Bailey now diagnosed with hyperthyroid

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BaileyUK

BaileyUK

Member Since 2013
Hi Bailey is doing well with his diabetic numbers,we saw the vet last week and he did blood tests,his fructosamine was excellent at 350, but his thyroid level was high at 52,and vet said he would need treatment.Am very upset,the little darling has been through so much in the past year,he has been difficult to regulate on the insulin. Now it looks like we have another battle to fight,has anyone experienced a similar problem?
Any feedback will be much appreciated.

Diane & Bailey
 
There is really no interaction between diabetes and hyperthyroidism. Each one is treated individually. My Baily and Lightning had both with diabetes coming first like for yours.
I trease with transdermal Methimazole and then switched to the oral. For Lighting I just used the oral. Because of theri general health, I opting out of the radioactive iodine treatment that I previously used for two other of my cats.
 
Thanks for your reply Larry,
Didn't you find the transdermal very effective? With the oral med was it difficult to find the suitable dose for the kitties,and did they have any side effects from the medication?
I'm not going with the radioactive either,it sounds a very good solution to solve the problem,but I couldn't have B in isolation for so long,he would be terribly distressed.
Much appreciate your feedback,didn't sleep last night after the call from the vet!!! You have put my mind a little more at rest.Thanks. Diane
 
Diane-
So sorry to hear about Bailey. I am in the exact same situation. My Mary Grace was just diagnosed with her T4 tests being in the "grey zone" I guess meaning right under being high. I have had many suggest here that I get a full thyroid panel done. T4 free, T3. Look at Mary Grace's condos (in Lantus Land) for the past few days and you will see what advice I had been given as well as information on the various treatments.
Hugs to you and Bailey
Elizabeth
 
Hello,

I have a cat that is not diabetic that is hyperthyroid. He takes 1/2 pill morning and evening of Methimazole in a pill pocket. He has been doing very well on it, his coat looks very good, appetite improved and he has stopped the intermittent vomiting that he used to do. It is a very cheap med here in the US only about $20 a month.

Terri
 
Hello Elizabeth,thankyou for your reply,we look as though we are in the same situation,though I don't know what thyroid test vet did as Bs result was 52,the vet said it was rising from his last test in November,and 60 is the number they start to treat on.It was a phone call, and I wasnt expecting it,so I will contact him next week and find out where we go frm here.
I do believe it is very common in elderly cats,and from what I have read it will depend on the individual cat as to how they respond.I have skipped through Mary Graces condo,I will ready again tomorrow when I am thinking straight,didn't sleep much last night after getting the late call from the vet.
Terry,thanks for your reply,let's hope Bailey & Mary Grace respond as well as your baby.
Diane appreciate your good wishes,thankyou.

Diane.
 
Frequently the dose changes with time. My Baily's dose got high I was using both ears twice daily with a lot of the transdermal. I then switched to the pill. He had no adverse reaction to either the transdermal or pills. No reaction for Lightning before.
 
I maintained a civvie on oral methimazole for 5 years, then did I-131 treatment when she started getting side effects from the increased dose.

If you choose to do I-131 treatment, be aware that it may uncover renal disease when the blood flow slows down.
 
Thanks Larry & BMJ for your reply,
Larry did you find getting the thyroid under control on the medication difficult,I am so stressed thinking it is going to be another mountain to climb! And now worried incase it reveals kidney problems,even though his kidney test last week was fine.
Many thanks. Diane
 
Hi Diane,

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that Bailey has been dx with hyperthyroid.

But I do know of a number of folks in the UK whose HT cats are doing just fine on medication.
There is also the possibility of an operation, but, given Bailey's other health issues you (and your vet) may not think that's appropriate. And indeed, if Bailey does OK on the meds then it may not even be necessary.

I know that the radioactive iodine treatment is the only real 'cure', but there are only about 6 centres in the UK that do it, and the cat may be hospitalised for up to a month (Although it's often less than that; 'only' a couple of weeks in some instances). And also, it needs to be fairly clear that no other medical treatment would be needed while the cat is in isolation, because of the lack of physical contact that can be had with the cat due to the radioactivity.

The reason that hyperthyroid can sometimes mask kidney disease - as I understand it - is because hyperthyroid speeds up the cat's metabolism (including kidney function). So, the kidneys of a cat with HT can appear to be functioning OK. But once they are no longer having their function speeded up by the HT their true level of function becomes apparent.
Because of the risk of kidney disease being unmasked by the HT meds I understand that it's really important to start on a low dose, so that it's not too much of a shock to the cat's system if the kidneys are functioning poorly.

Do try not to worry about that one, Diane. The chances are that Bailey's kidneys are just fine!

Eliz
 
Larry & Elizabeth,
Thank you both for your comforting words,Fingers crossed he will respond well,and that his kidneys are nor affected.
Wishing you both a peaceful weekend.
PS do either of you know what a low dose of medication would be to start off on?

Diane
 
We thought Max might be hyper-t before he was diagnosed with diabetes as his T4 was in the gray zone. A complete panel including the free T4 showed it not to be the case at this time. Did your vet feel any nodules? You might consider a wait and see if not because many cats go hypo if treatment is not needed. There are two yahoo groups that have info on this feline-thyroid management @yahoogroups.com and feline-hyperT@yahoogroups.com as well as a blog veterinary endocrinology insights and you can google Dr. Mark E. Peterson. Good luck.

Elise
 
Hello Elsie,
Thanks for the info,Baileys test was only the T4. Result on the T4 in Nov was 42 Blood test taken a week ago was 52 the vet said he expected in a couple of months it would have reached 60,and this is the level in the UK that they start treatment.This is such a mine field,I will join the forum you sent me the link to tomorrow,and find out as much as I can before we next see the vet.Am now so worried that his kidneys may become a problem.
Hope all is well with you and yours. Diane
 
From my research, I would not start therapy without an elevated free T4 which should be done in the same blood draw as the T4 is done and know there is a nodule felt on exam. The med doesn't cause kidney disease. Any underlining disease is exposed when the thyroid is regulated. If therapy is started when not needed cats can become hypo. This is a short version of what I have learned.

Elise
 
Does Bailey have any symptoms of hyperthyroidism?
T4 Level: US Values T4 Level: International Values Interpretation
Below 1.0 ug/dl Below 13 nmol/L Low (Below normal)
1.0 - 5.0. ug/dl 13 - 64 nmol/L Normal
2.5 - 5.0 ug/dl 32 - 64 nmol/L Grey zone
Over 5.0 ug/dl Over 64 nmol/L Consistent with hyperthyroidism
Above from
http://www.felinecrf.org/hyperthyroidism.htm

With totat T4 less than 64 and no symptoms I would not treat.
 
Hello Elsie & Larry,
Thanks for your replies,the link you gave me was very informative,Bailey does have some of the symptoms,he has muscle loss in his back legs,also his coat is spikey,but there again I suppose this could be associated with the diabetis.I am going to do my research before we go back to see the vet,and am going to ask for the full hyper-t profile to be done.
Thank you both for sharing your knowledge. Diane
 
Good morning Elizabeth,
You kindly answered my post earlier in the week re Bailey being diagnosed with hyperthyroid,you said you knew of cats in the UK on oral medication,and doing well,are these cats diabetic? As have been researching on medication in the UK (before I see the vet) the medication for cats in the UK is Carbimazola or controlled dose Carbimazola (vidolta) but both carry warnings not to be given to cats with diabetes mellitus.
What a worry this all is!! Hope all is well with you and yours.

Diane
 
BaileyUK said:
Good morning Elizabeth,
You kindly answered my post earlier in the week re Bailey being diagnosed with hyperthyroid,you said you knew of cats in the UK on oral medication,and doing well,are these cats diabetic?
Click to expand...

Ah, I think one was/is diabetic, but not the others.

Do you know why the medication isn't suitable for diabetics, Diane...?
 
Have been reading through the pharmaceutical data on the two tablets,before seeing the vet.
This is what it says.
Contra indications
Do not use in cats suffering from concurrent systemic diseases,such as liver disease or diabetes mellitus.
 
Hmmm....

Just did a quick online search.
Didn't see anything about contra-indications for diabetics (but probably used the wrong search terms for that).
Did find a few interesting articles.
The first is from 'Diabetic Cat Care' (one of Dr Hodgkins forums).
http://www.diabeticcatcare.com/DCCCOK/HT101.htm

The second is from vetinfo.com. It's in the form of a Q&A session, and in the answer there is this segment:
http://www.vetinfo.com/cdiabetmulti.html

“I don't know of any special risks associated with methimazole (Tapazole Rx) and diabetes, except that adequate control of the hyperthyroidism, based on testing T4 levels, doesn't always control the adverse effect that hyperthyroidism has on controlling blood glucose. I do not know why that is the case. However, it is best to control hyperthyroidism before losing control of the glucose levels, if possible, because it lessens the long term impact of the resistance to insulin that hyperthyroid cats seem to develop over time. We have had pretty good luck using transdermal methimazole in cats with sensitive stomachs. These are special gels that methimazole is mixed with that are applied topically (usually to the hairless tissue on the inside of the ear) and are absorbed through the skin. This system for delivering the methimazole does not work for all cats but the results are measurable, so it is possible to monitor the success of the medication and to change to another form, if necessary. Compounding pharmacies can make methimazole into transdermal gels.”

The third is an article, written for vets I think, about Hyperthyroid. The page also includes an article on Feline Diabetes. (But I didn't see anthing there (on my quick scan through it) about cats who have both conditions concurrently.) It is quite interesting general info though.
http://www.veterinarywebinars.com/asset ... _Notes.pdf

Eliz
 
Thanks Elizabeth for the links you sent me,will read through them later.
The drug company data on the thyroid medication used in the UK was where it said about not giving it to diabetic cats,I will try contacting the pharmac.com and see what they say,it's really confusing,will also bring it up with the vet.

Diane
 
Hi. I'm glad that you joined the hyper-t group. I hope you get more responses after the weekend but see that a thyroid tumor was mentioned as what causes hyper-t like I mentioned and is something to discuss with your vet. Please also ask about running a freeT4 and regular T4 before considering treatment if no nodules are felt.

Elise
 
Diane, do us a favor and also join the hypo thyroid group for another perspective on when to start medication. Thanks.

Elise
 
I'm a little late to this party, but Toby has both diabetes and hyperthyroidism. He was diagnosed in January, and is on 15mg Vidalta once a day (10mg did nothing for him, he was down to 2.9kg and losing weight - we've been monitoring largely through weight, as he was borderline on his T4 test, and only mildly hyperthyroid with his free T4, so it doesn't seem to be the greatest help).
He's still perfectly fine in himself, and he's had mainly success with the new dose - we've had a "hiccup" just recently, where he lost a little weight again, but on his next weigh-in he was maintaining once again, so it's the old "wait and see". I won't lie, he's been a little bit difficult to regulate, but he's still better off than without the drugs and it is only one pill a day.
Best of luck to you.
 
@Becky,

For some reason I've been thinking about you and Toby recently and have been wondering how you are.
So sorry to hear about Toby's HT diagnosis.

Is the HT (or the meds) altering his blood glucose levels? Those numbers from your SS in January look pretty good to me. Have they changed much?

Eliz
 
Hey Eliz, thanks. I hope you and Bertie (and the rest of the crew) are well :smile:

Unfortunately, I do think the HT was affecting his BG, because when we got the metabolism back under control he did go up a bit. He was in the 17-19 region for a while, but now he tends to be closer to the 15. It's not too bad, overall.
 
Hello Becky,
How nice to hear from you,when Bailey was diagnosed I thought about you and Toby,and like Elizabeth wondered how you were getting on.
Don't want to alarm you Becky but I have joined the yahoo hyper-t forum,and noticed that there was a lot of negative feed back on Vidalta,it is apparently causing cats to easily overdose,so I got researching and found out that the two hyper-t drugs used in this country have warnings on the pharmaceutical company's patient leaflet stating that they are not to be used for cat with diabetes. The other medication used in the UK is Felimazole,this has a sugar coating!! I rang the drug company,and they refused to give me a reason as to the warning,just said they would only discuss this matter with Vets
Everything seems to come with its own set of problems! will keep you posted if I find out anything of interest.


Diane
 
BaileyUK said:
Hello Becky,
How nice to hear from you,when Bailey was diagnosed I thought about you and Toby,and like Elizabeth wondered how you were getting on.
Don't want to alarm you Becky but I have joined the yahoo hyper-t forum,and noticed that there was a lot of negative feed back on Vidalta,it is apparently causing cats to easily overdose,so I got researching and found out that the two hyper-t drugs used in this country have warnings on the pharmaceutical company's patient leaflet stating that they are not to be used for cat with diabetes. The other medication used in the UK is Felimazole,this has a sugar coating!! I rang the drug company,and they refused to give me a reason as to the warning,just said they would only discuss this matter with Vets
Everything seems to come with its own set of problems! will keep you posted if I find out anything of interest.


Diane
Click to expand...

Thank you for the heads up, Diane. It is something I noticed when I was looking into medication for Toby, but other options just don't exist. He can't have surgery, he can't have the iodine treatment, and he was wasting away without it. Everything definitely does have its problems =/

I hope you and Bailey are doing well. Has he started treatment now?
 
See if anyone is doing radio frequency ablation to shrink the thyroid. Most likely place would be a veterinary college. It is a minimally invasive technique for shrinking tissues - ex tumors - that could be helpful.
 
Dear Diane, I hope your darling will get through this and all will be well eventually! Be strong and don't despair. I'm useless here but this forum is a gem and I'm sure you will get good advice here. x x
 
Thank you Vintry,I appreciate your kind words.Bailey is in the grey area for treatment,taking him to have blood tests after Easter,the vet thinks his numbers are on the rise,and by then he will be needing medication.Am so upset that he now has this to cope with as well as FD.Hope all is well with you and yours. Diane
 
Thank you Vintry,I appreciate your kind words.Bailey is in the grey area for treatment,taking him to have blood tests after Easter,the vet thinks his numbers are on the rise,and by then he will be needing medication.Am so upset that he now has this to cope with as well as FD.Hope all is well with you and yours. Diane
 
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