Feline Hyperthyroidism ... or something else?

I am dealing with this now ... Abbey has been hyper for 2 years now - only sign are numbers and knots in coat but she is long hair. Today blood test confirmed she is healthy but low T4. All the signs you mentioned same with Abbey - nothing crazy and she is gaining weight but still hyperT. Right now Abbey is on pills now but waiting to save for i131 and if you are in Ontario - place on London is the best. Also if you go with pills Walmart and Costco is the cheapest. You can have the blood redone along with creatine and liver enyzme also.

The best place to post the blood work is Yahoo support group groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/feline-hyperT
and if you have facebook please join this group Hyperthyroid Cats over 3,000 members https://www.facebook.com/groups/42301610484/
and post the blood work - someone name Forrest P is amazing and helped me with Abbey.

God Luck

thanks for the links, will check them out for sure.

but how is Abbey low T4, but still have hyperthyroidism? and what is "low"?

Our dog is hypothyroid not hyperthyroid. Your vet should have been able to tell you if your pet should be put on the hyperthyroid pills. Note that there is a difference between hyperthyroid and hypothyroid - if your cat is indeed hyperthyroid pills are definitely required or the consequences can be severe. We trust our vets and the numbers did not lie.

I do not know the price of the hyperthyroid pills but the hypothyroid pills are not expensive by vet standards. The tests are - we had to get the dosage right - so 2 times at 6 week intervals and then we jumped to 6 months to determine if the dosage was correct. It was lowered and then at the next 6 month mark it had to be slightly increased.

AMRadio wrote: ↑

Jan 16th, 2019 1:48 am

thanks for the links, will check them out for sure.

but how is Abbey low T4, but still have hyperthyroidism? and what is "low"?

there is a T4 scale - she is normal but on the low meaning she was getting too much - she was on 3/4 morning and 3/4 night - so because of the low scale she is 3/4 morning and now 1/2 night. She is on human tapazole. You can do pills or cream you put in the ears. Since Abbey doesn't throw up or have any issues she is on the pills.
Honestly join the facebook group - Forrest helped me so much understanding hyperT because it can be life threatening - kidneys and heart can shut down if not treated.

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.

My experience with I131 is very positive. One of our three cats slowly became hyperactive, lost weight, and had frequent diarrhea. In our multi cat house, the symptoms snuck up on on us.

She was 14 and I131 cured her hyperthyroidism outright. She lived two more years until bowel cancer got her. Carp Road clinic in the Ottawa area.

We only ever did back of napkin numbers but I131 is cheaper in the long run (>2yrs life) and it’s a cure so you don’t have to do 1-2 times a day pilling (you can go away, easier to find a cat sitter, etc).

sgsmith wrote: ↑

Mar 10th, 2019 8:45 am

My experience with I131 is very positive. One of our three cats slowly became hyperactive, lost weight, and had frequent diarrhea. In our multi cat house, the symptoms snuck up on on us.

The treatment definitely works. Just not as much as vets tell you. I'm glad your cat was one of the lucky ones. My point is that when considering it as an option, it's worth doing research, because there's a serious downside that vets who do this won't be forthcoming about -- one being hypothyroidism, which is no picnic. As I learned, the word "cure" in vet-speak doesn't mean your cat got healthy, it only means the vet removed the hyperthyroidism. I'm happy in your case that the "cure" meant your cat was healthy too. It's definitely cheaper if it works. Otherwise, it's not.