**UPDATE** Underweight cat/possible thyroid problem???

[chrissyk]

**UPDATE** The bloodwork came back perfect! Our kitty is completely healthy...no thyroid problem, no diabetes, no kidney issues. She's just underweight due to being picky/being stressed out. We have a goal of putting 2 lbs back on her by one month from now. Then she can have her dental cleaning Hopefully that is realistic.

We just got back from our cat's annual check up. She only weighed a little over 7lbs, when she used to weigh over 11lbs. Our vet thinks that this is a very big loss and he took blood to check for a thyroid problem. We feed her wet food at least 4 times a day, and she doesn't always eat all that well. That is why our vet is thinking that it's a thyroid problem apparently. He said that she felt "bony" Appparently they will sent her to an internist who does radioactive iodine to clear this up if she has it. In the meantime, we're supposed to be adding dry cat food back to her diet, although she was never a fan of it in the past. I don't know how much that will help.

Has anyone had a cat w/a thyroid problem? If so, did the treatment take care of it? Did the cat go on to live quite a few more healthy, happy years? She's 8 1/2 years-old and has always been quite healthy. Also, we just had to put our older cat down a few weeks ago (he was sick for a long time), so of course now we're very worried that we're going down the same path with our "healthy" pet

 

[ohiominnie]

We just got back from our cat's annual check up.

No advice, just bumping this up for you.....hopefully someone will be able to give you some words of wisdom.

 

[escape]

No advice for you here.

However, I just wanted to mention that I had my cats on a mostly wet food diet at one time and then I switched them to a mostly dry food diet. It was a little hard at first - finding the right dry food. I realize that all cats are different but mine seemed to really like the Fancy Feast dry food and now they will eat Purina Cat Chow as well. I have both kinds out all the time and then I split up a can of Fancy Feast wet food for them in the mornings. It's our little routine.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

She's really too young for hyperthyroidism. It's almost always in very old (teenage) cats. That is a very significant weight loss, but I'd be more concerned about diabetes or renal disease than hyperthyroidism. Has her water consumption changed lately?

As for the radioactive iodine, I'm a huge fan. It is fairly expensive (roughly $900 or so), but it is curative vs. Tapazole which has to be given every day. I had a hyperthyroid cat and opted for the radioactive iodine. I was very pleased with the results.

 

[punkin712]

This happened to one of our cats. We finally figured out that he was diabetic and started him on a twice a day insulin regimine (which is VERY easy to administer).

Make sure your vet checks your cat's blood sugar levels and kidney values for potential renal failure.

 

[KaraS]

We went through this last year with our (at the time) 11 year old cat. He was on thyroid medication for several months so the vet could monitor his kidney function and make sure he was stable, then he had the radioactive iodine treatment.

As mentioned, it was a little expensive, but it was completely non-invasive and he has been GREAT since then! He gained all the weight back that he had lost, and is perfectly healthy. The hard part was after the treatment - he had to stay at the clinic for several days until he was less "radioactive", and then we couldn't let him sleep with us or sit on us for more than an hour or so for the first couple of weeks after he was home.

For us, the treatment was well worth it!

 

[Darian]

This happened to one of our cats. We finally figured out that he was diabetic and started him on a twice a day insulin regimine (which is VERY easy to administer).

Make sure your vet checks your cat's blood sugar levels and kidney values for potential renal failure.

Our cat acted the same way before he had to be put down. As punkin712 said, check for renal failure. There are a number of compounds around the house that can injure a cat's kidneys. Does your cat vomit or have diarrhea? The first sign for our cat was his weight loss. He also had a lack of appetite. After a while he couldn't keep his food down. The poor thing. I hope you kitty recovers and gives you many more years of companionship.

 

[eclectics]

I had a "thyroid" cat. His symptoms were constant hunger and demanding food all the time, all the while losing an alarming amount of weight. He was around 10 or 12 at the onset. He got half of a "human" synthroid pill each day and quickly went back to normal. He had to have the pills everyday for the rest of his life, but he lived until 21! Good luck with your kitty.

 

[chrissyk]

No, she doesn't vomit or have diarrhea. Our vet is checking for everything under the sun, but I'll call on Monday and be sure that he is definitely checking for kidney function. Our cat had slightly funky bloodwork a couple of years ago, but seemed so healthy otherwise that our old vet didn't think much of it. I'm pretty sure that that bloodwork showed something w/the kidneys. I REALLY hope that that's not what's wrong.

As for cost...it won't be a huge factor. Our other cat was sick for a long time (and therefore uninsurable), so we opted to cover this cat with a really good pet health-insurance plan while she was young and healthy. I checked the schedule for this disorder, and it looked like they'd cover $1200 worth of radioactive iodine treatments for her, and also $800 for diagnosis, and quite a bit for bloodwork as well.

I read online that she would have to be hospitalized for 3-6 weeks after treatment because of the radioactivity, though!! Is that really true? She has never even been at the vet overnight. I think they let me pick her up the day that they spayed her, so she wasn't even at the vet overnight for that. I can't imagine her being stuck at the vet for 3-6 weeks.

 

[KaraS]

I read online that she would have to be hospitalized for 3-6 weeks after treatment because of the radioactivity, though!! Is that really true? She has never even been at the vet overnight. I think they let me pick her up the day that they spayed her, so she wasn't even at the vet overnight for that. I can't imagine her being stuck at the vet for 3-6 weeks.

I had read that, too, and was really worried about it, but they just kept our cat in for a couple of days. Then as I mentioned we just had to somewhat avoid him for a while. We could pet him and spend time with him, but they did recommend that he not sleep in our room or sit on our laps for more than an hour or so. That lasted maybe 2-3 weeks? It wasn't too bad! At least he was at home!

 

[Virgo10]

My cat was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism. ETA: That should have been HYPERthyroidism. DOH! Her weight had reached an alarming 5 lbs 2 oz. I blamed it on the fact she's getting pretty old (12 or 13, not sure, she was a stray) but finally realized there had to more than age going on. The Vet put her on Trapazole and in a month she's gained back 1 lb. 11 oz.

She has had a heart murmur for quite a while and I would rather keep her on the pills than stress her out with any kind of procedure. I'll be bringing her back to the Vet in a week or so for follow up blood work. She looks so much better and is easy to give the medication to so we're sticking with that for now.

 

[Feralpeg]

I had a cat with hyperthyroidism. She was 7 years old when we found out. I had to give her a pill twice a day. After she started the pills, she gained weight and was fine. She live to be 13.

 

[chrissyk]

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I feel better that my cat will do well if she does have a thyroid problem. She is impossible to give a pill to, so we'll have to do the radioactive iodine if she does have a hyperthyroidism. We gave our other cat a pill every day, so we definitely know how to do it...this cat just won't swallow the pill no matter what we do (blow in her nose, etc.).

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

I read online that she would have to be hospitalized for 3-6 weeks after treatment because of the radioactivity, though!! Is that really true? She has never even been at the vet overnight. I think they let me pick her up the day that they spayed her, so she wasn't even at the vet overnight for that. I can't imagine her being stuck at the vet for 3-6 weeks.

No. I had Kendall's radioactive iodine treatment done at MedVet in Columbus, OH. http://www.medvet-cves.com/ and she was there for about a week. They recommend that you either flush or save her litter for a few weeks, as she will still be shedding small amount of radioactive material. They also recommend that she not lie on top of people or sleep on the bed for a few weeks afterwards. Otherwise, it was non-invasive and very atraumatic for Kendall.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

My cat was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Her weight had reached an alarming 5 lbs 2 oz. I blamed it on the fact she's getting pretty old (12 or 13, not sure, she was a stray) but finally realized there had to more than age going on. The Vet put her on Trapazole and in a month she's gained back 1 lb. 11 oz.

She has had a heart murmur for quite a while and I would rather keep her on the pills than stress her out with any kind of procedure. I'll be bringing her back to the Vet in a week or so for follow up blood work. She looks so much better and is easy to give the medication to so we're sticking with that for now.

The heart disease is a result of the hyperthyroidism and will usually get better as the excess thyroid hormone is blocked. I tried medication for my cat as well (both the oral and the trans-dermal) but it made her vomit, so I went for the radioactive iodine treatment as an alternative. It was the best (and easiest) choice for her.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

I had a cat with hyperthyroidism. She was 7 years old when we found out. I had to give her a pill twice a day. After she started the pills, she gained weight and was fine. She live to be 13.

Really? The youngest cat I've ever diagnosed with hyperthyroidism is 10. Kendall was about 14 or 15. She was a rescue cat but we think that is pretty accurate.

I just looked it up in the "Five Minute Veterinary Consult" (Tilly and Smith) and according to them, the average age of onset is 13 with diagnosis under the age of 9 being very rare.

 

[Virgo10]

The heart disease is a result of the hyperthyroidism and will usually get better as the excess thyroid hormone is blocked. I tried medication for my cat as well (both the oral and the trans-dermal) but it made her vomit, so I went for the radioactive iodine treatment as an alternative. It was the best (and easiest) choice for her.

Just wanted to reply that this cat's heart murmur was picked up during her first Vet visit when she was, at tops, 3 years old. It's been a long standing condition that, of course, is more pronounce with the thyroid condition.

Still, as long as she'll take the pills and is improving, I'd just as soon stay with that option. I feed her separately and she gobbles the medication right up.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

Gotcha.
Hyperthyroidism will usually cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that improves with treatment.
By all means, keep your kitty on her current therapy.

 

[chrissyk]

One thing I noticed from some posts is that hyperthyroid cats seem to have strong appetites w/weight loss. Our cat has never been a particularly heavy eater. Even back when she used to weigh over 11 lbs, she was still a pretty light eater. I'm wondering if the fact that we stopped free-feeding dry food in Oct. caused the weight loss. Our vet didn't seem very convinced that that would have caused such a relatively large weight loss, and also my DH thinks that our cat was losing weight before we stopped feeding dry food.

Can a cat become bored of her food and lose weight for that reason though? Today we've been encouraging her to eat (wet food), and she has done so several times. It takes us showing her the food to get her to actually eat, though. She doesn't come running for the food like our other one did. How long would it take us to get her to gain at least 2lbs if she didn't have any thyroid issues? Our vet wants her to put at least that much back on.

 

[eclectics]

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I feel better that my cat will do well if she does have a thyroid problem. She is impossible to give a pill to, so we'll have to do the radioactive iodine if she does have a hyperthyroidism. We gave our other cat a pill every day, so we definitely know how to do it...this cat just won't swallow the pill no matter what we do (blow in her nose, etc.).

If it does come down to having to take a pill, I used to put it in the middle of a 1/2 teaspoon of his favorite wet food. He got it in the morning when he was hungry. He would gobble it right down. Then I would feed him his regular food. Or maybe you could crush it and mix it in. I never tried giving a dry pill. I always put it in food.