Joy, Julie, or anyone else have any experience with feline hyperthyroidism? Big's lab work came back and her T4 levels are over twice the normal range (normal is up to 3.5 and hers is 7.4). Her liver enzymes are also elevated but thankfully the bilirubin is normal. Kidney function, blood count, glucose are normal too.

I was at lunch when the vet called, he's going to call me tomorrow morning at home. I really like my vet, he's very good at just providing you with all the information and then letting you make the decisions.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2002

Answers

Sherri, I don't know personally, but I work for a vet (and he's good). I also work with several other vets close by (like downstairs in the same building). If you need help, holler. I'll let the folks you were addressing respond.

Glad you like your vet!

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2002

sheepish, I'm basically trying to decide between oral medication or radio-iodine treatment. The oral medication would only supress the symptoms while the radiation treatment would be a cure. My vet only has experience with the oral medication. There is a clinic here in town that does the radiation treatment. It's called Radiocat, I guess it's a franchise. They've been here in Indy for about a year and a half, my vet doesn't know anyone who has used them so he can't give me a recommendation. Their website claims a 98% cure rate. It's a one- time injection of I-131, she would need to stay at the clinic for 3-5 days until her radiation levels drop to acceptable levels, then I'd have to keep her in semi-quarantine for 2 weeks at home.

Right now I'm leaning toward the I-131 treatment but I'm afraid that her elevated liver enzymes might rule her out as a candidate. Her ALT was 318, Alk phos was 182 and GGT was 40. These are all at least 3x normal. I'm going to give Radiocat a call on Monday and see if she fits their criteria.

If you could ask your vet his opinion of oral meds vs I-131 I'd really appreciate it. :)

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2002

Oy! Poor Molly DID have hyperthyroidism when she got old. She had the other problems I told you about too -- cardiomyopathy, arthritis, and renal failure. {That sounds awful, but once we got her meds right, she lived quite happily and comfortably to age 21}

I don't remember too much about the hyperthyroidism {hey, that was over 7 years ago}. She didn't have too many symptoms, but blood work showed it up, and medication (Tapazole) worked for awhile, but eventually wasn't effective enough. The vet removed her thyroid surgically. She didn't need supplements there after. I'm trying to remember if they left a LITTLE tissue in place -- perhaps so. Maybe surgical removal is no longer the treatment of choice, but I find it rather curious that was not mentioned as a possibility.

I was not offered any radioactive treatment, so didn't have to make that decision. Personally, I don't know what I would choose at this point. As I said, medication did not work forever for my particular cat. The surgery was somewhat more risky due to her age and health, but I have a very talented vet; and I've known her for YEARS, so we have a long history together.

I have two young healthy cats currently, so I am not "up" on things like I used to be. I know that they've been working on a lot of treatments for dogs and cats, so perhaps the radioactive iodine is now state of the art. Radioactive stuff gives ME the heebie-jeebies, but that's ME. It would also bother me that I didn't have anyone to give me a positive endorsement.

I found my book "The Nature of Animal Healing" by Martin Goldstein, DVM, and this is what is says about hyperthyroidism (page 225):

"The drug typically used to treat hyperthyroidism is Tapazole, which can produce dramatic results. A hyperthyroid cat will show high leves of the hormone thyroixine (with which it regulates metabolism), sometimes TWENTY TIMES the amount it should have. After the cat has been on Tapazole for three days, the thyroixne can plumment down to normal or below. Unfortunately, Tapazole is also toxic, especially to the liver and kidneys. Another established and toxic treatment is radioactive iodine. Iodine has an affinity for the thyroid gland; when radioactive iodine is administered to the cat, it acts rather like a heat-seeking missile, making its way toward the overporducing thyroid and destroying it. Though the procedure is said not to be toxic, the cat has to be kept in quarantine (from pets and people both) for a couple of weeks in a lead-lined room!

Alternatively I've had considerable succes in treating hyperthyroidism metabolically. Most cats with the condition have elevated levels of live and adrenal enzymes, so a first step is to redress those impbalances with the standard liver and adrenal supplements. The homeopathic remedy flor-de-piedra at low potencies is also helpful. (Manufactured in France, flor-de-piedra is sometimes hard to find; a more widely available homeopathic substitute is lophorphytum leandri.) Sometimes I'll add Thryodrops (Professional Health Products), which is hemeopathic thyroid. If the condition is persistent, I may add a little Tapazole into the programs, but at one-quarter to one-eighth the recommended dose, and monitor well. If the condition remains out of control, chances are the thyroid has developed a tumor on one or the other of its sides. Here's a situation where conventional surgery can be successful in complementing holistic alternatives. When the tumore is removed, I've seen the thyperthyroid cat make a fast and complete recovery."

This vet was trained in the conventional way, but since then has branched out into studying and implementing holistic and homeopathic methods. When he says "the standard liver and adrenal supplements", I think he means standard for HIS PRACTICE. I doubt the average vet would have a clue about what he meant. His book is available from Amazon, and I see they have some used copies available at the moment.

Dr. Goldstein's site is at Smith Ridge Veterinary Center
You might also find this site helpful (Dr. Bob Goldstein, Martin's brother, is behind this endeavor): BNA
Animal Wellness Magazine, which seems to have some connection to the Goldsteins: link They also have links for finding a holistic vet in your area, and this interesting excerpt from http://www.animalanimal.com/magv3i1/vetad.htm:

Q: MY CAT WAS DIAGNOSED WITH HYPERTHYROIDISM. IS THERE A NATURAL WAY TO TREAT THIS CONDITION? A: The thyroid gland, which is located in the throat area and controls the body's metabolism, often becomes hyperactive in cats. There are a number of things you can try. I would recommend Thyrodrops by Professional Health Products, as well as the homeopathic remedy, Lophophytum leandri 3X. I would also recommend a metabolic analysis to help metabolically balance your cat. The pharmaceutical drug of choice, Tapazole, has been used successfully to control the disease but it is also toxic. In my clinic we have been successful in controlling hyperthyroidism with a nutraceutical program along with diminished doses of Tapazole. For instance, we use as little as one-eighth the normal dose of Tapazole every other day. A number of vets, myself included, are intrigued by the correlation between the distribution of the feline leukemia vaccine and the increased incidence of hyperthyroidism.

If you want to try to find an alternative type vet in your area, you might try this URL as well: link

You'll have to decide, Sherri, since it's your cat, time, and money. Personally, I think I would opt for the medication to buy me time, and then try like crazy to find some alternative treatments to try! Keep us updated!

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2002

Okay, I'll ask him. I'll let you know Monday. Of course b/c he hasn't seen the animal, the reply will be rather academic! Please remind me if I forget!

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2002

I just got off the phone with Radiocat and I got a bad feeling about them. They are a franchise, the Indy clinic has only been open since September. They only treat 10 cats a month. I couldn't even talk to anyone at the clinic directly, I had to talk to customer service in Delaware. The person I talked to was supposed to be the Indy specialist but she couldn't tell me how many cats they had treated there, what the success rate was for that particular clinic, or what the mortality rate was for that particular clinic.

I called my vet and told him I want to start Big on Tapazol. We had a good conversation on Saturday. He has a very conservative approach with the drug treatment, he usually starts out with 1/4 the recommended dose and monitors the T4 levels to find the lowest possible dosage that will work. He doesn't plan on any treatment for the liver enzymes yet, they should resolve on their own once we have the T4 levels normalized.

I'm going to start her back on a BARF diet again. It helped a lot whith her allergies but in the past few years I've just gotten lazy. Since they eat out of each other's dishes I guess that means I'll be BARFing all three of them.

Joy, thanks for the links and taking the time to type in all that info. My understanding is that the I-131 has replaced surgery as the treatment of choice. With surgery you have the anesthesia risk, and you have to make sure you get all the tissue or else it just grows back. Also, if you accidentally take out the parathyroid glands as well then the cats have problems with their calcium levels. I probably would go with the I-131 if this place had a better track record, but I'm not going to let them use her for practice.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

Sherri, you are entirely welcome, and I hope the Tapazole works well for Big. BARF probably will help. I gotta mention Solid Gold food too, if you want a high quality 'commercial' food for back up, part of their meals, convenience, whatever.

If it comes to it, perhaps you can still find someone who will do the surgery. The "downsides" of surgery don't sound nearly as awful as those of the radioactive treatment! {glow in the dark kitty!!!!}

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

Sherri, my boss was sick yesterday. I hope he's in today. I also want to ask him about Radiocat....!

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

Big had her first dose of Tapazole last night and I'm not in shreds. The pills are quite small and we're starting her out on half a pill dosage so it's not bad. The vet recommended smearing it with a bit of butter or canned food to help it go down. I hid it in a small dab of her favorite hairball remedy and she sucked it right down. The most common side effect is vomiting but so far so good.

It's the same medicine that humans use and I get the prescription filled at the corner drugstore. The bottle has the usual human warning stickers on it, I got a chuckle from the sticker that advised her to consult her physician before becoming pregnant. :)

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

Good luck with the pilling, Sherri! I spent about five years giving pills (2 times a day, at least) to cats. You get pretty good at it, and eventually the cat gets sort of used to it (most of them anyway). Even the cat that Julie swore was descended from snakes. I was able to use a finger to kind of push the pill into the back of the throat, then stroked the throat until the pill was swallowed. Also watched carefully to see if it got spit out, in which case I had to repeat the whole thing.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

Well, um...my boss had a cat with the condition. He opted for the R- 131 treatment, as opposed to the drug therapy. He said it would have been hard to put his cat through it (drugs). Just personal, anecdotal stuff. No real comments on Radiocat, either. But then again, he's really sick these days, and it's tough just getting his reading done.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

Thanks for asking, Sheepish. I'm not opposed to the I-131 treatment, I just wasn't comfortable with the local clinic's lack of experience. I may revisit the question in a year. So far the pilling is going well so I don't feel like I'm "putting her through" anything.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002