My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he loves.

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mplsmuse

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Gus has been on Pro-zinc now for a week and has been really great with the testing and the injections. He's also pretty food motivated, so he eats all of his food. However, the last couple of days he has refused to take his hyperthyroid meds. He is on methimazole. It is compounded and chicken-flavored and he's always thought he was getting a treat before getting fed in the morning. Tonight, he finally took some but it took two treats to coerce him. Does anyone have a cat who has started refusing other meds since starting insulin? We want to avoid having to restrain him and shoot the meds in his mouth since that will make him anxious. We've tried putting it on his food but he will eat around it or switch bowls with one of the other cats.

Thanks!

Robyn
 
Re: My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he lov

I don't think the insulin is the reason, but I wanted to let you know that I always had success giving the pill form of methimazole. We had several Hyperts at the time, the vet wrote our prescription so we would get a 10MG tablet, we quartered it, crushed it and mixed it with the canned food. The higher dose pill was simply a way for us to save money.

If a kitty was having an off day and not very hungry, we crushed it and made a slurry with tuna juice and did an oral syringe that way.

For years I had a feral cat that lived with us but being feral she could not be touched, or caught easily, so crushing the pill in her food was the only option. She ate it this way from 2000 until 2006 when she passed away.

There's also a transdermal form of the medication, that would be rubbed in the ear. I did try that on two of my hypert kitties but it didn't work out for us, their T4 levels could not get regulated that way, so we went back to pill form. One of our Hyperts was a good candidate for I-131 the radiation treatment, so he got that, but for the others, the generic pills in food worked out great.
 
Re: My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he lov

My Hype-T civie started on the pills (he's not a pilling kind of guy) and then we tried the Chicken flavored liquid, he got tired of it and stopped eating when I mixed it into his food. It became a real battle and very stressful. Because of that I went for the I-131 treatment and it was successful so we havn't had any problems since and he is back to being his old self.

Here in Minneapolis Dr. Ralph does most of the I-131 treatments.
 
Re: My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he lov

Cats can be so funny...loving a food or treat one day then dissing it the next. You may have to try the pill for a little while until Gus goes back to liking the liquid. I always put my pills in a pill pocket(and yes I have all of the flavors because of the pickiness at times). And I did want to say that we also did the I -131 and it unfortunately caused my cat to go hypoT. Rare, but it can happen so she has to have a pill everyday anyway. Good luck!
 
Re: My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he lov

Thanks for the help! We've managed to get him to eat it if we put a treat in it. I may just need to change up the flavors periodically. We have been thinking about the I-131 treatment - especially now that his dosage has been upped and it actually makes it a little more cost effective now. We're a little concerned about the stress of being away from us during and after the treatment, but still keeping it under consideration. I think that my stress about it was just compounded by the fact that this was his first week as a diagnosed diabetic - first week with testing, first week with insulin shots, and then he decided to reject the one thing that had been routine and easy for him. I'm glad to hear Gus is not the only one who can be "difficult" on occasion. I guess it is part of his charm. :)
 
Re: My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he lov

You poor thing! Lots of firsts this week for you so I can imagine the stress you're going through.

Junior takes his Tapozole (methimazole) and Atenolol through his regular meal. I'll bury it in his canned food and use a Baskin Robbins spoon to hand feed him the food and the pill first. It's worked for us so far b/c he's the hungriest at that time and will eat anything.

I'm also investigating radiation treatment and am hoping to get him into a center soon.
 
Re: My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he lov

We decided to put it on his food and now he has been eating it right up. Putting a treat in it worked a few times but then he wised up.
 
Re: My cat is now refusing his hyperthyroid meds that he lov

My civvie Emmy was always so hungry that when I dissolved the pill on a plate, then mixed in a bite of tasty food, she'd eat it right up. We did the radioactive iodine treatment and she did quite well being away from me even though she was very nervous around strangers.

Something to watch for is renal disease - you may unmask it by doing the I-131 treatment, so be prepared to monitor urine volume, appetite, and mouth odor (will smell uremic if severe). This happened to Emmy. If your kitty already has signs of renal disease, discuss the possibilty of undershooting, leaving a bit of the hyperthyroidism to help push blood flow through the kidneys.

The methimazole treatment does not control all aspects of hyperthyroidism, so if your cat is otherwise in decent health, has a reasonable (to you) lifespan remaining, and you are able to do it, I'd encourage the I-131 treatment.
 
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