sSophia's Hyperthyroidism

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Sophia

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Sophia will be 15 April 6th. We now put the gel on her ears twice a day instead of once but her box is still flooded. We inquired about the other option and it will cost is 1400.00. Sophia gets extremely stressed out at the vet's office and I think they are scared of her.. so they sedate her. The blood tests are quite expensive. I really worry that her diabetes... she is now diet controlled since 2005 will come back and this will be a much bigger problem. Sophia's is dh's cat which he mentioned ... when we talked about the 'nuclear optiom. I have not bought anything for myself in a long time... so I have money saved up from my 'allowance' and I would not mind giving him half for it,.
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I want to keep Sophia but dh thinks.... it is much too expensive to do the nuclear...

Has anybody had an older cat that had this problem.. and did it add on years to the kittie's life...?
 
I just lost two senior cats in December due to complications from treating hypert with Tap. They were 14 and 15 yrs young. Last year my senior 18 yr old who I adopted at 16yrs with Hypert passed away due to complications of unregulated HyperT. She was unregulated too long before me and ended up with hypertension and stroked.

Too much tapazole over time for some cats, according to Winn Feline, 15% of cats...

"Approximately 15% of patients will suffer from side effects when taking methimazole. These may range from poor appetite, vomiting, lethargy, and skin rash to more serious problems such as bone marrow depression and liver toxicity."
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Pages/F ... sm_Web.pdf


Tapazole does not cure the disease and will have to be given for life, this will include at least four vet visits per year to run a T4 blood test to see if the dose is correct or needs adjustments, you'll also want to keep an eye on liver/kidney values.

My 14 year old male just had the I131 treatment done on 1/22 and so far his coat is better, his face is less crumply looking and he's eating less. The treatment cost us $1200 at RadioCat.

I've never had a diabetic with HyperT so I can't address that but I can tell you that Gett was away from Tues - Friday and when we picked him up he seemed very relaxed.
 
Phoebe was the same way..had to be lightly sedated to get blood work(at my old vet). My new vet doesn't have to sedate her...not that she enjoys any of this but she must have sensed that they were scared of her before so it made it worse.
And we did have the radio-iodine treatment. But we are now dealing with hypothyroidism because of it(rare). I was trying to avoid giving her medication the rest of her life...oh well. Now Phoebe is not diabetic so I don't have to worry with that. How is Sophia to pill? I know some people don't have as much success with the transdermal cream. Could she take the pill, in a pill pocket?
Good luck with your decision.
 
tuckers mom said:
according to Winn Feline,
"Approximately 15% of patients will suffer from side effects when taking methimazole. These may range from poor appetite, vomiting, lethargy, and skin rash to more serious problems such as bone marrow depression and liver toxicity."
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Pages/F ... sm_Web.pdf
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, Jen. I always want to read more on HyperT and the meds, which Sweety is on, The quoted part above scared me a little but the next line is:
"In most cats, the adverse effects are mild and transient and do not interfere with continued treatment."
And that made me feel better.
 
Sorry Jayne, didn't mean to scare you. I haven't had success with Tapazole recently but I did have a 'feral' cat who lived with me since kittenhood dx with hypert in 2000, she passed away in 2006 at almost 18 yrs. Being 'feral,' meant I could never touch her, pet her, hold her and trapping her for vet visits took two people to do. She took her pill crushed in her food and did live for 6 years that way. Probably would have lived longer if I had learned about dry food back then.

I'm a little Tap-weary right now because of my recent losses, so again, I'm sorry for scaring you.
 
Is tapazole a pill?? My vet has not mentioned giving the pill to her because Sophia is so hyper and gets upset so easily. Thank you all for the good advice. Where is the Radio Cat clinic?
 
Jen, I totally understand the weariness of the meds. I am too. How can there not be any long term affects of any meds? I was really scared of the liver, kidney and WBC effects so I took Sweety in once a month, for the first 6 months, as we slowly raised the meds. I sure did learn a lot about reading CBC's. So far, we're ok. It's about a year now. She's due for her 6 month check on the levels next month. I am still too scared about the I-131. I would hate for something to go wrong - I know - it's rare. but....
Sophia, Methimazole also comes in a liquid form too. I put it in her food. - she can NOT be pilled easily.
I might have to see about the cost of the tuna chews, maybe see if I can get a sample - do they do that? to make sure she eats them, as opposed to the liquid ($38.00 lasts about 3 months).
 
RadioCat isn't the only option for the radioiodine treatment. To find others, search "I 131 cat <your state>". (I live in Texas, so I searched "I 131 cat texas", without the quotes.) Prices vary some.

The treatment *is* expensive, but it is a one-time cost. Pills or other medications are an ongoing cost. Recurrent exams and bloodwork plus the medication itself can over time come to just as much (or more) total cost than the radioiodine treatment.
 
Jayne & Sweety said:
Jen, I totally understand the weariness of the meds. I am too. How can there not be any long term affects of any meds? I was really scared of the liver, kidney and WBC effects so I took Sweety in once a month, for the first 6 months, as we slowly raised the meds. I sure did learn a lot about reading CBC's. So far, we're ok. It's about a year now. She's due for her 6 month check on the levels next month. I am still too scared about the I-131. I would hate for something to go wrong - I know - it's rare. but....
Sophia, Methimazole also comes in a liquid form too. I put it in her food. - she can NOT be pilled easily.
I might have to see about the cost of the tuna chews, maybe see if I can get a sample - do they do that? to make sure she eats them, as opposed to the liquid ($38.00 lasts about 3 months).
Click to expand...


The samples of the tuna chews are free, have your vet fill out the form, I believe your vet can get some samples of other stuff at the same time, BCP will then send the sample to your vet. Same way they do it with the free PZI insulin they offer.
 
Jayne & Sweety said:
I might have to see about the cost of the tuna chews, maybe see if I can get a sample - do they do that? to make sure she eats them...
Click to expand...

Jennifer is right about the free medicated samples going to the vet. However, if you want to just try the chews, without medication, to see whether your cat will eat them, BCP will sell you unmedicated samples.
 
How are her kidneys? Treating HyperT can often unmask renal problems. Has she been tested recently? And you said she was diet controlled but what are her BGs like lately?

I used the pills on Conan for 10 years, and he did well. You may want to discuss that further with your vet.
 
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