1 Cat Diabetic and now 1 with hyperthyroidism

[Di and Jasper]

Hi, My cat jasper is Diabetic and a fussy eater!!! i've just ordered some Macs food for him and am hoping to convert him to this. One of my other cats (Greebo) has just been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Ive just spoken to my vet and the options for Greebo are:- Pill (thats not going to happen as she is a nervous cat and pilling her twice a day would be impossible) the other options are, diet.... Hes doesn't think this would work as apparently she can't have red protein it should come from white meat or fish (though a specialist diet) and she might come into contact with the other cats food, especially Jaspers as his could be higher in red protein????? (just what the vet said). Or finally surgery... This is fairly resonably priced (around the £200 mark) and he says this should be a cure. Obviously I want whats best for Greebo - surgery, however is a little scary. So does anyone have any experience of this or know anything about the diet difference between diabetic and hyperthyroidism. confused_cat Thanks

 

[Deb & Wink]

I'm not familiar with the requirements for a different diet for hyperthyroidism in cats. Hill's does make a food that is supposed to be good for hyper-t but I never tried it. Thyroid levels can fluctuate over time so I did not think this was a good option. My hyper-t cat also had other health issues, IBD, and could not tolerate this specialized food.

My hyperthyroid cat was on medication to lower her thyroid levels. No way to easily pill her because she also had bad stomatitis and could not tolerate pilling. The methimazole medication was compounded into a transdermal gel to rub on the inside of her ear, on the bare area. Not sure if something like this is available in the UK but it is quite common in the US. Much easier than pilling a cat.

Yes, radioactive iodine (RAI) treatments are another option to kill off some portion of the thyroid gland tissue. A specialized vet hospital or feline treatment center will need to do this and quarantine procedures will be followed as the urine and feces are radioactive for some short period of time. I forget how long the cat needs to stay in hospital, less than I week I believe.

You might want to ask if the thyroid gland can 'act up' again, pumping out excessive thyroid hormones again, necessitating more RAI treatments.

 

[BJM]

I was able to dissolve the methimazole (aka Tapazole) in a bit of tasty food and my hyperthyroid cat would scarf it right down. I'd give it to her first, then the remainder of her meal. You might try that first to see if it could work.

This worked great for 5 years, until the dose had to be increased to a point that gave her diarrhea, around age 18. Then we did I-131 treatment. In a senior cat, I-131 treatment may unmask renal disease, ie, it was already there but the hyperthyroid condition pushed the blood flow through the kidneys fast enough that it didn't show symptoms.

Nix any special diet for hyperthyroidism. Dr Pierson has written about that here; she believes it may harm the cat long term.

Surgery - unless you have someone with exceptional surgical skills, removing the thyroid is a delicate task. There are many nerves to the mouth, vocal cords, digestive and breathing systems, and so on which can be adversely impacted. Ectopic thyroid tissue - tissue which is in an unexpected location - can be active, continuing to pose a problem. And, removing the thyroid usually results in hypothyroidism, requiring a pill a day, too.

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hi Diane,

I'm really sorry to hear about Greebo's hyperthyroid diagnosis; and I hope you can find a way of treating it that suits her.

Re pills, might Greebo take them if they were in some soft cheese or a mouldable treat like 'pillpockets'? (If you want to try some pillpockets to see if she likes them I'll send you some to try as I've recently bought some for one of my cats who's currently on medication).

I know that in the US, as Deb says, it can be possible to get the treatment as a transdermal gel that is put onto the inside of the cat's ear (I think!), but I'm not sure if that's available in the UK...

Then there is the radioactive iodine treatment, which can be a complete cure. However...it is very expensive, there are only 6 places in the UK that do it, and the cat has to be isolated for up to a month... But I think the Royal Veterinary College try to send cats home in about 2 weeks... The period is much shorter in the US.

Then there's surgery. And I think that's what a lot of people in the UK opt for. As BJM says though, it's not without risk; the main risk, I think is damage to the neighbouring para-thyroid glands.

Re diet, I think quite a few folks opt to feed a high protein wet diet, which ain't so different to what we're aiming to feed our diabetics...

There are two current threads about hyperthyroidism on petforums.co.uk which you may like to read. And if you do a search on that forum I'm sure you'll find a lot more stuff too.

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-n ... tment.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-n ... d-cat.html

Hugs to you, Dianne (and head scritches to Greebo),

Eliz

 

[tuckers mom]

I also did as BJM did, I crushed the pill and mixed it into canned food for my feral cat to take. She took it that way for probably close to 5 years also.

Don't crush pills without checking with your vet first, Tapazole is fine to crush, but occasionally for other conditions someone may need to give a time released pill and those can't be crushed. So in case others read this and want to crush different types of meds into food, just check with your vet first.

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hi again, Dianne,

Just wondering... Maybe it's worth asking your vet how many of these operations he does and what his success rate is...?

Eliz

 

[Di and Jasper]

Thanks for the advice - I'm going to have a read of the pet forum site now and will give the vet a call tomorrow and ask how many he's done.