Does anyone have experience using herbal suplements for hyperthyroidsim?

My local pet store owner is a big supporter of natural medicines for her cats, and mentioned a holistic medicine made in British Columbia that she uses to treat her hyperthyroid cat.

Since Teeger (my civvie) has recently been diagnosed with hyperthyroid disease, I'm looking into what alternatives are available for him. So far he's been tolerating the Tapazole well enough (other than the first day, where I could hear his stomach and intestines complaining from the other side of the room - all the while he sat there calmly grooming and purring... ), but if there's something gentler on his system that would work as well, I'd like to try that. (The radioactive iodine treatment is an option here, but costs over $4000 and would require a 7 day stay at the vet hospital, and Teeger would be very unhappy about that)

One BC product I found when searching on this was Thyroid Support Gold (http://www.petwellbeing.com/products/cat-hyperthyroid), which lists Self Heal and Bugleweed among its ingredients for supporting the thyroid, plus a variety of others to support the heart and nervous system. Does anyone have any experience using this product, or other herbals, to treat hyperthyroid successfully in their cats?

 

I have never heard of a successful herb for hyperthyroidism. Transdremal Tapazole (generic is Methimazole) can be used if GI upset problem with the oral med.

 

That's about what I suspected. The reviews on their web site range from very positive to very negative (and of course the positive ones are placed first). Talking to the people at the company, they admit that it is a gentle supplement that works for some cats and not others. Probably has a lot to do with the underlying causes of the hyperthyroidism.

 

Maybe the travel is totally out of the question for you but I had a kitty get the iodine treatment through RadioCat here in the US. http://www.radiocat.com/locations.html. It cost 1300.00. She was quite the huntress and spent lots of time outdoors, but the week in the hospital was worth it and she's on no Thyroid meds at all 2 years later.

I am a big fan of alternative therapies and work with a homeopath from time to time, but found nothing I felt I could trust. I hope you do get some feedback on the products available, maybe there's more out there these days. My kitty did not tolerate the Tapazole at all and in the meantime developed a hear murmur while I tried to figure it out.

Good luck!

 

If I had to take a week off and find a motel to travel with him, the cost would probably work out to close to the same. It's more the week long stay away from home that worries me. He's an older boy who is very set in his ways, and gets pretty stressed anytime he gets hauled off to the vet. But I'm still keeping it in mind.
We're waiting to see how he does on the Tapazole. So far he's tolerating it reasonably well: he's still vomitting off and on, but he was doing that before he started the medication too, so that might just still be the Hyperthyroid. Basically, I'm looking into all the alternatives in the meantime (he has about 2 more weeks to go before he's due for a retest). Other than the occasional "duck cough" and getting skinny at his hind end, he does not seem to be bothered yet. Just as chipper as ever, but his appetite is down (he still eats, just not like he used to) and his water intake has stayed high even after removing dry food several months ago.

Thanks for the responses

 

I totally understand, the travel is a major hurdle, and with an older animal it's even more of a concern. But if you do consider it I'd be glad to meet him at the airport in Baltimore and take him to the one in Maryland. I know little about transporting animals for veterinary care but imagine others might have some insight. They won't allow visits while he's getting treatment so there would be no reason for you to leave home. Best of luck.

And I did try the transdermal now that I recall and she did ok with it. In the long run, based on her age, I felt the Radio Cat was a better investment and she promised me she'd live at least another two years So far, so good....


Take care.

 

It may be possible to surgically remove part of the thyroid to help control the issue too, unless the cat is unable to undergo anesthesia.

 

Yes, that might be another option. But I imagine that option will be off the table if his kidneys don't look good once we get his thyroid under control. The way he drinks and pees, I won't be surprised if that turns out to be the case, although I've also read that it can be a symptom of hyperthyroidism. Should find out more in a few weeks.

 

If the urine tests now were dilute, yet showing elevated levels of creatinine, then yes, reducing the thyroid function may worsen the kidney parameters.

Have you been to Tanya's Feline CRF website? Tons of info on managing that.

 

Thanks for the link: I'll have to look into the website - I've been trying to live in denial up to this point... Teeger's creatine levels were good, but it could be the hyperthyroidism masking that. His urine was dilute, so that's probably not a good sign. I just keep hoping it's just that he really likes his water. He always was a big water-drinking cat.

 

How dilute? What was the specific gravity?

 

Dilute urine can be due to the hyperthyroidism pushing the blood through the kidneys rapidly. What I meant was if BOTH the urine was dilute AND the creatinine was elevated. It isn't, so if there is renal impairment, it may not yet be severe. See how the methimazole does for your cat; the dose can be titrated to balance controlling the thyroid vs managing any renal impairment.

 

They didn't give me a specific level, unfortunately, just said that it was "a bit dilute" and that we'd have to wait for his thyroid to calm down before we could tell if it was a concern or not, as BJM has pointed out.

That's good to know, that the dilute levels could just be another symptom of the hyperthyroidism too. We had a cat when I was a kid who lived with kidney disease for quite a while, and toward the end of his (respectably long) lifespan, his urine was basically just water, so I got nervous when I heard that Teeger's was dilute. Thanks for the additional information.

 

One of my cats was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism last year, and was back in good form after about two months on Tapazole pills (fyi, I use the melt-a-ways crushed and mixed into his food once a day). I know nothing about herbal supplements, but there are a number of proven medical options out there that you might want to exhaust before putting all your eggs in that basket (i.e., Tapazole pills, ear cream, iodine injection, surgery). Ear cream was going to be the backup option in the event that my cat’s body rejected the Tapazole pills (which if your cat is coughing and vomiting may be the result). The iodine treatment was not something that appealed to me as a first-choice option due to the cost and the fact that the particular cat involved would have found the experience to be quite a traumatic ordeal. By the way, I think that I was quoted around $1,000-$1,500 the injection with hospital stay/care added to the expense- and so $4K sounds rather steep.

With regard to surgery, our vet discussed but cautioned against it for a number of reasons. I don't recall everything anymore, but I particularly remember him telling me that the thyroid of a cat is very tiny and located near neurological tissue. The potential for damage to cat is high as a result (i.e., permanent voice changes, permanent eyeball/socket control issues), and the surgery is not always 100% successful anyway as any bad thyroid tissue accidentally left behind would likely result in a recurrence of hyperthyroidism in a few months. As a result, I wasn’t going to consider surgery unless both the pills and cream failed to work for the cat, and that the iodine treatment needed to be ruled out either due to cost or the ability of the cat to deal with the experience.

Good luck whatever course you choose, and I hope that everything works out for Teeger so that he is back to normal soon.

 

Rudy is 15 1/2 years old now and had the radioactive treatment when he was 14. He was pretty stressed out in the hospital for a week, but it was worth it! He lost 2 lbs and shed some fur, but it all came back with in the month The tumor was gone and his levels were normal at his 3 month and 6 month appointment. They made sure he ate at the hospital, even if it wasn't by his choice. It was a very hard decision to make, and only you can make it. Fortunately I was close to the vet so travel wasn't an issue for us. I did call there every day to see how he was doing, we missed him so much! If you need any more information about it please let me know and I can tell you more of our experience. I hope Teeger feels better soon! I wish there were magic pills for all the suffering kitties. They don't make it easy on us.