Feline Hyperthyroidism ... or something else?

Another great resource is holisticat.com. This is a forum with other resources. Many people on there (including myself) have dealt with the various aspects of hyperthyroidism. You can read all the resources and posts, but to post yourself, you have to subscribe. It's $25 per year and less for three months, but I don't recall that price. I can't say enough how great holisticat is. You can post test results there and get solid opinions. And holistic and non-holistic methods are discussed. Just go there and read the posts for yourself. It's quite unique to most other cat forums.

Cats get hyperthyroidism. and rarely get hypothyroidism on their own. Dogs get hypothyroidism. The radioactive iodine treatment that's offered to "cure" cats is not as successful as the vets say and can cause hypothyroidism in cats, or worse. Iatrogenic hypothyroidism basically means it's been caused by the procedure. It's really the only way cats get hypothyroidism and due to it, many cats have hypothyroidism now, but vets don't really understand it's implications because they just see it as a side effect of the I-131 procedure when it doesn't go quite right.

Tapazole does work. The tumour won't go away. It will get larger and your cat will need more Tapazole. If your cat doesn't stomach it well, there are other delivery methods (like gels rubbed into the ears for instance). Also, keep in mind that many will prescribe too high a dose of Tapazole at first. However much Tapazole your vet prescribes, you should discuss cutting back. Also, keep in mind that since vets are doctors, they can give you a prescription for Tapazole (even phone it in) and you can go to a normal pharmacy. It's way cheaper and you can also get generic Tapazole. You don't have to get the meds from the vet.

There's also a prescription food that purports to fix the problem by basically cutting iodine out of the cat's diet altogether. It's the iodine the tumour feeds on. That food probably has awful ingredients. BUT I'd recommend it over the "quick fix" of the I-131 treatment any day. You can't take back the results of that treatment and most things you can find out about it are from the vets who sell it.