Anyone near Destin, FL? or those with hyperT cats?

[LynnLee + Mousie]

and have a good vet recommendation?


how often do you have to have T4 checked? and how much does your vet charge for the checking of it? the actual test that is

 

[BJM]

I did have a hyper-T cat, but it has been a few years and I'm in Ohio.

Initially, you're trying to establish a dose that gets the thyroid levels down enough that the cat is stable and not at risk of heart attack, etc. You may need to recheck more frequently during the dose adjustment phase. Once you've got a workable dose, I believe Emmy was checked every 6 months, unless something seemed off.

If the cat is under 15 and in otherwise good health, you may want to consider I-131 treatment as it will ablate the excess thyroid tissue. It is expensive up front, but compare that cost to the cost of at least 2 blood draws a year, daily methimazole (Tapazole) dosing which may need compounding if you want to rub it into the ear instead of straight pilling for the number of years you estimate your cat may continue living. With diligent dosing, Emmy went 5 years before the methimazole dose needed to control her symptoms was high enough to generate adverse effects (diarrhea in her case).

Also note that in senior cats, hyper-T may mask symptoms of renal failure; when you start treating the Hyper-T, you need to be vigilant for signs of that and pro-active it treating it - pick the low phosphorus AND low carb foods.

 

[nwnews]

HI Cindy, I'm in Oregon so not much help on the vet recommendation. My cat Sitka was Hypert and had the I131 radioactive iodine treatment. It was $825.00 but it fixed it and she had no side effects or bad reaction. Honestly it was the best money I spent for a vet bill and if either of my younger two cats ever become hypert I'd do it again in a heartbeat. When you start dosing with methmizole its a lot like starting insulin - it requires frequent testing to find the right dosage - problem is the testing is all at the vets office and not cheap. My vet only does T4 as part of a package test so it was $150 a pop - plus the vet visit. If you do pill dosing you can ask for a written prescription and get methmizole at a people pharmacy - costco and walmart are the best bets for pricing. You may have to cut the pills but pill cutters are like $5.00. Jan

 

[Jayne & Sweety]

HI Cindy,

Mu Sweety is hyperT going on 2, 2 and 1/2 years. When I first found out, I went to Yahoo's HyperT group, lots of helpful people there. I took their suggestion and started on the Methimazole very low dose. We had the T4 checked every month until we got to the dose she needed. That took about3 or 4 months. After that I took her every 6 months, sometimes it was a little longer. My vet charged $40 for in house testing. The very first one they also sent out because the reading was over what their machine could read, that was $100.
I can't help you with recomendations but I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Lydia & Sid & Jake(GA)]

Chocolate (GA) was hyper-T (not diabetic) for about 5 years until I had both sides of her thyroid removed surgically. Her levels continued to be extremely high so that is why I opted for the surgery. I know you are asking about the tests, I was told time and time again by my vet that it is best to have the blood sent to the lab for a T4 test and not rely as much on the in house results at the vet clinic. Periodically it is important to do a Total T4 that tests both the T4 and T3 levels. In some cats, kidney function and a urinalysis are very important to get too.

I learned a lot about hyper-t from this blog http://meowmeowmom.wordpress.com/2008/0 ... hyroidism/