Anyone have a cat with Hyperthyroidism?
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Anonymous
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This maybe be a long shot but anyone have (or had) a cat with hyperthyroidism and get treated through Radioiodine (I-131) therapy?
Where did you have it done and how much did it cost? What other treatment options did you try? |
Anonymous
| My kitty that died of heart failure (he was like 15) had it. We could not do the therapy due to a heart murmur condition that he had. He took meds twice per day. It did take some time to regulate them and we could tell when he had too much or too little. |
Anonymous
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My 15 YO cat has hyperthyroidism. I considered Radiocat but decided against it. Expense was one factor although not the deciding one for me. When I looked into it the procedure was going to cost around $1300 and then there are some prep and post-procedure expenses at the vet. I didn't like the idea of having my cat boarded at the Radiocat place and I was also concerned about him being radioactive when he came home. The cat freaks out about riding in the car and would be pretty stressed out about being away from home. I have two small kids so I worried about the radioactivity. Plus, he is used to going outside a lot and I would have had a hard time keeping him indoors. He also has a heart condition.
I opted to control his hyperthyroidism through medicine, which is working well so far. I used to give him the pills in the pill pockets, but he figured out how to eat around them. Now, I hide it in some wet food and that works on most days. The pills are very inexpensive. What is expensive is the visits to the vet to monitor how well the medicine is working. I think I've been taking him in every 6 mos at $250 each visit. Maybe if he was younger I would have gone with Radiocat or surgery. The doctor who treats my cat said her cat got a thyroidectomy, but it didn't work for some reason. The good thing about radiocat is that it appears to be pretty safe and it's 100% effective. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| My cat got hyperthyroidism when she was 16, and she also had a heart murmur. We used medication, but our vet upped the meds when they should have been reduced. This caused our cat to go into heart failure, and she died a couple of weeks later. If you use meds, use a very small dose, and increase in small increments. I regret so much that I didn't know more about this condition and how it should be treated and instead took her to a vet where she saw a different dr every single time we went. Now, I've found a wonderful vet, and I always just see her. |
Anonymous
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OP here...My cat has a heart condition too. I didn't know that could rule her out for the Radioiodine therapy.
My cat has been on the meds for 3 weeks and may have developed a reaction to it as she's gotten worse instead of better and it hasn't lowered her T4 levels enough. We did start her on a low dose. Now I'm getting conflicting information on whether we should up the meds to get her t4 levels down more or discontinue them because appear to be lowering her white blood cell count and making her sicker. Thanks for the info everyone! |
Anonymous
| My cat got the radiocat procedure done at Southpaws in Arlington. I highly recommend going to a specialty vet hospital to sort out your conflicting info. The doc we worked with was a radiologist--I doubt you would have the kind of misinformation problems you mention there. I can't remember what we paid but it was preferable to the meds as she went into hiding when she realized we wanted to give her a daily pill. |
Anonymous
| My cat had it. She was from the pound and had some issues. I decided not to treat it because taking her to the vet was traumatizing for her - way beyond normal cat behavior. She was a happy cat for many years, and then one day, she wasn't happy anymore. We said our goodbyes and put her down. This was the right thing for us and for her. |
aamom
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| I have had two cats with hyperthyroid, one was treated with meds, then surgery, the other treated with meds, then I131, had it done at southpaws, can also be treated with diet now |
Anonymous
| My 11 year old cat has hyperthyroidism. For a variety of reasons, I am not able to treat it at all and the guilt is brutal. I've tried to find her another family and even offered to pay for a new family to treat her, but no one wants a sick cat. So sad. |
Anonymous
| there are many ways to treat her, pills, diet, I131 therapy, topical gels, and meds made into treats, one of these should help you to treat your cat |
Anonymous
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I have a 13 yr old with it and we don't treat it well. It's really hard to get two pills a day into her. We do our best.
We aren't doing the radiotherapy for the reasons mentioned above. Not sure if they are good ones though. My kitty has lost a lot of weight recently do I"m sure her meds aren't right but eact vet visit is about 200-250. |
Anonymous
| Thyroid problems are very common in older cats. We could never get her to take pills and didn't want to do RadioCat, so we treated it with diet. Science Diet YD from the vet. You have to stick with it completely, no treats or other food since it is important that they have no iodine whatsoever. She lived 3 additional happy/healthy years after being diagnosed at 15. Good luck! |