UPDATE Civvie with hyperthyroidism and weight GAIN??

[Heather & Seasaidh (GA)]

I just took civvie Doogie for a wellness checkup on Wednesday. The vet was not happy that he had gained weight. He's 13.8 lbs. The vet said he's gained almost two pounds and she even went so far as to recommend he eat Science Diet Light (umm, no thanks, I think we'll pass on that brand). The bloodwork came back and I talked with another vet there today. She said his thyroid was "slightly elevated" when he had his last wellness checkup back in Jan 2011, but they weren't concerned about it at the time. Now his thyroid levels are 6.1 (and forgive me, but I don't have the numbers in front of me, this is what she told me) and the highest normal should be around 4. She said normally they would start him on medication with that number, but because he's gained weight they want to do another test, a T4ED (she said it's an extended thyroid test). Doogie is approximately 10 years old, and a former stray who found his way to my home and my heart one very bitterly cold Jan night.

His other labs were perfect (although I'm aware that sometimes hyperT can mask CRF, which it did for civvie Ronan).

Doogie has been very hungry the past few months and wanting to be fed morning, noon, and night, and the occasional snack in between (usually middle of the night). I didn't think anything of it and because of his former stray status, albeit nine years ago, I still feel bad for him and give in to his cravings (he expects me to open up a brand new can at every feeding). I've stopped feeding him so much. I really didn't know there was a problem. Civvie Ronan was recently dx'd with hyperthyroidism and CRF and I've been so focused on him and another civvie, Honey, who has possible cancer (the lump above his eye--he's doing ok for the time being, btw).

Anyway, I wondered if anyone has had an experience with a cat with high thyroid levels who gained weight instead of losing it. I did a search online and saw that some humans have gained, but didn't see anything about cats. I just joined the yahoo HyperT group last night for support with Ronan and had no idea that Doogie might be hyperT as well.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Re: Civvie with hyperthyroidism and weight GAIN??

What is his fur/coat like? Frequently a high T4 will cause a poor coat. I have experienced that many times. I have also experienced that with a high T4 they are alway not hungry either.

 

[Heather & Seasaidh (GA)]

Re: Civvie with hyperthyroidism and weight GAIN??

What is his fur/coat like? Frequently a high T4 will cause a poor coat. I have experienced that many times. I have also experienced that with a high T4 they are alway not hungry either.

His black coat looks shiny and healthy. He's been doing a lot of undercoat shedding for a couple of months, though, but I just chalked that up to regular spring shedding (although he's a short hair kitty, I did think it odd). Come to think of it, newly hyperT Ronan has been doing a ton of shedding too (also short hair). Ronan's coat, on the other hand, is duller and not as nice as Doogie's.

 

[Heather & Seasaidh (GA)]

Re: Civvie with hyperthyroidism and weight GAIN??

Just found out that it is definitive. Doogie has hyperT. His free T4 result is 88, with the high end of normal range being 50.

I could wait and see for a week or two if he actually loses any weight but I decided to start him right away on methimazole. I already had the meds for civvie Ronan so I went ahead and gave him his first dose. Doogie has been very restless lately and also doing the frequent peeing thing, and has been very hungry. I don't want him feeling any crummier than he already does.

 

[Deb & Wink]

At least hyper-t kitties are easy to treat. I've had one myself.

Pills or transdermal gel?

 

[Heather & Seasaidh (GA)]

At least hyper-t kitties are easy to treat. I've had one myself.

Pills or transdermal gel?

Yes, thankfully they are. I'm attempting to pill him with pill pockets, and so far so good. He scarfed up his first pill. But Doogie has resisted pill pockets in the past when he knows there's a pill inside, so I'm considering the transdermal gel.

Although I don't have a diabetic kitty anymore, I now have four pets on meds (three kitties and one dog) and one cat with possible cancer. I feel as stressed out as I did when I first found out Seasaidh was diabetic. Two cats getting hyperT almost at the same time? I need a vacation, but who would take care of my gang?

 

[Deb & Wink]

The transdermal gel worked well for me. My hyper-t kitty had stomatitis so I did not even consider trying to get a pill in her mouth. Wear gloves so you don't absorb any of the gel through your skin. There is even a Twist-a-dose version available. I think mine was from Wedgewood pharmacy. The cat shelter got it for me.

Yes, I understand on the vacation. You live a bit far from me to help you with the pet care. Have you tried Care.com looking for a pet sitter?

 

[Jennifer&Cain(GA)]

My other cat Brownie has hyperthyroid (I don't know the numbers from her test. I think I have the copy of the results around here somewhere) and she was put on the transdermal gel instead of the pills. I opted for that cause it's hard getting cats to eat pills. But Deb is right, you have to have gloves to apply it to the inside of the ears. I buy the vinyl medical ones from Walmart and those has worked.

They are pretty easy to treat at least. Though Brownie's been running from me a bit at medication time lately. She wants the food, not me applying gel to her ears. I've been using treats now cause the wet food was a treat for getting her medication done and now she's on it full time.

She did lose some weight I think over eight months ago while on the medication, but I changed the part of the ear I was applying to according to the vet and she regained her weight back. Now she looks really fluffy, but I smooth down her fur and she doesn't look that fat. Her coat's thicker right now but it'll probably thin out more by summer. We get really hot down here.

I'll have to see if she's higher than usual for weight at her next vet visit. Which thankfully she's the easiest cat to catch in the carrier. I leave it out the night before and she's sleeping in it the next day. I just close the door and take her up.

 

[lynda and scruffy (GA)]

Hey, Heather.

I'm just going through this now with my Busy. He's tentatively scheduled for the I131 radiation treatment at the beginning of June. I didn't want to do the methimazole - he is apparently very newly into the disease, and he has no symptoms. (Well, he does have high blood pressure now, but I don't know when it might have started because my vet never tested anyone's blood pressure in 10 years.) The vet can't palpate the tumor on his thyroid. And because Busy's never been sick, I haven't even taken him to the vet since he had his last dental six years ago. Yes, I'm ashamed. It has left me with uncertainty about whether he actually is hyperT or not. Your Doogie's numbers are a little worse than Busy's - his T4 was 3.4, and Free T4 was 64. Does your vet feel the tumor? And Busy's not gaining weight, but he hasn't lost any, either. He's pretty much just the same as he always was.

Anyway, I've been hanging around the Yahoo hyperT group. Not exactly like FDMB, but they sure do have a lot of information. They don't recommend the pills because they can cause stomach distress that the transdermal gel doesn't. They recommend the use of syringes for the gel, too - they say that the twist pens are difficult to use and they don't give consistent amounts of medication. And - like with diabetes - apparently there are a lot of vets who aren't up on the latest treatment information - like dosage stuff: you should start at 1.25 mg/ml/whatever twice a day, and test after 3 weeks to see what the thyroid level has done. (The old protocol apparently was to start with 5mg twice a day, which is a level that can cause hypothyroidism and be deadly.) They have the information to give the pharmacy about dosage for making the transdermal gel - I think you have to get it from a compounding pharmacy. They even say "Start low, go slow"!

One of the reasons I am opting for the radiation treatment is that it's cost me almost $800 already to have bloodwork done (twice) and xrays and blood pressure - all the stuff that is needed for the I131 has to be done within a month of the procedure. Antech's bloodwork charges are HORRIBLE here - $113 for just the Free T4 alone. Someone in the hyperT group suggested that bloodwork can be done at a place called Hemopet for less than half of what Antech charges; I already send Milkshake's blood to Auburn University in Alabama because of the testing he needs to have done, so I know that mailing blood is no big deal and my vet doesn't object. I also don't want to wait until he has kidney involvement - I lost Scruffy because of his kidneys, not the cancer, and I don't ever want to go through that again if it's possible to avoid.

I hope you and Doogie do well with this, Heather. (This is the second time I've taken one of my cats to the vet for no particular reason and have ended up with a diagnosis I really didn't want to hear. My goal was to get all ten of them there this year, but I don't know how much bad news is lying in wait for me.......)