"Cathy Friedmann" wrote in message
...



Correct. My (RIP) cat, Debbie, had thyroid surgery when she was 11 or 12.

I forgot to mention that Buddha is nine.

She was on Tapazole & doing apparently fine, but she also had chronic
liver disease, & Tapazole paired w/ liver dysfunction wasn't advised by
either my regular vet nor the internist vet, long-term.

He mentioned this, too, as another reason why he needed to do more blood
work.

The radiation treatment wasn't available anywhere in this area at that
point, so surgery was the only option left. My vet was hoping - &
thought - she had done fine, not involving the parathyroids at all
during the surgery, but Debbie did eventually become hypothyroid - a couple
of months post-surgery, IIRC.

My vet drew the two lobes of the thyroid gland on the board and showed me
the parathyroid glands at the top of each as he described the surgery. He
stressed that the success of the operation depended in part upon leaving
that small bit of parathyroid, and that it was so very small that it was
easy to take too much of it, and that this may be why some cats do not
recover function. But he did say that only three cats in his 20+ year
practice had that happen and only one died.


Otoh, her thyroid levels were easy to manage w/ thyroxin, a thyroid
supplement (which didn't have a potentially negative reaction w/ the liver
prob).

My mother took animal thyroid for years and then synthroid later, due to
thyroid cancer that had been treated with surgery and radioactive iodine, so
I do know how that works.

The surgery itself & the recovery period went fine. Debbie was grumpy &
hoarse (from intubation, I gather) the day after her surgery, but she was
feeling *much* better by the following day, & went on to have an
uneventful recovery.

Good to know, thank you.


Maybe I'm missing something, but how come Tapazole (Vs. surgery) can't be
started now for your cat?


It is my impression that the surgery produces better results. I asked my vet
the question, "if it were your cat what would you do?" and he said his cat
had hyperthyroidism and he did the surgery and she was just fine.

Is it your opinion (and others please chime in) that the tapazole would be
better to try first, instead of going right in for the surgery? (This is
assuming her blood work comes back NOT showing impaired liver function, and
of course the surgery would only happen if her heart ultrasound comes back
showing a healthy heart.)

I want to give her the best possible chance at a long and healthy life. We
could do the radiation but I would want to be there the whole time--I'm very
wary of strange vets.