hyperthyroidism

Hi,
My 8 year old cat is in the hospital for complete diagnosis and fluids. All
seems normal except for thyroid test (which the vet suspects is the problem)
not yet back. I adopted her and her littermate - both wild and unsocialized
and the two reinforce each other's fearful behavior making them almost
impossible to catch (even though they are indoor cats) unless they are sick.
The vet mentioned the success of radioactive treatment as an option to the
use of oral meds. Has anyone here had experience with this?
Thanks
Greta

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"Greta" wrote in message
...
Hi,
My 8 year old cat is in the hospital for complete diagnosis and fluids.
All
seems normal except for thyroid test (which the vet suspects is the
problem)
not yet back. I adopted her and her littermate - both wild and
unsocialized
and the two reinforce each other's fearful behavior making them almost
impossible to catch (even though they are indoor cats) unless they are
sick.
The vet mentioned the success of radioactive treatment as an option to the
use of oral meds. Has anyone here had experience with this?
Thanks
Greta


I looked into this topic in depth, and we had a great discussion about it
here last August and Sept. My cat, now almost 11, was diagnosed with
hyperthyroid last August. The radioactive iodine treatment is one of
two cures--and the best and least risky of the two. The other is surgery.
Treating with pills such as Tapazole amounts to controlling the disease
but is not a cure.

Radiotherapy is a simple injection, no general anesthetic, and a
90+ % cure rate. The only down side is you have to leave your cat
at the vet anywhere from 3 days to over 2 weeks depending on the
laws of your state regarding the handling of radioactive waste. (Because
your cat's waste is radioactive for a little while.) It is expensive: about
$1200.

My vet was ready to do the surgery, but Phil P. and Maurice and
others talked me out of it for very good reasons. For one thing it
is just a lot more invasive to the cat than the radiotherapy--major
surgery that involves general anesthetic. For another, it can be
challenging to ablate the thyroid while leaving enough of the
parathyroid. Needless to say this is tiny in cats. The cost is
about $800.

Instead, I chose to treat with the Tapazole until her levels
of thyroid hormones are stable, and to have her tested for
kidney and liver function, then if I got the go ahead to get
her the radiation therapy. Why test for liver and kidney
function? Because the cats must have healthy kidneys
to undergo the radiation, and they must have healthy livers
to take Tapazole. Why get their thyroid levels down with
the Tapazole before you test? Because since everything is
speeded up in a hyperthyroid cat, the overactive thyroid
revs up the kidneys and liver, too. So once the hyper-T
is corrected you may find that they do indeed have impaired
liver and kidney function--the first of which is dangerous for
long-term Tapazole use, the second of which is dangerous
for the radiation therapy.

Get me? If I got anything wrong, someone chime in.

Bottom line: I need to schedule the radiation soon, as her
levels of everything are fine. As for the expense--your kitty, and mine
are young enough that they could live another ten years. And
trust me, pilling twice a day sucks, even when you have a cat
that loves being handled.

Thanks so much for your wealth of good information. It will give me a good
base for my discussion with the vet tomorrow.
Greta

"Greta" wrote in message
...
Thanks so much for your wealth of good information. It will give me a good
base for my discussion with the vet tomorrow.
Greta



Please let us know how it turns out. By the way, my vet (not very good,
I guess) had no idea that an overactive thyroid could not only mask
impaired kidney function, but could also mask impaired liver function.
After Phip P. mentioned it, I mentioned it to my vet and he found an
article about it and had to agree. Point: it appears to be important to
stabilize the thyroid first with Tapazole, then test to see if the cat is a
candidate for radiation therapy. Don't rush into anything.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Just being a typical cat pilfering through some posts

Your very committed.

I feel like I would do what I could as well.
A soul can learn a lot on this group, lot's of experience here.

Mary wrote:
For another, it can be
challenging to ablate the thyroid while leaving enough of the
parathyroid. Needless to say this is tiny in cats. The cost is
about $800.

Heh. sorta OT, but I am trying to imagine how truly truly TINY those
parathyroids are in kitties. I just had my thyroid removed and in the
process lost one of my 4 parathyroids and another one had to be
autotransplanted (removed and put back into the muscle). My surgeon
explained to me that functioning parathyroids are VERY important and
having parathyroid problems can be more dangerous than the thyroid
cancer I am dealing with. I wonder if the same is true for kitties.

Thyroids are stupid...if they weren't so damn important. :\

Pam
-going back to work in the morning and cant sleep

My cat had the surgery as I didn't think he could cope with going away
for 3 weeks, he was fine afterwards, apart from the fact that he
doesn't have a proper miaow anymore, it's become a squeak. Not long
after that though he got diabetes, and now he has kidney disease too,
poor beggar, he looks well on it though, people are always shocked when
I tell them he's 15. Once they get ill, they do seem to get one thing
after another don't they?

"kitkatluna" wrote in message
m...
Mary wrote:
For another, it can be
challenging to ablate the thyroid while leaving enough of the
parathyroid. Needless to say this is tiny in cats. The cost is
about $800.

Heh. sorta OT, but I am trying to imagine how truly truly TINY those
parathyroids are in kitties. I just had my thyroid removed and in the
process lost one of my 4 parathyroids and another one had to be
autotransplanted (removed and put back into the muscle). My surgeon
explained to me that functioning parathyroids are VERY important and
having parathyroid problems can be more dangerous than the thyroid
cancer I am dealing with. I wonder if the same is true for kitties.

Thyroids are stupid...if they weren't so damn important. :\


I found this:

The thyroid gland regulates the body's metabolism and has no effect on
calcium
levels while parathyroid glands regulate calcium levels and have no effect
on metabolism.
Calcium is the element that allows the normal conduction of electrical
currents along nerves--
its how our nervous system works and how one nerve 'talks' to the next. Our
entire brain
works by fluxes of calcium into and out of the nerve cells. Calcium is also
the primary
element which causes muscles to contract.

Knowing these two major functions of calcium helps explain why people can
get a tingling
sensation in their fingers or cramps in the muscles of their hands when
calcium levels drop
below normal. A sudden drop in the calcium level (like after a successful
parathyroid
operation where the patient doesn't take their calcium pills for the first
few days after the
surgery) can cause patients to feel "foggy", "weird" or "confused like my
brain isn't
working correctly". The brain DEMANDS a normal steady-state calcium level,
so
any change in the amount of calcium can cause the brain to feel un-loved and
the
patient to feel bad. Likewise, too much parathyroid hormone causes too high
a
calcium level--and this can make a person feel run down, cause them to sleep
poorly, make them more irritable than usual, and even cause a decrease in
memory.
Here is the site:

http://www.parathyroid.com/parathyroid-function.htm


Pam
-going back to work in the morning and cant sleep

I hate that, and it happened to me all the time when I had an
8-5 and wrecked my day. I *have* to have enough sleep.
Hope the day goes well in spite of.

wrote in message
oups.com...
My cat had the surgery as I didn't think he could cope with going away
for 3 weeks, he was fine afterwards, apart from the fact that he
doesn't have a proper miaow anymore, it's become a squeak. Not long
after that though he got diabetes, and now he has kidney disease too,
poor beggar, he looks well on it though, people are always shocked when
I tell them he's 15. Once they get ill, they do seem to get one thing
after another don't they?


Yes they do. I'm sorry your kitty has been through so much.