Total thyroidectomy booked for next Wednesday

[Pleasemrstweedie]

What do I need to know?

The vet has been through everything with me, but maybe those who have been through it can tell me about more than the mechanics.

Thanks

[timtam23]

Mine only had half his thyroid removed because apparently it is usual for only one half to become overactive. He was quite an old boy so I was worried he would have problems but he bounced back really quickly. I dropped him off in the morning and picked him up after work, he seemed fine. Although we were advised to give him scrambled egg or lightly cooked chicken post-op, he turned his nose up at these & wanted his normal food. He had his chest/throat shaved so looked a bit weird for a while but it soon grew back. The stitches didn't need to be removed either. I think we took him back for a routine check a couple of times (the vet kept a closer eye on him because of the adverse reaction to felimazole) and he had a blood test a few weeks after the op to check kidney function as the thyroid problem can sometimes mask signs of kidney failure (his was OK thankfully). The vet was very reassuring about the op saying they did lots of them & it was pretty much the most common op for older cats so they were used to dealing with any higher anaesthetic risk etc.

I hope it goes well next week, for us there was a noticeable improvement in the cat very quickly & it was a big relief not to have to give daily tablets any more & not to have any more pooing/weeing outside the litter tray