weird hyperthyroidism issue

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

hi there its been a long time since I posted on here and am just starting to heal from the loss of my three fur babies. Since then I have adopted a four year old brother and sister - nice to have healthy cats again!

Anyway I am posting about my mother in laws cat.

He is 14 and was diagnosed hyperthyroid a year ago when she noticed he was really picky eating and losing weight. He started on methimzaole pills and was still being picky so they moved him onto ear gel instead.

He gets this thyroid checked every three months and vet says it's good levels and rest of BW is good... but he keeps still being very very picky .. eats one can of this and then wont eat it any more and have to try a different brand etc.. thats ok but he continues to slowly lose weight and he has lost 1/2 lb in four months. He is skin and bones now and you can feel his spine and see his hip bones etc. He is 9lbs now.

I think he may be nauseaous too cos sometimes he smacks his lips after smelling the food and walks away.

Any idea what this is? Vet cant find anything and unlikely to be cancer since this has been going on a year..

 

[Squeaky and KT (GA)]

Hi Wendy!!! Oh it's nice to see you!!! I was just wondering how things were going with you the other day.

I know nothing about hyperthyroid so can't answer that altho' it does sound like he's nauseous.

I'm just excited to see you!!!

HUGS!

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

Thanks! I am not doing too bad - its been almost two years since Tiggy died and I still miss him like crazy (he was my heart cat) as well as Bailey and Cookie but now we have Baby and Buddy (photo attached) who are real sweeties.

They were thrown out on the streets aged 6 months when their owners moved away, then their neighbours took them in but kept them stashed (away from their own cats) in a very small back room with nobody to pay attention to them while the humane society tried to find them a home.
After 2 years the local humane society moved them to a different city and that's when we heard about them. They are brother and sister and we have had them a year now - they are almost 4 now. I forgot how much energy young cats have - they are constantly running and playing and getting into mischief. It also shows me how Tiggy had all sorts of issues from a young age that we put down as laziness and now think it was early signs fo his neurological condition...

 

[Mandy & Rex (GA)]

Get the bloodwork papers and look them over. What the vet says is good may actually not be good. If his thyroid levels are running high, he would continue to lose weight. What you want to see is 1.5 to 2.5 for T4. As for the nausea, have you tried anything? I don't use any of that so I don't know much about which ones to use. I belong to both a Facebook group and a IO (formerly Yahoo) group for hyperthyroidism/hypothyroidism. My oldest cat has hypothyroidism (had i131 to cure hyperT) and he's doing fantastic at 17 years old.

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

Got the bloods. Thyroid T4 is 45..

 

[Mandy & Rex (GA)]

Got the bloods. Thyroid T4 is 45..

Did you get the normal range when you got that number?

 

[AlphaCat]

Did you get the normal range when you got that number?

It also sounds like it might be time for a second opinion, preferably at a cat thyroid center if one is near you. I'm new to diabetes, but old to hyperthyroidism. (I'm sorry to hear you lost all your babies, but happy the new ones are keeping you occupied!)
My first vet put my old cat at 17 on the pills. After a year of vet visits and upping the dosage, we just couldn't get it under control. I got a second opinion, and the vet said, "why haven't you got this cat the cure?" I stumbled through concerns, my cat is old, we were told it's really expensive... and she told us that she has sent older cats than mine through the cure with good success. She also said the cost of the cure is the same cost we spend on pills in one year... so basically we spent the previous year paying for the pills that did nothing and we were in the same place, when we could have spent the same amount and she'd have been cured a year earlier.
My thyroid kitty is now 21 and happy like I've never seen her in her whole life. When she got the cure she slowly began to put on weight, she stopped being so skittish and scared all the time, her fur got thicker, she plays now like a kitten... 21 and pouncing on the little cat nip mice. The change in my baby was so amazing I recommend everyone who is hyperthyroid to get the radioactive iodine treatment if their cat qualifies. At 17 I wasn't sure she was even going to live much longer, now at 21 she seems immortal. Apparently she's using her 9 lives consecutively.

So, rather than play with pill dosages, and managing her kitty's thyroid, I'd see what a thyroid specialist says about qualifying for the cure to help with the symptoms that are still ongoing.

 

[manxcat419]

Did you get the normal range when you got that number?

Normal always varies a bit by lab, but I believe generally normal is around 10-60 international, with 30+ being grey zone. Which may mean that a level of 45 is still high enough for a cat to be symptomatic. And there is a type of hyperthyroidism (apathetic hyperT) that can cause loss of appetite rather than an increased appetite. That might be worth a little further investigation.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hi Wendy - good to see you. I still remember the picture of little Tiggy in his cup. Those heart cats sure leave an impression on us.

The T4 numbers do seem a little high, though still in range. Pretty much most of my cats have hung out in the 20's. Sometimes thyroid issues can mask kidney issues, which can cause inappetance. Treating the thyroid can show what's really happening with the kidneys. If he's nauseous, which the lip smacking sounds like, would the vet prescribe either Cerenia or Zofran (ondansetron) on a trial basis? The ondansetron they just write a script and you go to a human pharmacy to get it.

I also second Mandy's recommendation of the groups.io feline thyroid group. I stopped in there for a while when I thought Neko might be hypothyroid from her stereostatic radiation therapy.