Good Luck Emma, my 15 year old cat has just been diagnosed with this problem. He is currently on tablets and pencilled in for an op on 19th of this month (depending on whether his heart rate has come down enough) to remove the thyroid gland. The vet has put him on some tablets to try and manage his symptoms and get his heart rate down.

I took him into the vet 2 weeks ago because he was losing so much weight yet he was extremely hungry and constantly asking for food. Additionally he had a tendency to be sick quite often. One day he just looked very poorly and so I whipped him in and they took some bloods and assesed T4 levels and his kidney function (kidneys she said were ok, T4 was high). I have decided to go ahead with an operation instead of keeping him on tablets so we will see how it goes. It is difficult to know what to do for the best isn't it?and I was concerned about putting a 15 year old cat through an op but I talked it through with the vet who thinks that he is otherwise in good shape and that actually 15 isn't all that old for a cat (which was a surprise to me!). I have to say that after a few weeks of tablets he seems to be putting weight on and (touch wood) has not had any bouts of sickness but he still seems excessively hungry and still a tad hyperactive.

The vet is going to remove a manky tooth at the same time and she is confident that he can be brought back to full health so I hope she is right! He would have had to have had a tooth removal soonish so I think unfortunately William was destined for an op at some stage.

Poor little mite will be a bit groggy over Christmas but at least I am off work and can spoil him rotten Hope you get on ok with your Thomas.
x

Very interesting thread. My OAP Barney was diagnosed with Hyper-T in August, and he's been on Felimazole ever since, now two pills per day. My vet has not even mentioned surgery or radioactive iodine treatment.

He's had scabby skin for a while which I put down to overdue flea treatment and a long flea season with the warm autumn months. But it could also be a side-effect of the medication or of the condition itself.

Barney is quite prone to lumps: he was in the RSPCA for 6 months before we adopted him 12 years ago, because he has benign ear tumours, so no-one wanted him. So I'm not surprised he may have a lump in his thyroid causing the condition. He also has a couple of lumps on his skin which don't bother him.

I understand the medication is to manage the condition and not cure it, and that they may become resistant to the medication over time, i.e., it becomes less and less effective after several months. Barney is still very skinny and still eats a lot. Are we saying that hyperthyroidism is caused by a tumour, therefore it's cancer? In which case, I really wonder what his future prospects are.

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Rescue cats for many years, currently one moggie and 3 young Maine Coons.

Aww, poor Barney-- all those people passing up on him at the shelter! Good thing he has you.

You are correct about the thyroid meds---they only manage the condition. Over time, the tumor will continue to grow and press more on the thyroid gland, causing a higher doseage to be necessary to hold its T4 production in check. Therefore, it's important to keep getting him tested. The recommendation is every 3-4 weeks until a correct dosage is reached and the thyroid is stabilized. Then he should be tested every 6 months to 1 year. And a full thyroid panel should also be done, not just T4. From the sound of it, Barney needs a higher dose.

The tumor is only cancerous in 2-3% of cases. Usually it's benign. So, you don't have to worry about that at least.

My vet didn't mention anything beyond buying the meds forever either. He didn't mention that the meds can cause stomach ulcers and mouth bleeding and vomiting. Fortunately, we have the transdermal gel over here, but I was only offered that because I was distraught about having to pill Henry twice a day for life. The cat has never had a pill at all!! The I131 (radioactive iodine) seems to be the best route, although it's expensive and I think in the UK they quarantine your pet a lot longer than they do here. It's only about a week's time here, and then you just have to quarantine the used litter for 3 months. But it's a cure. The pills only manage the illness.

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong

Just thought I would post a quick update to say that William has had his Thyroidectomy operation last Wednesday and is recovering really well. He had a tooth out at the same time but he is eating fine and looking much better already. He was quite spritely fairly quickly after the operation too I was surprised as how quickly he was up and about and asking for food lol! Stitches are coming out next Friday
Hope everybody else's cats are all ok too.
x

that's wonderful news!! Just make sure they keep an eye on his thyroid levels now in case he goes hypo, which is pretty much a definite if they took the entire thyroid out, and possible if they took half. Worst case with that is he'll just need to be on hormone replacement. But I'm so happy to hear that he's doing much better

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My babies
Aber, Ragnar, Kelso (the corgi trio), Daisy (our rescue mystery-mix puppy), Ellie, Henry, Gwennie, Jezebel (the kitty quartet), Blake, Chaucer, Molly and Milton (the kittens), and Bingo the African Grey parrot

Over the Bridge:
Pippin: 1/6/08-17/5/11
Freja: 11/8/10-30/10/10
Kirby: 11/8/10-1/11/10

"Praise liberty/The freedom to obey/It's a song that strangles me/Well, don't cross the line" Billie Joe Armstrong