Hyperthyroidism

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terry - 20 Jan 2006 10:37 GMT

I am hoping someone can give some advice on what to do about an unwell
cat, if anything. This cat is my elderly mother's friend and
companion! At nearly 15, he is no chicken himself.

He has been diagnosed as having a swollen thyroid gland which I believe
has caused hyperthyroidism. I am told by the vet that this can have a
bad affect on various organs, including heart, lungs, kidneys etc. He
already has a high pulse rate and occasionally seems to 'pant' for no
apparent reason when he is resting.

The vet has suggested that the cat could have an operation to remove
the gland (after 10 days of medication) but then seemed to imply the
risk was exceedingly high and my mother could lose him straight away.
On the other hand it would seem the condition could well shorten his
life quite
considerably anyway. (The risks seem to centre on three areas - the
anaesthetic itself, problems with the operation and the recovery
period).

Apart from the symptoms mentioned the vet has said that he seems fit
and healthy for a 14 year old cat - blood tests show nothing untoward.
He did have teeth removed a couple of months ago (when the swollen
gland was discovered) and seemed to have no adverse reaction to the
anaesthetic then.

So the simple question - to operate or not. I would welcome any
comments on the levels of the risk at each stage, bearing in mind his
age. Has anyone else had similar experiences with their pet?

Many thanks for any help and advice given.

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buglady - 20 Jan 2006 12:14 GMT

> He has been diagnosed as having a swollen thyroid gland which I believe
> has caused hyperthyroidism.
> The vet has suggested that the cat could have an operation to remove
> the gland (after 10 days of medication) but then seemed to imply the
> risk was exceedingly high

.......there's two other treatments for hyperthyroidism in cats - pills and
radiation. Did the vet not offer these options?

buglady
take out the dog before replying

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terry - 21 Jan 2006 15:10 GMT

Thanks, yes, we know about those. The medication requires someone to
give it - at a ripe old age (I daren't say what!), my mother is not
able to handle the cat adequately to give the medication and there is
no one handy for such daily tasks (I'm 200 miles away!) (the cat would
have to be 'hospitalized' for the 10 days pre op medication). The vet
recommended strongly against the injection because she feels that (at
his age), if anything was to go wrong in the few days that, apparently
he can't be touched (health & safety for humans - radiation!), it could
be curtains for him.

So, back to the original question which was, I suppose, on balance what
are the risks of the op.

> > He has been diagnosed as having a swollen thyroid gland which I believe
> > has caused hyperthyroidism.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> buglady
> take out the dog before replying

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buglady - 23 Jan 2006 00:32 GMT

> So, back to the original question which was, I suppose, on balance what
> are the risks of the op.

............try Google - feline hyperthyroidism - should get you lots of
pages to read - if there's not much on surgery, try search within results
with that term. Here's one page (US) with a good synopsis of all available
treatments. www.marvistavet.com/html/thyroid.html

For UK sites Google feline hyperthyroidism UK:
http://www.fabcats.org/hyperthyroidism.html

Personally I'd want someone operating who has done it a LOT of times before
as the parathyroids can be damaged (they regulate calcium) and they're very
tiny. One thing - with both surgery and radiation, you're virtually
removing the thyroid gland. Sometimes HT masks kidney problems and cats go
into kidney failure afterwards. Those doing the I-131 therapy usually have
fairly strict guidelines for kidney function before they'll even accept a
pet for this treatment.

.......BTW, I do not believe what your vet told you about the I-131
(radioactive) treatment. You said:

>if anything was to go wrong in the few days that, apparently
>he can't be touched (health & safety for humans - radiation!), it could
>be curtains for him.

Here's a blurb from a facility in the US that does these treatments. If
your cat would crash or get sick, he wouldn't be ignored.
http://www.radiocat.com/section4.html
I'd start over and explore all the options. Speak to a facility that
actually does I-131 therapy to get the facts because I don't think your
Mom's vet is up to date.

..Did you see the post where someone suggested getting the meds compounded
at a veterinary compounding pharmacy? They can make it flavored so the cat
will eat it. Might be something to try before considering surgery. 15 is a
pretty ripe old age, the less you do to an elderly cat, the better.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

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Kay Lancaster - 23 Jan 2006 03:42 GMT

> So the simple question - to operate or not. I would welcome any
> comments on the levels of the risk at each stage, bearing in mind his
> age. Has anyone else had similar experiences with their pet?

Went through something similar with an elderly cat a few years ago. I'll
preface this by saying I'm not a veterinarian, but here are some of the
issues that came up as we discussed it:

1) radioisotope treatment (which we turned down because this was a cat who'd
get positively paranoid away from home)

2) surgery (ultimately not the first choice because his kidney function was not
the best)

3) methimazole (Tapazole) treatment -- which was the choice for us. When
we had to travel, we just took him along. We used regular methimazole tablets,
and he was quite obliging, but a compounding pharmacist can make up various
flavors of liquids and treats that work well for a lot of cats (a friend
also had a cat on methimazole... she went the treat route).

My vets wanted any cat headed for radiotherapy or surgery to have a trial
run of several days (weeks?) of methimazole to bring the thyroid hormones
down to normal levels. Because hyperthyroidism increases blood pressure,
the higher blood pressure can "support" failing kidney function. In Max's
case, where he had only one kidney to begin with, we were particularly
concerned with this issue. By keeping the thyroid hormones to high-normal
levels, he had good enough kidney function to carry him several more years,
eventually dying of liver cancer.

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Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / January 2006

Hyperthyroidism