Overactive Thyroid In Cat

[237SJ]

Has anyone here got/had a cat that has had an operation for the above I would just be interested in how they got on and whether they got the calcium problem which can be a complication.

[237SJ]

Anyone? Maybe everyone has gone for the tablet option rather than the operation.

[wolf63]

It would depend on her age. This guy is a vet and is usually very helpful but as he works as a vet and in the media he is often busy and he may take time to get back to him. But ask.

https://www.facebook.com/PeteTheVet?fref=ts

Frankie has asthma and I have tried various solutions and did not want to put him on daily tablets. He has been on them for months now and is fine - it was amazingly easy to give him the tablets. You would have to get someone that you trust to give her the tablets when you are away though.

This kitty parenting business is complicated :-)

[237SJ]

Thanks wolf. My vet explained it all to me this morning. He`s a really informative vet and lets me be quite "hands on". He showed me how to feel the cat`s heart beat and it was really pounding. He said her thyroid gland is now palpable. One in 6 cats have overactive thyroids and he has operated on 19 year olds with the condition. One in 10 get an imbalance in their calcium levels afterwards so he has to keep them in for a couple of days until it settles down. Sometimes they need treatment for a few weeks afterwards but if they don`t respond, it can be fatal. The other options are tablets and I don`t want to do that, or radiation therapy which costs a lot and the cat has to be kept in a lead-lined cage for a month afterwards. He is a cat owner and he said he`d go for the operation every time. I just wondered if anyone had experience of it.

[Barmaid]

I went for the pills solution since the cost of the Op was about £2k. Pills seem to work.

[237SJ]

I will have to go for pills if the cat`s liver and kidneys are not up to the op. I remember my Mum having to give my other cat a tablet and it became more and more distressing for both of them. I would also have to ask the cat feeder to do it when I`m not here and I`m not sure that is something he can do. It`s a shame they can`t disguise cat drugs as Dreamies.

[237SJ]

I would feel absolutely terrible if she got the hypercalcium problem and died. Then again, she is growing quite a large sebbaceous cycst under her ear which would have to come off at sometime so he can do the two things at the same time.

[wolf63]

I hide Frankie's tablet in a Webbox cat stick. The only problem is that sometimes they are crumbly and it takes a bit of patience to get the tablet inside and stay inside.

Frankie is a greedy git and that helps.

[ladybirder]

Hi 237. My cat had that operation when she was 18 years old and she lived to a few months over 20 years of age. She was always a plucky little lady and I just knew she would be OK, and she was; took it all in her stride. Oh, and she never had the calcium problem. Like you, I couldn't cope with giving her tablets every day as we were both getting more and more distressed and it just wasn't fair on her. When I brought her home after the op she just strolled off as if nothing had happened. She was amazing. She did stop grooming herself though so I used to take her to a groomer but the groomer was only allowed about 20 minutes and then she madam would let it be known she'd had enough.
If I were you I would let her have the op. Good luck.

[237SJ]

Thanks ladybirder - that`s reassuring. Poor little thing has dropped about 300 grammes in 6 months and eats like a horse. She`s just about to go into the cattery this morning as I`m going home to Devon for a week and I hate putting her in there. I`ll have to make sure they feed her the extra. Did your cat have to go on tablets for a few weeks to stablise the condition before the op?

[ladybirder]

My poor little cat was always small but she dropped to 2.9kg and looked so scrawny. She was on tablets before the op because I remember the struggle we had to get them down her. She got so that, with or without a tablet in my hand, when I approached her she was off like a rocket LOL. But to be honest I don't remember them being changed before her op. Once I decided she was to have it, it happened within 2-3 days. I should perhaps mention mine also had failing kidneys and that is what killed her in the end. But over 20 was a good innings and she had a nice life. I do hope she's OK in the cattery this week, has she been before?

[237SJ]

Yes she has. I`ve just been talking to the guy that runs it and his cat had the op and did get the calcium problem. When they operated on his cat, the thyroid was huge and had spread round the neck and down into the chest. The complication is that it is easy to damage the parathyroid gland which regulates calcium and that`s what happened in his case. His cat is now on calcium tablets for life. He said his cat had been on thyroid tablets beforehand but they couldn`t keep a lid on the problem and that`s why he want for the operation. If it wasn`t for the fact that the cat had to stay in a lead-lined cage for weeks afterwards, I would go for the radioactive iodine treatment.

[ladybirder]

Be interesting to see some figures on the results of these ops. My cat had only the left side done. I wonder whether your chap at the cattery would still go for the op after what happened to his cat?? That's a real blow when you opt for the op so you don't have to give your car tablets for life and then end up putting it through the op and still have to give tablets for life. Wow.

[wolf63]

See if you can find any statistics or facts in this 'stuff'

http://icatcare.org/search/gss/thyroid

I would type more but I am ssoo tired and off to bed - brain has crashed.

[237SJ]

Futher to this - Pusscat is going for her thyroid test in the morning. I have to starve her for 12 hours from 9.30 this evening. I am sure I will pay for that during the night when she wakes me up because she wants food. It will be interesting to see the result of the test.