Guest guest Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 If you are in Houston, you might try Dr. ek. He is real good with cats and special problems. I hope this is ok to post here since it IS about thyroiddisease...just in cats. :)My cat (12 years old) is hyperthyroid and has been for a few years. In the last year or so, he's lost A LOT of weight. He eats somuch and he's currently maintaining at about 8 lbs. But he used to be12 lbs (he's a fairly larger than normal cat so 12 lbs was pretty ideal for him) so that's a lot of weight for him to lose.We test his T4 levels fairly often (3 or 4 times a year when I canafford it) and when they were " in range " but he was still vomiting a lot and just acting strangely, my vet consulted with an internist orsome such who said we should get his numbers .5 or below. They weresomewhere around 2 at that time I believe. So that's what we did. Vomiting stopped and for the most part he seems happy and doesn't looksick, at least his eyes are bright. Exhibiting normal behavior moreor less (he's become a crier though - big time).His main problems now though is his weight. He's still extremely thin and his appettite is killing me cost wise. He eats 4-5 times a day atleast (and that's with me working 8 hours every day - if I'm home onthe weekends all day, he wants to eat every 2 hours). He acts like he's starving to death almost constantly (and I can tell he really is- it's not just typical cat behavior, this is different). Hecompletely refuses dry food now, which is what he ate for 4-5 years before this started, and will only eat canned food now so I can't justleave food out for him 24/7. We just retested him and his T4 is .4.Vet said this is as low as the test will even detect. I thought maybe we should increase his dose a bit more anyways but vet wants todecrease it slightly and retest in a week (but I talked him into amonth - I can't afford to do it again next week).His heart rate stays at a pretty fast clip (180-200, I'm told 150 is normal for cats) and this isn't an active cat at all. He sleeps 23hours of the day. Sometimes he's 150-160 and others it's closer to200 for no reason I can detect. I'm worried about heart problems as he ages of course due to this.No other tests have been done for thyroid except T4. Is this standardfor cats with hyperthyroid? I don't know much at all abouthyperthyroidism in humans much less cats. Does anyone have any experience with this in cats and give some advice? Reliable webpagesto read? Now that I know how messed up this is in humans, I'm notsure what to trust as far as cats go. :(My other cat has ballooned because of 's increased eating habits. I've tried to feed them separately but then she refuses to eat at alluntil he comes out of the room (which actually, would probably be agood thing for her, at least in the short term *g*).Anyway, thanks in advance if anyone can offer me some advice. Oh and he's on Methamizole .5 mg twice a day. That's his new decreased dose,down from 1 1/2 pills twice a day.Jul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 No, I'm in the DFW area. ville to be exact but I still use the Colleyville Animal Clinic simply because up until now, they've been wonderful and I didn't want to switch vets when I moved from the Mid-Cities area. They still are wonderful, I just don't know if they know enough about how to treat this or not. Thanks though! > > If you are in Houston, you might try Dr. ek. He is real good with cats and special problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 Take a look at this link (if you haven't already). http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/hth.html I have had several people tell me that veterinary medicine is light years ahead of human medicine. Your cat might get better treatment than you will, but it will probably be pricey. Pat > > > > If you are in Houston, you might try Dr. ek. He is real good with cats and special problems. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 Jul, All I can say is that I feel for you. I have the hypothyroid dog. I guess he is better. His weight is down. He is not limping anymore. The vet is thrilled about the weight! I try to observe his behavior but of course, the vet is really having to rely on the labs. I feel bad that he is not on Armour but I don’t have the energy or financial resources to even attempt to change him. It’s all I can do to manage myself and kids being hypothyroid. But he is not having any obvious symptoms either. I feel bad that your kitty is down so low on the weight. One of our cats is very over weight. I have to take her to the vet in January. I am afraid that we are going to find out that the cat is hypothyroid too. Our other cat (her sister) weight is fine. Kim From: Texas_Thyroid_Groups [mailto:Texas_Thyroid_Groups ] On Behalf Of Jul Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 1:57 PM To: Texas_Thyroid_Groups Subject: Re: Hyperthyroid Cat No, I'm in the DFW area. ville to be exact but I still use the Colleyville Animal Clinic simply because up until now, they've been wonderful and I didn't want to switch vets when I moved from the Mid-Cities area. They still are wonderful, I just don't know if they know enough about how to treat this or not. Thanks though! _._,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 Well, if it's any consolation, hypo in cats isn't common (according to my vet). Hypo is common for dogs while hyper is common for cats. Not sure why that is. So hopefully your cat just is just becoming " big boned " . I know the reason why Ellie (my overweight cat) is big is because she gets way too much food. She actually doesn't even eat that much of it. She takes a few bites and wanders off while gobbles up nearly every last bite out of both bowls. *g* And yet she's nearly 15 lbs now (she should probably be 8 or 9 to be healthy) and he's struggling to stay at 8. So frustrating. I remember being so happy he was finally losing weight since for 4 years I'd been " yelled " at (not really but it was on every single report card) by my vet that he's too big (I didn't think he really was - he really does have a larger frame than your average cat I think) only to find out I shouldn't have been happy, because he was actually sick! And then when he just kept losing and losing...that got scary. I accidentally gave my Armour one morning recently. I was half asleep still and grabbed the wrong pill bottle. I didn't realize what I'd done until after I popped it in his mouth. I was like 'Wait a sec - that pill is a lot larger than it usually looks! D'oh! " I was really worried but he seemed ok the rest of the day so I guess it didn't hurt him. Prayers for your dog! I hope he continues to be ok. The receptionist at my vet's office thought it was the hilarious that my cat and I share the same diseases. had a brief time of being anemic and I'm' anemic. He's got a thyroid problem, I've got a thyroid problem. He got a kidney infection, I had a kidney infection. Sheesh, what next??? I didn't realize these things were so contagious. Jul One of our cats is very over weight. I have to take her to the vet in January. I am afraid that we are going to find out that the cat is hypothyroid too. Our other cat (her sister) weight is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 We laugh because she was born without a tail. About half the litter was just like the mama, no tail. So her name is Nada or Nadita (nothing in Spanish). One of my daughters calls her “Nada lot a tail”. Now the girls say that we should call her “LE GRANDE”. I think she has the shape of a rectangle. My mother keeps insisting that she is pregnant even though she has been fixed and they are indoor cats. I think my vet thought I was crazy when I said they I wanted my dog checked for hypothyroidism because I had a hypothyroid family. He found out I wasn’t when the labs came back. Wishing you and your cat much good health in the New Year. Kim From: Texas_Thyroid_Groups [mailto:Texas_Thyroid_Groups ] On Behalf Of Jul Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 3:46 PM To: Texas_Thyroid_Groups Subject: Re: Hyperthyroid Cat Well, if it's any consolation, hypo in cats isn't common (according to my vet). Hypo is common for dogs while hyper is common for cats. Not sure why that is. So hopefully your cat just is just becoming " big boned " . Jul On 12/27/07, K. Hanson, CTR <CAdata4ugmail> wrote: One of our cats is very over weight. I have to take her to the vet in January. I am afraid that we are going to find out that the cat is hypothyroid too. Our other cat (her sister) weight is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 I got a kitty who I believe to be HYPO, but you get the standard party line, " Cats don't get hypo. " However, Kismet is 17.5 pounds, looks like a potbellied pig, has a little arthritis in his butt, and his weight doesn't go down. I gotta get his weight down, just don't know how to go about it. If he's hypo, exercise isn't going to help much, but I'm considering it anyway. Catmandu is 17 pounds, but he's not a butterball. They are 14 yo, and no diabetes, thank heavens. Amy >^..^< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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