hyperthyroidism

Status
Not open for further replies.
Christy & Gilbert

Christy & Gilbert

Member Since 2013
My late diabetic Gilbert's brother Pete has been having diarrhea for a while & we ran blood tests that came back with high T4 levels, elevated BUN, normal Creatinine, very high ALT, & elevated AST. Any thoughts from you guys that may have dealt or are dealing with this. He is around 14-15 yrs...acts normal & is playful except for the diarrhea.
 
I am so sorry about the loss of your kitty Gilbert - regarding your other kitty Pete, was the vet actually able to detect anything while palpating the thyroid or throat area? Did your vet have any ideas about the blood work at all? My kitty Tiger was diagnosed late this past February, only she had both hyperthyroidism and diabetes! Her symptoms were weight loss, voracious appetite, increased thirst and urine balls the size of dinner plates. I do not recall her ever vomiting or having diarrhea though? I found this website while researching feline hyperthyroidism and ultimately, this is how I found this forum, a real break for our family! http://catinfo.org/?link=felinehyperthy ... diagnosed_
 
I also have a non-diabetic that had hyperthyroidism. I found the yahoo hyperT support group. They have a bunch of files and helpful info on their site. May have to be approved to get into it but that isn't hard. Most people treat with medication or radio-iodine treatment. As with insulin, you will want to start at a low dose with the pills (if you go that route) and get blood work done every so often to see how it's working. Good luck!
 
Tiger & Ruth...no, she didn't feel the thyroid was enlarged or feel any bumps or knots. She is on vacation & we are corresponding thru email which can sometimes be confusing in a situation like this. So I see your kitty was treated with the radioactive iodine therapy. Did it cure her? How long did she have to stay in the hospital? I hate to be away from my boy at all & he hates it too! Thanks for the forum info!

Jill & Remi...Thank you as well for the forum info! How did you treat your kitty? Pills or iodine?
 
Elevated ALT and AST suggest the liver is having difficulty. There are 2 products - Marin and Denmarin - which are intended to support liver function. Both are available from our shopping partner Amazon where you can read about how they help. Discuss using one of these this with your vet.
 
Christy & Gilbert, I know it's hard to have to communicate with your vet via e-mail - I hope you get some answers soon! Yes, at her one month checkup, Tiger's thyroid was looking very good; she will be back for another checkup at 3 months. I totally get your concerns about the required hospital stay, both DH and I had the same reservations!!! Tiger went in on a Monday morning, and I got to bring her home that Wednesday night. I could have brought her home that Wednesday AM but couldn't get there until evening. The staff called me with updates including that first evening, she ate well and was very well taken care of and since it was a Cat only clinic, no stress from seeing dogs.

Also, I meant to say before, I myself had surgery awhile back and at my one month checkup, I had elevated Alt/Ast levels as well. For a week, I had to go and keep getting bloodwork done, plus I could only drink gatorade for whatever reason, no water, which was yucky! Then after a week, the levels went back to normal. My PCP and GI docs said it sometimes happens that for no apparent reason your liver sends out signals, usually is discovered by accident at a check up. There are no other presenting symptoms. I hope your kitty Pete gets over whatever is causing those levels to be elevated and soon! Please keep us posted as to how he's doing! R
 
Thanks everyone for the help & concern. He is on felimazole tablets & will ck blood again in 3 wks. My vet started him on 2.5 mg 2 times daily, but after some research...have lowered it to 1.25 mg 2 times daily. I hope he will be a candidate for the I131 treatment a little later on. I have been trying to join the hyper t yahoo group with no success. I have set up an acct, but it won't let me send a request to join the group...keeps telling me error has occurred...so frustrating.
 
Sorry you are having issues getting on the forum. Hopefully it will get resolved soon. I treated with pills at first then opted for the radio-iodine treatment to avoid pilling her twice a day the rest of her life. Well, the treatment left her with a non-functioning thyroid. Yes, we tested her almost a year after to make sure it wouldn't "kick in". It never did, so now we are treating her hypO-t with pills twice a day :YMSIGH: . She has since been diagnosed with CRF but we are keeping a close eye on that as well. We are actually into year 5 of the hypO-t/ kidney issues and she is doing better than the vet expected.
 
That would be my luck as well...treating to give the cure & then have to treat for something else that was caused by the treatment. It's a hard decision to make. So glad your kitty is doing good considering.
 
Jill and Remi said:
Sorry you are having issues getting on the forum. Hopefully it will get resolved soon. I treated with pills at first then opted for the radio-iodine treatment to avoid pilling her twice a day the rest of her life. Well, the treatment left her with a non-functioning thyroid. Yes, we tested her almost a year after to make sure it wouldn't "kick in". It never did, so now we are treating her hypO-t with pills twice a day :YMSIGH: . She has since been diagnosed with CRF but we are keeping a close eye on that as well. We are actually into year 5 of the hypO-t/ kidney issues and she is doing better than the vet expected.
Click to expand...

Oh no, I am so sorry to hear this about the radio-iodine!!! :sad: That would be a nightmare and yes, it is a worry with hyperthyroid masking CRF too, I am so sorry to hear that as well. Hugs to you and Remi.
 
Christy & Gilbert said:
Thanks everyone for the help & concern. He is on felimazole tablets & will ck blood again in 3 wks. My vet started him on 2.5 mg 2 times daily, but after some research...have lowered it to 1.25 mg 2 times daily. I hope he will be a candidate for the I131 treatment a little later on. I have been trying to join the hyper t yahoo group with no success. I have set up an acct, but it won't let me send a request to join the group...keeps telling me error has occurred...so frustrating.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update - I did not have any ability to pill Tiger, good work and please keep us updated on Pete's progress. It's a scary thing to go through and I bet even more frustrating with that other website not allowing you to join and post - GRRR! Having just went through issues with my computer and some stupid virus, I am hating computers myself at the moment.,..
 
My GA civvie Emmy would take the methimazole/Tapazole dissolved into a bit of A/D food. She was always so hungry, she'd scarf it right down.
 
Ruth, if you ever need to possibly pill Tiger again for any reason...try a meat only baby food. I am using the tiny jars of gerber chicken puree. He loves it! I put just enough in a bowl to mix with a crushed/powdered fine pill with a little water & he lurps it up. Hope it lasts. He will not even think about it if I put the pill in wet cat food...go figure & he is a nightmare to pill by hand...it takes 2 people & just forget it if it's a liquid med thru a syringe. :(
 
Do you guys have any feedback on if it would be safe to give Pete his heartgard & spot for the month? We have lots of mosquitos & ticks. He loves to roam freely during the day & hates it indoors. I hate to deprive him of the 1 joy he loves so much, but it does mean ticks. :( Since he is on the thyroid meds & his weight & immune system is down...I worry about hurting it further.
 
Thanks for the pill tips- you know how small those little methimazole pills are right? My finicky eater would eat all around the bait food, even pill pockets and spit out that pill, and you can just forget trying to manually give the pills. I never thought of using baby food though, I'll have to remember that one.

RE: the heartgard, that's a tough one. Given Pete's weight loss and possibly compromised immune system, I would check with your vet. I know Tiger is supposed to be an indoor cat but with her health problems, I let her outside for brief play periods too, because like you said, that's their only joy in life - but she got so sick from the Advantage flea medicine, even the vet said maybe better to skip it. Isn't there some other flea/tick treatment that isn't so harsh to the system?
 
To knock down an infestation of fleas quickly, CapStar, an oral med, may be used. It would have to be given daily to do more than that, and would become expensive quickly.

Combing and dropping the fleas in soapy water works, it just takes a long time and its difficult to get all of them in 1 session.

In the environment, diatomaceous earth may be used to desiccate insects, grubs, and earthworms, which will kill them. Do not put where you need earthworms!
Be cautious inhaling as the fine particulate can be very irritating to human or pet.
 
Oh no, I am so sorry to hear this about the radio-iodine!!! :sad: That would be a nightmare and yes, it is a worry with hyperthyroid masking CRF too, I am so sorry to hear that as well. Hugs to you and Remi.[/quote]

Yes, it is a worry with the radio-iodine treatment but they say it has a low possibility of happening. It is my civvie Phoebe with these issues.
My sugar boy, Remi, passed almost 6 years ago, hence the GA after his name in my signature. Still haven't been able to bring myself to add it to my user name for some reason. Silly, I know.

Also want to chime in on the flea, tick and mosquito protection. If you are in a mosquito populated area I would suggest asking your vet if it is safe to use the treatment. Even if you have indoor only cats, mosquitoes find a way in sometimes. I have a kitty that had heart worms. She had a rough few months after she arrived on our doorstep, as there is no treatment for it in cats. She is doing remarkably well, even though her lung capacity is crap from the damage the worms did. But she doesn't seem to notice :smile:

Christy, hope you were finally able to get into the yahoo support group by now.
 
Jill and Remi said:
Oh no, I am so sorry to hear this about the radio-iodine!!! :sad: That would be a nightmare and yes, it is a worry with hyperthyroid masking CRF too, I am so sorry to hear that as well. Hugs to you and Remi.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a worry with the radio-iodine treatment but they say it has a low possibility of happening. It is my civvie Phoebe with these issues.
My sugar boy, Remi, passed almost 6 years ago, hence the GA after his name in my signature. Still haven't been able to bring myself to add it to my user name for some reason. Silly, I know.

Also want to chime in on the flea, tick and mosquito protection. If you are in a mosquito populated area I would suggest asking your vet if it is safe to use the treatment. Even if you have indoor only cats, mosquitoes find a way in sometimes. I have a kitty that had heart worms. She had a rough few months after she arrived on our doorstep, as there is no treatment for it in cats. She is doing remarkably well, even though her lung capacity is crap from the damage the worms did. But she doesn't seem to notice :smile:

Christy, hope you were finally able to get into the yahoo support group by now.[/quote]

Oh,I am so sorry I missed that in your signature that Remi was GA, they live in our hearts forever and there's nothing silly about it. I lost my two older kittys over 11 years ago, right when I lost my dad, and I still get teary eyed thinking about them. sorry to hear about your kitty with heartworms too, it is so amazing how much more resiliant cats are than us humans, they just take things in stride.
 
Just want to give an update on Pete. He has been on thyroid medication for about a month & his bloodwork came back pretty good yesterday! I am very encouraged by the results. His Kidneys & liver look to be doing worlds better. His Total T4 & Free T4 are still a little high, but Total T4 was dramatically reduced from last bloodwork. :-D I am still unable to get on the hyperthyroid support group however. :-|
 
Christy that is awesome news about Pete!!! :smile: Please keep us posted on his progress

Just out of curiosity, I tried to sign up for that hyperthyroid Yahoo group and I was unable to sign up, it wouldn't take my username. :?

Have you tried signing up for the Feline Hyperthyroid Support group on Facebook?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top