Hyperthyroid OAP Cat - general advice wanted

[BuggersMuddle]

So BuggersMoggy was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism a few days back after I suspected it for a couple of weeks but was uncertain because he'd probably had a bug too.

He is an older cat but otherwise in rude health. Ratting and catching pigeons in December.

My question is what is the best course for him. He's of indeterminate age, According to his previous owner when we took him on he'd be 21 by now. That said he was only chipped in very early 2013 and was not a kitten so I reckon he's 16. (Yes, this does contradict some earlier posts where I took previous owner's word at face value).

Trying to decide whether we should put him through the iodine treatment given his age and it is very costly (but he's our wee pal, so I am more than happy to spend the money than have him suffer). Vet is recommending surgery but that seems a bit hit and miss an of course my vet does the surgery but the referral for iodine would go to a vet hospital.

He's started the tablets today and is taking them fine (despite being a total menace with tablets generally) so that's a good start. The rest is difficult - he's damned old, but remains Top Cat (the others have been circling while he's been off) and he's still ratting / mousing despite his age. That's part of it really - he's so dominant that I'm not sure how he'll cope with a decline.

My cat has this. She's a singleton tho so no other dynamics to consider

But we tried to treat her with pills but she won't take them so we tried the ear cream which she runs away from. She's doing fine on a mountain of food a day, and masses of love. She's been diagnosed for over a year. She's 14?15?

No way will we put her through an operation at her age.

Ours has started the pills and taken them fine, but first few days Vet seems confident an Op or Iodine would be okay subject to getting him stabilised despite his age as he's so healthy otherwise (in December, rats and mice were still being presented regularly).

No kids, no other cats. First symptom was trying to steal dinner and hunting human toes (?!)

I'm totally willing to put him through Iodine fwiw, but the timing isn't great in terms of our personal life so want to be sure it's right as he is a pensioner by some margin,

Vet recommended surgery, but I've had some conflicting views from other vets (who are friends of DH but not local and thus don't know cat) about efficacy.

So hard with a cat of this age. He always seemed invincible because he was Top Cat and whilst he's still winning (daft tiny Bengal trying daily is not helping) I can't quite figure what we do if he gets too old to win (because I doubt he'll get too old to fight / go ratting). He won't even use an indoor litter tray.

Had this with ours & with friends ' cats. If your vet is experienced and it's been caught at an early stage, the op is very quick and straightforward. My vet said if the thyroid can be felt externally then she can do it in literally 2 minutes. If it's more advanced then the thyroid kind of sinks down into the throat and it's a bigger op. The cats I've seen that have had the thyroid op have really bounced back. If he's only 16 and otherwise in good health then I'd go for the op if your vet thinks he's a good candidate. I refused to consider it at first for my first old cat with thyroid problems because I thought it would be tough on an old cat, but now I've met a few geriatric cats who have had it, I've changed my mind.

I've had 2 on the thyroid daily tabs - in the first case, by the time I was ready to consider the op, I'd left it too late for her to have the 'quick and easy' version and my vet felt it would be too much for her. In another I think his kidneys were too knackered. Anyway, the daily tabs made a huge difference and gave my old girl a new lease of life - she put weight back on & had a good couple of years.

Is your vet suggesting referral to a vet hospital for radioactive iodine treatment? I can't imagine they'd bother referring just for the daily medication, so perhaps this is why?

My favourite resource for cat health care generally is International Cat Care (formerly Feline Advisory Bureau) - here's their article on thyroid problems : icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/hyperthyroidism-overactive-thyroid-gland

GiveMePrivacy He's in really good health. Not other issues.

Our vet does the Op, but Iodine would be a referral to our vet hospital. I asked for vet advice and local vet said stabilise then op. DH vet friends (no skin in the game as not local) said if health good, iodine the way forward.

I guess he's already outlived most of his peers but prior to this he was so healthy. Ex owner said he was 5 years older, which has confused the issue, but the only 'proven' age (using minimum chip age) would make him 15.5 min.

If I could have insured him I would go straight to iodine and tbh I think that's where we're heading. You could spend that on a 3 year old cat and it gets run down, so I think we ought to give him the best chance. When has was 15, vets took him for 8-9, and his bloods are perfect except for the thyroid.

Good news is he's taking the tablets okay and we need that to ensure he we get him stable whatever we decide long term.

GiveMePrivacy Yes - referral for iodine treatment. Had a few queries because he's an oldie and it's expensive (from family and friends), but I want him to be happy be a cat tbh. And he was ratting and mousing until a few weeks back, also laid the smackdown on a persistent young Bengal and chased of a fair few others without violence in the last few weeks. (They are circling but he had 3 cats hiding together under a van when I was WFH last week, so I think there's life in the old bully yet).

'Happy to be a cat' that should read. Which I think he generally is, but wasn't last week.

Sorry realise my first post incorrect - he was chipped in very early 2003 not 2013. According to ex owner not as a kitten, but he's in good health for a 10 yr old aside from the thyroid so I'm not convinced I really know his age. It's 15.5 for sure, but beyond that who knows.

I've had a lot of oldies with this (probably at least 7 of them). Five had the op and were all completely cured and back to their normal selves afterwards. Two just continued on tablets as their condition wasn't so severe and they had lots of other health stuff going on so were unlikely to live more than a few months longer in any case so the op seemed a bit pointless.

They normally come through the op just fine though and it seems to be a miracle cure. I have no experience of iodine treatment.

Radioactive iodine is the gold standard treatment now, but not every cat is suitable and there are caveats you need to understand fully.
Surgery is successful in the vast majority of cats and very tiny percentage have ectopic thyroid tissue that can not be got through surgery. In the hands of an experience surgeon procedure is very quick, positioning is everything to make it easy to get the thyroid.
There is now an oral liquid version of the tablets which is proving very acceptable to cats and we are moving away from the ear cream as a result for cats that are difficult to tablet.
All hyperthyroid cats are old it is the nature of the disease so all the treatments are regularly performed on teenage cats.

Both my last cats (brother and sister) went through this about 6 months apart. Girl cat was diagnosed aged 15 - otherwise is good health - and was a nightmare with the tablets. It ended up that she wouldn't let us anywhere near her for a while and it was incredibly stressful. We tried the food but she wouldn't eat it. We went for the iodine treatment for her in the end but opted for a clinic where she only had to stay in for about a week I think, as long as she was kept in complete isolation and we dealt with her cat litter properly for a month or so when she came home. She was completely cured after, back to her sleek healthy self. It was hard though - she hated being at the clinic and when she came home we couldn't spend much time reassuring her at first as she was still radioactive so had to be shut in one room. She did have another good 18 months before we lost her to something else. In retrospect I don't know whether we made the right choice or not but we did what seemed best at the time.
Her brother was diagnosed 6 months later. He couldn't have the iodine as he wasn't great at using a litter tray but luckily he took the pills quite happily. Again these worked well and he had another 18months of healthy life, I think if I had a cat who took the tablets easily I would stick with that based on our experiences.

My girl was diagnosed hyperthyroid about two years ago, half suspect she had it for up to a year before, but the focus was always on her brother when I took them both and it got overlooked.

I was with a different vet to start with and she was put on pills - fairly good about taking them, although I do find the odd one spit out on the floor afterwards - this has got worse recently so we're swapping her over to Thyronorm which is a liquid you can insert into their mouth. I know it's easier as we had some last summer to make it easier to cat sitters.

My new vet has suggested other treatments. For her I ruled them out as I think they have to be away from home for iodine treatment and mine isn't the sort of cat to do that do - very very home loving and gets in a right state at the vets. I also ruled out surgery - she had some teeth removed earlier in the year and more than one vet was worried about putting her through the procedure due to heart murmer and her condition.

However, tablets, only ever manage the condition and strength has had to be increased twice since she's had it. For me though, I'd still go down this route.

If by a decline, you mean with hyperthyroidism - he probably won't get one if you can manage to control it at the right strength - may take 3-6 weeks. However, the shock of an operation or other treatment may be too much, so I'd ensure vets are really happy to put him through this. Did he have a full blood chemistry done at time of hyperthyroid test? Did it look okay?

So far I've had 2 cats with hyperthyroidism. They each had the condition for 5 years or so. One lived to age 19 and the other to 20. They both had 2 tablets per day, felimozole, and took them like a dream. Mind you, I do have a no nonsense approach when it comes to giving medication. The vet did mention other options, but I decided daily tablets were best.

Mine stayed on tablets for the rest of her life. Stuffed the tablets in a Lidl cat stick and she thought they were a treat

She was all prepped for surgery but the nodule had shrunk so she never had it and I wasn't happy for her to have the iodine as she's a very social cat and I don't think she would have tolerated the isolation.

She died last year very suddenly and unexpectedly but had been very happy right up until the day of her death.

I think we made the right choice - it was the least bother for her.

Mine has this. She's been on tablets for a couple of years and is still going strong at 18. She seems fine in all other respects. She's always been really nervous but I've become a bit of a pro on the tablet front - head back, pull down lower jaw and poke it past the point of no return. She doesn't even get out of her basket now, just goes straight back to sleep.