Has anyone had a cat diagnosed with hyperthyroidism? What course of treatment did you follow? How old was your cat? If you opted for medication, how long did your cat live / how long has your cat been lving? Were there side-effects? What were they? If you opted for surgery, were there complications? How expensive was it?

After a couple of years of our complaining to our old vet that Monz has a hard time keeping weight on, has been irritable / nervous and very vocal, etc., we brought him to a different vet. The old vet said that the weight issue was because he is long-haired and she said that he had hairball problems. He's groomed regularly (not as frequently as he should, probably) and we've done the hairball meds thing. The behavioural problems were what was setting off alarms lately. He developed a rash a few days ago and that was the main reason we brought him in, but we brought up our concerns about hyperthyroidism and this vet agreed that he seems to be a classic case.

I'm taking him in for blood tests today and we'll find out for sure this week. I'm also concerned because the vet noticed that he has a heart murmur. He's only nine years old.

I'd like your feedback if you've gone through this with a feline buddy before. :(

The cat we had when I was growing up was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism when he was about 12 years old. Same symptoms you discussed - unexplained and rapid weight loss (which was really scary), moodiness, etc. We were able to manage it with medication, and he lived to be almost 19!

I don't recall there being any negative side effects with the medication, either. I also don't recall the name of the medication; however, I do know that we were extremely lucky to have a Holistic Vet in our area (he was the president of the Holistic Veterinary Association at one time), and the medication was prescribed along with some lifestyle changes.

I think the problems that arise with the medication have to do with the fact that it's not designed to be long-term. Monzo's going to be ten later this year and the impression the vet gave my spouse is that the meds the vet would prescribe will mean a shortened life for him since they'll attack his kidneys. Now I'm curious about what would have been used to treat your kitty.

Thanks for the story, though. I've been pretty down in the dumps since first hearing about Monzo's possible diagnosis on Saturday and it's good to hear that there might be a chance that he'll still have some good years with us.

I hope you're Cat lives many more happy, healthy years with you.

The veterinary specialist to whom I take some of my critters has a facility for doing radiation treatment for hyperthyroidism. From what I have heard, it produces remarkably good results, on a consistent basis, with minimal stress to the cat's system. You may want to learn more about this. I gather it is much preferable to long term medication or surgery. The cat has to stay at the hospital for a number of days, until de/she is somehwat "decontaminated" :rolleyes:, and then has to be kept separated from other cats in the household for a while. One of my co-worker's cats had this treatment, with excellent results.

I did a quick Google search, and this site will give you some basic information:

http://www.radiocat.com/

It's the first site I happened upon. Since the site is that of a practice that specializes in this treatment, you may want to take what it says with a grain of salt, but it pretty much reflects what I remember hearing/reading about the radiation treatment. If you look a little further on Google, I'm sure you'll find some articles from vet schools, etc.

P.S. The fact that your cat has a heart condition would, I think, be one more factor in making this treatment preferable over surgery.

Thanks Veggied!

Mouse, radiation treatment isn't an option in this area.

We brought him in this afternoon and it looks as if both sides of the thyroid gland are enlarged. We'll get the official test results tomorrow, but it's looking like hyperthyroidism for sure. Tomorrow we'll know if he's in good enough shape to go on the meds.