Kidney Disease Hyperthyroidism?

[tecwmn]

I have a friend who contacted me about her cat because she knows I have a diabetic cat. I am posting her email here to see if anyone has feedback for her:

"Do you have any experience with cats and kidney disease or hyperthyroidism? I know you give your kitties some meds but couldn't remember exactly what it was for. Basically, Spooky started losing weight a few months ago and had more energy, but I thought he was just getting more exercise since we got a younger kitty and that's why he was losing weight. Took him in to the vet and she said he has renal deficiency and told me to give him a vitamin and that's it. I got a second opinion and this vet said he also has hyper T and that I should put him on some meds. It's just weird one vet (the natural one) didn't even mention the high thyroid values while the other one said hyper T masks renal disease and it could be worse than we think so the thyroid meds will help figure out what's really going on. Thoughts?"

Thanks for any information!

 

[Denise & Honey]

1 of my civies (10 yrs old) has/had hyper-T - he just had the I 131 treatment which seems to have worked.
When 1st diagnosed, he had similar symptoms to diabeties - excessive thirst, always hungry, poor coat, back-leg weakness. Of course, I tested him and his bg was fine, so it wasnt' that.

Most severe sign was a racing heart rate and then panting.

The vet did all sorts of panels - T4, senior panel, chem panel etc ( I can get the full list if you like), x-rays and finally ultrasound to check his heart as it was enlarged.
His T4 was very high so he started on methimazole and also atenolol for the heart.

The vet said that a high T4 can mask renal problems - he did have some elevated renal-related blood results but those would be expected with hyper-T (according to the yahoo hyper-T group) - this is what they said about Monster's numbers:
"His kidney values look good, but will likely see these increase some as the T4 regulates. Monster has much room to move here. The Alk, Alt are both liver numbers and we do see these adjust as the T4 does."

However, some kitties on the group do have underlying renal issues and are on other meds now. Sometimes this is just due to age.
Luckily, Monster's renal values are fine after I 131.

Hope this helps

 

[d0zivyhoo]

Below is the link for what is called Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to CKD cats (Tanya is a cat). It contains a plethora of information for your friend.

http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

I also suggest your friend join one of the CKD support groups. The one connected with the above guide is: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/tanyas-crf-support/

Unfortunately, the support group is set up differently than this one, and you cannot read any submissions without joining. However, it is a very good group and there are many cats with multiple issues (hyper-T, secondary hyperparathyroidism, pancreatitis, etc.). Many of us have CKD kitties who are still thriving after over a year from dx (some over three years).

DZ and Sarah

 

[Phoebe_TiggyGA_NortonGA]

I have one guy with HyperT and all three now have early kidney disease.

I've been treating with Tapazole for 4 years -- we go get bloodwork checked to confirm his dose.

Recently, we've migrated diet to reduce Phosphorous levels as that can build up when the kidneys are not working well.

We no longer feed Fancy Feast, but the Wellness is still not bad --- at www.catinfo.org, there is a food list sorted by Phosphorous values. We chose some foods that had lower Phos and tried a few -- we've added some flavors that are low phos AND low carb.

 

[tecwmn]

Thanks for all the great information and wonderful resources. You guys are the best!!