What can you tell me about Hyperthyroidism in cats?

Question

My two cats, both 15 years old, have just been diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism, and the vet is recommending they take methimazole for treatment. Does anyone else have cats with this disease? I'm looking for side affects and ways to get them to take the pills. ALso, does anyone know life expectancy on this medication? Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

I know several cats on treatment for hyperthyroidism. The best person to ask about side effects is your vet, who should've gone through all this with you. Read this for lots of info on the syndrome:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthyroidism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methimazole

Methimazole is actually a human drug. While it's OK to use for cats, Felimazole is the most modern hyperthyroidism treatment, it's specially for cats. You might want to ask your vet about that.

Life expectancy is difficult - I think the treatment is more about improving quality of life really. Since cats are usually pretty old when they develop it, it's hard to say how long they would live without treatment, or if they hadn't developed the syndrome. Life with hyperthyroidism isn't fun for cats at all, they're always hungry and in a foul mood, so the greatest benefit of treatment is controlling these problems.

When you ask your vet for further info, careful how you phrase it, vets are testy about people challenging their expertise with stuff they've read on the internet! Something tactful like 'tell me about the surgical option' or 'I've heard about this Felimazole....' would be good!

Now for giving cats pills:
+see if your cat will eat it when it's hidden in food. You can crush it, but ensure she's eaten ALL the food
+ try hiding it in a fave treat like cheese or ham
+ or, this is the method for giving tablets by mouth - tilt her head all the way back by using one hand round the top of her head - cats won't generally struggle if their head is held, you just might need someone to hold the front paws down. Pull open their bottom jaw from the front, and quickly push the tablet down their throat (it won't go down the wrong hole). You should be able to push the tablet right down so they don't even need to swallow, but you need to be quite bold to do this, so you might need to hold her mouth closed and stroke her throat until she swallows if not. When she licks her lips, that means she's swallowed.

Feel free to email me for any other q's or if I've not been clear about anything!

Chalice

Answer 2

You have gotten very good information on this condition. I currently have a 15 year old cat who is being treated with medication.

I rescued a 15 yr old cat dying from this condition seven years ago. After she was stabilized on the tapazole she had the radio-iodine treatment and lived to be 22 and 1/2 years of age. The radiation treatment absolutely resolves the problem and is much more widely available and somewhat less expensive than when I did it seven years ago. Still it would cost about $2500 to treat both your cats.

Life expectancy depends, of course, entirely on the cat's overall health. Cats must be stabilized on the medication before the radiation treatment is considered as the cat cannot be treated that way if the kidneys are compromised.

Answer 3

One of my previous cats had Hyperthyroidism. It's very common and is typically one of the first things a vet looks for in a senior cat if something is wrong.

Basically, the thyroid helps control metabolism. If they have a hyper thyroid, the cat will eat constantly, have a normal activity level, but still lose weight. Their metabolism is in over drive. In a hypo cat, it's the opposite.

My cat had one of his thyroid glands removed, rather than being on pills. Unfortunately, I was away at college at the time, so wasn't present at the office visits. I am unsure whether or not pills as an option were discussed. After the thyroid was removed, though, he went back to normal and gained some weight back. They did check every office visit after that to make sure his remaining thyroid wasn't enlarging. It never did and he was fine. That is, until 2 years later he was diagnosed with CRF.

Answer 4

I had an elderly cat that was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism around age 16-17. The main symptom was that she got very skinny. She lived to age 19 with medication. She also had very gradual kidney failure and high blood pressure, so she was taking other medications as well. She did fine until the last month or so of her life.

Overall, hyperthyroid cats seem to do fine with medication and occasional T4 tests to make sure the medication dosage is correct. This is a relatively easy condition to deal with.

My vet sold little kitty treats that were pill pockets. You stick the pill in the pocket and give it to the cat. These worked well. Cheese or cream cheese also works if you cat likes it - it worked for mine for awhile and then she got bored of it. That's when we switched to the pill pockets.

Answer 5

Medication brings the thyroid back into balance. Most cats with this loose a lot of weight until the thyroid is back under control. Mine is hyperthyroid--we had two options, to put her on the pills or to get the radiation/iodine surgery. Surgery is 80% successful but costs $1,300. If you're one of the unlucky ones with a cat who doesn't respond, you'll have to have the cat stay on pills the rest of his life. Pills--they're small ones called tapazole. Twice a day, every day of the cat's life. If you do one a day or miss days, your cat can develop heart problems quickly. Some cats, being hard to pill, have at least the option of getting the medicine compounded into a cream that gets put into the ear twice a day. The meds are called Methamazole then, and they cost the same-- I pay $35 for a months supply. There's a pet pharmacist who does the cream by mail, all he needs is a prescription from your vet. I'll put his web site below for you if you wanted to follow up with that. Our cat has been on the cream for 2 years now and her thyroid levels are perfect.

Answer 6

I had an older cat with the same disease. It was one of the first thing the vet looked for when she started losing weight rapidly. The best way for me to give her the pill was to grind it up between two spoons and put it in a spoon full of canned cat food. She thought it was a treat. It worked great, and she lived another 3 years with the disease. Good Luck

Answer 7

My 13 year old cat was diagnosed with this. I opted for the iodine treatment done by RadioCat. I had my cat on tapazole for a month prior to the stop time before radiation treatment.

It was costly but my cat went from 10lbs back to a healthy 13lbs. He is completely cured, healthy and happy and doesnt have to take pills.

If you can afford the treatment I highly recommend it.