hyper-t kitties?

i won't be back until tonight but if you have a hyper t kitty would you let me know the symptoms you saw. i just reviewed tom's senior panel done 7 months ago and they could'nt rule out systemic hyper-t OR lymphoma.....hmmmm, they never even discussed ths with me.
he is hungry all the time, and losing weight. #'s are up first time since august 07. we'll go to vet sat i think, just want any info i can get from here.
thank you all.
lori
and tomtom too!

 

None of my hypert kitties have FD, but the basics in my house were:

kitty was drinking more
peeing more
eating a lot
begging for food a lot
thinning fur - too much licking of the fur
vomitting usually clear with a little fur mixed in
losing weight.

This is in most cases at my house, but my most recently dx hypert stopped eating and bloodwork comfirmed the dx. He rarely drinks water nor does he have any other symptoms other than the past few days he's been hungrier than usual.

 

Lori, like Jennifer, my Phoebe had:
increased appetite
increased thirst
frequent vomiting
weight loss
I did not check her bg's because she is a civie, so not sure if it elevated them. Good luck!

 

Charlotte (17 yo civvie), dx Oct 2007:
Vomiting, especially when hungry
increased thirst/urination
increased appetite
weight loss
ratty fur (after awhile)
increased vocalizing
increased aggression

Beau, dx Sep 2008:
No symptoms. He was diagnosed because vet felt a thyroid nodule when I had him in for an upper respiratory infection. He had a little weight loss, a few ounces, at that point. His meds have been adjusted four times up, up, down and up. He went hypo-T and did have symptoms from that (loss of appetite, depression, withdrew, grumpy) and his dose was dropped to almost nothing. After a 3 months I noticed some weight loss, so his dose was increased a bit.

 

Buster was:

drinking more
peeing more
eating a lot
begging for food a lot
thinning fur - too much licking of the fur (making bald patches - on backbone, tummy and hind legs)
vomiting usually clear with a little fur mixed in
losing weight
racing around the house like a crazy cat
aggressive to the other cats for no apparent reason
loud meowing (very unusual for him)

 

ok thanks hyper t beans.
tom is only eatting more, or rather begging more
not throwing up
not drinking
he is racing around a little more
and his fur is beginning to look a little ratty
losing some muscle mass and having higher bg's
getting him insulin tomorow and possible vet visit saturday.
wow, i don't know how to dose for this.......
VERY SMALL DOSES?

 

Lori, do you mean you don't know how to dose the BG or the hyper-T?

For BG's go by his past dosing history (he was on insulin before, right?). Or start off very small and test, test, test. IF Beau's recent blip in BGs was related to needing more methimazole, it only took .05u sid for about a week to turn him around - plus raising the methimazole dose.

For suspected hyper-T he needs a lab workup. If he was borderliune before, know that the older the cat, the LOWER in the normal range the T4 should be. This means for an older cat in the mid to higher normal range, that is really most likely hyper-T. If this is the case here, ask for the Free T4 by ED test. It is more sensitive. I needed that with both of mine on initial diagnosis.

If he test as hyper-T, start out at a very low dose on the methimazole (generic tapazole). It should be a 1/4 tab (5 mg) sid or bid, no more.

 

actually i meant i don't know how to dose his pzi and now i'm really confounded. i let the house this morning to his #252 and raced out to get pzi from cindy....it was a long trip, got lost etc.... for 4 days tom's been either mid to high 100's with up to 252.
i race home with the insulin all ready to relieve my boy of his discomfort and my anguish and i test with insulin ready to shoot......92! i test again, 86! :roll:
i wish i could say i'm all happy but wtf? i can never feel safe shooting a cat who does a self come down in 6 hours from 252 to 86 can i????????????????????????????

 

That's a tough one since you don't want to see those mid 200s. I would keep testing him. Is your PZI u40 or u100 (sorry, I don't use PZI)? Maybe you could give .1u and feed at +3 to soften the drop? I would only do that if he continues to get numbers in the 200s.

But I would definitely talk to the vet - something may be going on like a UTI, hyper-T, etc. that needs to be treated to stop the BG spikes.

Good luck!

 

My Sweety was drinking more water and started to lose weight. I didn't realize she was eating more until I got her stabilized on the HyperT meds and no longer followed me into the kitchen to eat every time I went in. The bloodwork confirmed it.