "norm" for most animals at a given age. Until your kitty shows signs of discomfort from the hyperthyroid problem, I would back off any special medication or radiation. The treatments are sometimes far worse than the cure especially if the disease has not progressed to the point where the kitty needs it.
I always think less is more sometimes...perhaps there is a vitamin you can break up in his/her food?? Wait until you are settled in then go over your kitties history with a new vet. Get recommendations from some of the local folks after you move for the best Vet around. Good luck..big hugs for your Kitty!! We have two and we love them to death!
Thanks for the advice.
It does bother me to start treating him for something that he doesn't even have symptoms of.
And I just heard that the place I was trying to contact for the radiation treatment is no longer in my city & that's why I couldn't get an answer.
I don't really like that food option, seems odd to me. I have a cat who's been on the methimazole meds for probably 3 years. We go to vet every 6 months. She's doing fine at 16.
Still, I think at 11 your cat would be a good candidate for the radioiodine therapy. Here is one source with several locations listed Radiocat - Centers For The Treatment Of Feline Hyperthyroidism - Location This is not really a chain of centers, the actual treatment places are independent vets as far as I know. The one here is anyway.
We usually have a couple of posters with cats who have had the radioiodine treatment so I hope they stop by and give their stories. You could also do a search of the Cats forum for hyperthyroid to find previous threads.
Good luck, your kitty can live for several years or more with this condition either under control with the meds or cured with the radioiodine.
Depending upon levels you probably want to have him on the methimazole while you sort out where and when you can get the radioiodine treatment. Ask the vet about this.
Note, I think it's better that you caught it with no symptoms! One of the most common symptoms is a dramatic weight loss which is sometimes too much weight loss for some cats. This is how I discovered hyperthyroid with Amber, but she was over her ideal weight anyway at the time so she hasn't really gone below an ideal weight yet.
If your cat truly has hypothyroidism, no kind of diet is going to "cure" it. The thyroid is in over-drive and your cat will lose a lot of weight, despite an increased appetite and increase in food. The organs are also affected, and there can be heart/kidney etc. issues or damage without treatment. So it will be very important to follow-up with a vet to get treatment started if your cat truly has hyperthyroidism. One of my cats has been on methimazole for hyperthyroidism for about 6 years now, it has worked well for him. Hopefully you can come up with a good vet when you move who will help you determine a treatment if that is what your cat has.
If your cat truly has hypothyroidism, no kind of diet is going to "cure" it. The thyroid is in over-drive and your cat will lose a lot of weight, despite an increased appetite and increase in food. The organs are also affected, and there can be heart/kidney etc. issues or damage without treatment. So it will be very important to follow-up with a vet to get treatment started if your cat truly has hyperthyroidism. One of my cats has been on methimazole for hyperthyroidism for about 6 years now, it has worked well for him. Hopefully you can come up with a good vet when you move who will help you determine a treatment if that is what your cat has.
I agree with this 100% - it must be treated.
Our boy lost a significant amount of weight before we realized what was going on. He was diagnosed with HyperT over 5 years ago, when he was 14. He was one of the rare cats that could not tolerate methimazole, so we elected to have the radioactive iodine treatment. We currently also manage kidney and heart issues.
We must be doing something right, as he just celebrated his 19th birthday and is as fiesty as ever! One of the vets at the practice jokes that his personal goal is to have our boy make it to 23. He might just succeed!
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