Hyperthyroidism in Cat

Hello!
I worked in veterinary medicine for 9 years & saw MANY cats with this condition. In my experience, the medication worked well & the cats went on to live normal lives. The medication is also available in a transdermal ear gel that is good for those kitties that don't like pills. Another alternative is surgery to remove the thyroid or there is also radiation treatments as well.The best thing is to sit down with your veterinarian & go over all your options to decide what is best for your kitty's health & your pocket book. Good luck!! :)

I have had 2 cats with this problem. My first one I felt the same as you and wanted to avoid drugs if at all possible so I tried natural and homeopathic type treatments. What I didn't realize that by not giving him the drugs the disease progressed and he eventually went into kidney failure and died. And he was only 12 years old. Some treatments may work for some cats but now that I have another cat that is diagnosed with this I didn't take any chances. He has been on a drug called Tapazole for about 3 years and is monitored every 6 months with a blood test. Hope this advice helps.

Hi Debbie, my cat has had hyperthyroidism for abot a year now. My great friend is our vet and she put our cat on the meds right away. He did better, but after about 6 weeks had some side effects. He began throwing up and actually stopped eating and slept all day and night. Well, our vet changed the dosage and he has been great with no side effects since then. Our cat gets 1/2 pill 3 times a day, but we built up to that. We began with one pill twice/day, had side effects, so 1/2 pill twice a day, then he began to want to eat more, so we went up a little and he is doing great! Our cat will only eat canned cat food since his diagnosis, so he eats about 1/4-1/2 can every 4 hours or so. Just make sure your cat eats enough so he/she will gain weight too. Good luck with everything.

Hi Debbie,
My cat has a thyroid problem too. We tried the ear rub medicine. My cat got a reaction from that. We had to switch to the pills. She has not had any side effects from the pills that she is taking. Good luck. Hope you find one that works for you and your cat.

Hi Debbie:

Our cat had hyperthyroidism for over 10 years that was controlled very successfully by a medication prescribed by our vet. The pills were purchased through a prescrip at Walgreens. Sammy lived to the age of 16 years old. As he aged, he was less agreeable about taking the pill so we went to Martin Pharmacy in Naperville where they compounded the medicine into a tuna flavored liquid form that we dispensed to him with an eye-dropper for the last couple years of his life. The thryroid issue is pretty common in cats and definitely did not slow him down. Best of luck!

About 15 years ago, my cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She was put on medication because her heart was beating almost twice as fast as a cat's should and the vet was concerned that she could have a heart attack. She was 15 when she went on the medication and lived maybe a year after being on it. She ended up having 2 strokes which weren't related to the thyroid issue. She survived the first stroke with few ill effects, but after the 2nd she had to be put to sleep.

The think I noticed was that she had always been very playful and ornery before going on the meds. After she went on them she slept a lot like elderly cats do. At that time natural meds weren't as widely available as they are now. Good luck.

J. R.

Hi Debbie - this oondition is extremely common in cats (& in humans). The medication I'm sure they're prescribing is called methimazole & I would recommend putting your cat on it (unless you prefer surgery). Your cat will feel so much better, and will gain some weight back. The consequences of not getting their thyroid rogulated is very serious (& deadly). I noticed one person mentioned kidney failure from the medication. Two things - all medications have side effects - some are common, some are rare. Kidney failure from the medication is rare. However kidney failure in cats is the #1 cause of death in cats (I believe). If your vet is following your cat's labs closely, they will notice the change in kidney function via the bloodwork and stop the medication. Good luck!

Hi Debbie,

When our cat was 17 years old, he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. He was prescribed a medication, and also one of the Prescription Diet foods (to help support kidney and liver function, which were affected). It was a bit of a pain to get him to take the medication, and he inevitably lost a little weight (he'd always been a fat cat, and he became skinny), but he lived happily and healthily for another year, so we don't regret the time, effort or money it took.

Hi Debbie,

Check out this web sight...http://www.rawfedcats.org/index.htm

I don't have experience with hyperthyroidism, but I changed my cat's diet to mostly raw and definitely no kibble, and certain canned that has no grains, no byproducts, etc..He is thriving like I have never seen. His coat went from dull to incredibly soft and shiny, he is a lot more muscular, his teeth look amazing, and he is a happier, more active cat. There are many stories of "side effects" from cat's eating commercial cat food...it devastates their systems. I would really encourage you to try it , at least try the natural way . I have seen a tremendous difference, and after spending hundreds of dollars at the vet to try to find out why he was having such horrible skin issues, pulling out his hair, licking himself raw...the diet was the root of his problems. Upon reading what's in there, now I know what junk I was feeding him (even athough I fed him a supposed very high quality food). Good luck!!!

Check out www.radiocat.com. My first husband had 2 cats that both developed hyperthyroidism and he took them to Radiocat for a 1-time treatment of radioiodine. It was expensive, but it cured them both. No pills and no surgery! Good luck.

My ex-husband is a vet an still takes care of all my pets. He's a great guy and a great vet. My older cat had hyperthyroidism, and he said the very best thing with the least problems for the cat is removal of the thyroid. We had that done about 2 months ago, and it's a very quick and easy surgery and she recovered in days and already has gained a lot of weight. There can be side effects with the medication, and it's sometimes difficult to pill cats. This seemed like the best option -- for us at least. You might want to look into it. According to my ex, the natural remedies don't really work, just mask the symptoms.

Hello Debbie,
You got some good responses here already. For one as suggested before I would try a chance in diet. If that does not work you might want to look into NuVet products (www.nuvet.com). Lots of diseases are caused by free radicals. The NuVet team has blended a precise combination of natural vitamins, minerals, herbs, antioxidents, fatty acids, bioflavonoids, etc. proven to combat the ravages of free radicals and to provide immune system support.
These products are only available through selected shops/distributor. I am a professional pet groomer " Doggy Has It" in the Elgin area and just became a distributor this month. Since results of improvement do not show within a day, I can't tell you of my own experiences with my customers yet. On the other hand I have talked with other pet groomers where they could confirm that it made a positive difference in their clients animals.
Good luck... hope you cat feels better soon.
A.
www.DoggyHasIt.com
PS.: If you would like to try the NuVet products and want to place an order, pls feel free to use my distributor code '71603 G' or give me a call and I will be happy to get you started.

I also have a cat who had this. Our vet, who is WONDERFUL, suggested we have his thyroid removed. He told us it was a very simple procedure and that the cat would be much better off. It's true. My cat is now 15 years old. He had the surgery 2 years ago. He's doing great! After the surgery is done, you have no need to medicate them which is also great. The biggest plus was that my cat put the weight back on and is healthy now. Not sure where you're from, but our vet is Dr. Rudowski at Fox Lake Animal Hospital in Fox Lake. He is the best vet I've ever found and has saved many of my pets' lives over the years. He runs a walk-in clinic for pets. We drive an hour to see him because he's that good. He's also very reasonable. That surgery was $300, which isn't bad at all for a surgery.
Hope things work out for you and your cat.