Hi @MatchsticksForMyEyesReturns, sorry to read that your cat might be hyperthyroid 🙁 My Dcat was diagnosed in the summer with levels of 83 (should be under 60 so they said she was borderline but a lot of cats have very high levels of over 100).
There are 4 types of non invasive treatment for hyperthyroid cats - Thyronorm liquid, Vidalta tablets, Methimazole gel and Hills Prescription Diet y/d food.
I tried all of them except the food (has to be the only food the cat eats so really only suitable for indoor cats and mine loved being outdoors too much).
Thyronorm liquid has to be given straight into the mouth via syringe, at the same time every day, 12 hours apart. The manufacturer says it should not be added to food as it hasn’t been tested for use that way. I’m presuming because the dose needs to be given in one hit and putting it into food cannot guarantee this, plus they cannot know how much of it will be absorbed into the food and not the cat. I asked my Vet if I could add it to a small amount of cat milk and she said absolutely not because it would not stabilise her levels. The starting dose of this, which it seems all Vets give to all cats regardless of their T4 level, caused my cats T4 to drop to -3 so please do question the dose if you decide to treat with Thyronorm. I think it should be started low and increased gradually.
Vidalta tablets cannot be crushed up, they have to be given whole and straight into the mouth as the special coating on the tablet should not be broken as they are slow release.
The methimazole transdermal gel for the ears may not be suitable for a cat that does not like being handled as the ear(s) have to cleaned and the gel has to be rubbed in well. I found that the maximum dose of 5mg (0.1ml) wasn’t enough to reduce my cats T4 to an acceptable level.
I found my Dcat tolerated the actual drug(s) OK, it was just the administration that she didn’t get on with. Tableting stressed her out so much that she stopped eating and engaging with me so this is when I then tried the transdermal gel. I didn’t want to put her through the trauma of surgery or radioactive iodine treatment (I don’t think she would have been a candidate for either anyway) as she was quite a stressy cat generally and the repeated trips to the Vets were too much for her.
I hope you can find a suitable way of treating your Dcat - it’s never easy but it’s certainly harder when you have a non compliant cat! 😕