Hyperthyroidism in cats

[zhuzhu]

My oldest cat (14 yo) was just diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, and was given Tapazole 2.5mm to take twice a day.

Has anyone here ever had their cat treated for the same condition? Would you please share your experience? I heard the medication is very bitter and the cats sometimes become very upset with you. Furthermore there may be unexpected and serious side effects.

I would benefit greatly from learning from either your experience, or the knowledge you have in this health condition.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Matata]

I went through this last February with my 16-yr old. The choices were to treat her with Tapezol for the rest of her life or to go for the cure. She also has chronic renal failure and inflammatory bowel disease. I was already giving her prednisolone for the IBD and Renal K for the kidneys and just didn't want to have to add yet another medication to the daily regimen.

I went for the cure and it was successful. The treatment consists of 1 subq injection of a radioactive substance that targets and kills only the thyroid tumor tissue. She had to stay at the vet's for 3 days. We tested her a month later and she was completely cured. The cost in my area is $900 which is less than the projected cost of the Tapezol over a few years.

 

[Matata]

zhuzu, I forgot to mention that Maggie had to be on Tapezol for 3 weeks to test whether her kidneys were healthy enough for the injection. She did fine on the drug but one of the side effects is vomiting and she does enough of that because of the IBD which is another reason I chose the injection option. The Tapezol pill is small and I hid it in her food.

 

[Kismet]

My cat had hyperthyroidism when she was about 6. She was on the Tapazol for a month or so and then we brought her in for the radio iodine treatment. We used the liquid form of tapazol since I wasn't very good at giving her pills. She had to stay at the clinic for 3 nights and then we could bring her home. The big change after the radioiodine treatment was that she basically lost her voice. She can still kind of meow (more of a squeak than anything) but it's really really rare that she does. The other big inconvenience of it was that she refused to use the flushable litter so we had to store the used litter for weeks before we could throw it away.

 

[zhuzhu]

I went through this last February with my 16-yr old. The choices were to treat her with Tapezol for the rest of her life or to go for the cure. She also has chronic renal failure and inflammatory bowel disease. I was already giving her prednisolone for the IBD and Renal K for the kidneys and just didn't want to have to add yet another medication to the daily regimen.

I went for the cure and it was successful. The treatment consists of 1 subq injection of a radioactive substance that targets and kills only the thyroid tumor tissue. She had to stay at the vet's for 3 days. We tested her a month later and she was completely cured. The cost in my area is $900 which is less than the projected cost of the Tapezol over a few years.

Thank you, Mahata,

Tisha has elevated thyroid score (7.5) but it is not extremely high. His creatinine (kidney health marker) is high-normal, so the vet's worry is that if we cure his thyroid problem with radioactive therapy, his kidney may deteriorate faster due to decrease of blood pressure. The plan is to give him one month treatment of Tapezol, and re-test hid kidney function, BP, and thyroid to decide if it is improving the way we want to see.

Has Maggie taken the pill willingly? or did she throw it out in the vomit?

Thanks.

 

[Matata]

She threw it up a few times so I had to change the plan. I crushed it up, mixed it into some dried liver powder, which she loves and which masked the aroma & flavor of the drug, and mixed it into the food.

The vet who does the radioactive iodine insisted she be on the Tapezol for the same reason as yours, to monitor kidney function -- if it got worse on the drug, we couldn't do the iodine treatment. Maggie's kidney values were worse than your cat's before treatment, remained the same during the Tapezol trial, and improved after the radioactive iodine treatment.

 

[zhuzhu]

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I hope Tisha will be as lucky as Maggie, either in the pill form treatment or in the radio therapy. How has Maggie been doing since her treatment? Is she still energetic in spite of her kidney diseases and IBD?

 

[Haven]

My kitty Bootsie was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism around age 14 or 15, I can't remember anymore, and she lived three good years after the diagnosis with regular treatment.

We gave her the meds and opted out of the radioactive iodine treatment, although in retrospect I wish we would have done it. At first we tried to squirt the meds in her mouth in liquid form. This was a disaster. Then we tried pills. Another disaster. Finally, we tried the gel form and rubbed that inside of her ear twice a day. THIS was the best, and we were able to keep her numbers steady for all those years. We had to clean her ears every few days, because the meds gunked up in there, but otherwise, it was great.

I hope you can find a treatment that works for your kitty!

 

[Matata]

The treatment improved her attitude 100%. She got very aggressive with everyone, her little eyes were bulging, and she would roam the house howling all night -- classic hyperthyroid symptoms. She is back to her regal diva self. Appetite is great, general activity level has declined as she ages but she still runs around like a kitten when the mood suits her and she terrorizes my 3 Savannah cats. I wish she didn't have to take the prednisolone. I wean her off from time to time and she usually can go about 4 months before the vomiting starts again. She'll be 17 in May and two years ago the vet didn't hold out much hope that she'd pull through a severe episode of the IBD. Eventually the kidney disease will kill her but we think she'll likely be around another 2-3 years.

 

[LGK]

The cat we've had for 9 years, O.P. (age unknown but was adult when we found him and is probably 14 or 15) has hyperthryroidism. He's *extremely* hyperthyroid, and we've had a hard time getting him on a high enough dose. So he's still super, super, super skinny- 6lbs 2 oz and he's not a naturally small cat, he's big framed. He's recently gained a tiny bit thank god, since they upped his dose again.

He's on methimazole. He haaates it and we play pez dispenser kitty a lot. In with the pill. Out it pops. In it goes again. Rinse and repeat until we're both frazzled. Two a day. Luckily he's incredibly sweet natured and will actually let me pill him with only some squirming, and usually will take them OK.

They can put the meds into an ear wipe stuff, if kitteh gets really sick of taking pills. I'm considering it, it's been maybe 5 months of pilling and it's tough for both of us.

He has been anxious a lot since developing the condition, he cries way more than he ever did before. And he pulls his fur out. And has diarrhea. The last is way better with the recent dosage-upping at least, but he continues to be anxious and eats mass quantities still.

So far no bad reactions to the pills *crosses fingers*. He was really not well from the thyroid issue, so it's really no choice there.

Hope your baby is OK and it isn't too traumatic for you both. (I dread it if Rat ever develops a condition requiring pilling, it would be a battle to the death every time.)

 

[zhuzhu]

Thank you ladies for sharing your stories.
I am so sad at the prospect of losing my 14 years old baby, whom is really my baby, my very first cat that I raised and loved from the very 1st day. I hope he will live for many more years of healthy and happy life.

 

[lulu]

Ivan-age 13-was just diagnosed. He takes one pill 2x day- I crush it with a spoon and give it to him with some wet food and he snarfs it up. His vomiting stopped and he's much less cranky and vocal.
The funny part is that we get his medicine from Walgreens and they enrolled Ivan in their discount club. Now I have to find him a little wallet so he can carry his discount card.

 

[Scorpioanne]

He's on methimazole. He haaates it and we play pez dispenser kitty a lot. In with the pill. Out it pops. In it goes again. Rinse and repeat until we're both frazzled. Two a day. Luckily he's incredibly sweet natured and will actually let me pill him with only some squirming, and usually will take them OK.

They can put the meds into an ear wipe stuff, if kitteh gets really sick of taking pills. I'm considering it, it's been maybe 5 months of pilling and it's tough for both of us.

OMG, this is too funny a description! And how true! My dear Scorpio is hyperthyroid (she just turned 13). We are doing the same medication at 1/2 a pill once a day. Initially she was on it 2x a day but she ended up throwing up blood (it's hard on the tummy). She is still thin but is much calmer and the peeing issues that had escalated have stopped (we had to do litterbox bootcamp as well as a special food for some kidney issues that seem to go along with the hyperthyroidism). I have noticed that she is scratching herself bald around her neck now tho (apparently an itchy face is a side effect of the drugs). I am thinking that I'd like to try her on the medication that goes in the ear as giving her a pill is stressful for everyone and I would like to be able to go away and get someone else to take care of her while we are gone, as it is only we give her a pill and I am not sure how it would go if someone else tried to do it (I think try is the operative term here, I am not sure anyone else would be successful). I have to take Scorpio in to be checked again and I hope the news is good.

The vet gave me some great information off the internet from a vet site. Reading it made me realise that the medication is so important as the thyroid affects so many parts of the body.

 

[Haven]

He's on methimazole. He haaates it and we play pez dispenser kitty a lot. In with the pill. Out it pops. In it goes again. Rinse and repeat until we're both frazzled. Two a day. Luckily he's incredibly sweet natured and will actually let me pill him with only some squirming, and usually will take them OK.

They can put the meds into an ear wipe stuff, if kitteh gets really sick of taking pills. I'm considering it, it's been maybe 5 months of pilling and it's tough for both of us.

My little Bootsie was on methimazole, and that ear wipe stuff was a GODSEND. I highly recommend it. I think it really lowered her stress levels once we made the switch because we were no longer playing games with the meds.

P.S. I just bought a book with your tattoo on the cover. It's called The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. It looks really interesting, it's YA, but I'll admit that I only pulled it off the shelf because I recognized your tattoo!

 

[zhuzhu]

We successfully gave Tisha his very first half-tablet, so far so good!!!!

He did push it out at the first try, but we put it further in the back of his throat the second time, and it went int!

 

[Haven]

That's great news!

 

[LGK]

He's on methimazole. He haaates it and we play pez dispenser kitty a lot. In with the pill. Out it pops. In it goes again. Rinse and repeat until we're both frazzled. Two a day. Luckily he's incredibly sweet natured and will actually let me pill him with only some squirming, and usually will take them OK.

They can put the meds into an ear wipe stuff, if kitteh gets really sick of taking pills. I'm considering it, it's been maybe 5 months of pilling and it's tough for both of us.

My little Bootsie was on methimazole, and that ear wipe stuff was a GODSEND. I highly recommend it. I think it really lowered her stress levels once we made the switch because we were no longer playing games with the meds.

P.S. I just bought a book with your tattoo on the cover. It's called The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. It looks really interesting, it's YA, but I'll admit that I only pulled it off the shelf because I recognized your tattoo!

Haven, that's really funny! I had no idea it was a book cover... well, of any book except for like art nouveau jewelry or something

I am glad to hear the earwipe stuff is not so bad. I think we'll be making the switch shortly, even with a patient kitty like O.P., long term pilling is just no fun for anybody.

 

[laine]

My mom's cat was on the pills--I think there was some reason they didn't do the liquid or ear stuff, though I don't remember what it was. She would hide it in wet food and the cat would usually eat it there. If she ate around it, a little bit of raw chicken or tuna or the like usually did the trick.

 

[ts44]

I think our grumpy cat Rudy was 15 when he was diagnosed hyperthyroid, he lived for six more cantankerous years. The ear gel was a godsend!