Difficult Decision Thyroidectomy or Just Leave Her 16 Year Old Cat

[Mercurial123]

My cat is around 16, not sure of her exact age as she was feral and she decided to live with me 15 years ago.

She's got kidney issues which have improved significantly thanks to change in diet and fluids.

After blood tests she has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. It's impossible to give her Methimazole she hated it and refused to take it. It got so bad she would hide when she saw me. Also tried Hills Prescription Thyroid dry and wet food which she also hates.

I'm overseas so treatment options are limited. Vet had suggested thyroidechtomy but it's not guaranteed to give a good result and may lead to complications. She's old. Do I put her through surgery or just let her enjoy the rest of her life and then PTS when the time comes?

She's eating and playing but sleeping a lot. But generally in good spirits.

What would you do?

@HoppingPavlova it’s a thing with cats - they almost always have enough ectopic thyroid tissue elsewhere, eg in the thorax, that they don’t become hypothyroid after thyroidectomy. Typically one side at a time becomes affected, so often it needs removal in two stages, but even after the second, hypothyroidism is very rare (I’ve never seen it).

you do need to be careful with the parathyroid glands though.

try The hyperthyroid cat centre - they offer radioactive iodine treatment

www.hyperthyroidcatcentre.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8amWBhCYARIsADqZJoXhLWd5N9v1DnD1nIFglAYp_xBDyqUzivlSr0M617LQcQ8grEsiyccaAqUuEALw_wcB

I'm not in the UK.

Hi OP. I’ve been there and so I’ve done some research on it: reading scientific papers written for vets etc. Also discussed with sister who is vet.

My research found that if a cat has both kidney disease and hyperactive thyroid, then it’s very difficult to help them, even with all of the treatments mentioned above. The average survival time was something like 178 days I think. Usually when the thyroid problem is treated, the kidney problem becomes much worse (because the superfast hyperthyroidism was compensating for the poorly functioning kidney). Most vets recommend that the surgery / radioactive injection is not done on a cat with kidney problems.

Also the thyroid operation is delivate and difficult, some UK vets refuse to do it, and also it can go badly if the cat hasn’t been stablised with drugs for weeks first.

The only good news I have for you is that kidney-thyroid issues is not a bad way to go. What you can expect is for your cat to slowly become more energetic and kitten-like, losing weight and becoming like her younger self. She’ll have a happy time for a while (could be a few weeks or maybe a few months) but as her heart is working much too fast, eventually she’ll start behaving weirdly (perhaps hallucinating), then get extremely thirsty, then start refusing food and drink, then weak. When flies start following her around, she is very near the end. You can ask the vet to put her on a drip and perhaps gain another month or two, or have her put to sleep, or allow her to die naturally which is usually peaceful when its a kidney death. Mine went in her sleep, which I’ve read is usual when they’re allowed to refuse liquids and not artificially rehydrated. (If they have too much fluid in the body at the end then they drown in it, the dehydration is actually part of the natural dying process.)

I’m so very sorry. 16 is a wonderful age to reach, you’ve obviously been a great cat owner. I hope the rest of your time together is lovely.

@moredogsthansense thanks, that’s very interesting. Don’t envy you with all these interspecies variations, glad I only have to deal with the one!

CharlotteOH thank you, your reply is really helpful and interesting. I'm at the vets for fluids tomorrow and I'll be telling them that we won't go ahead with surgery. I just want her to enjoy her remaining time. She's around 80 in human years so maybe best to let her go. It's really sad, she's amazing I just want to do the best for her.

Cats often develop a heart murmur if they have thyroid problems. My lovely old lady had to have her teeth cleaned and some removed at the age of 16, and even on the day the vet phoned to warn me of the risks (as she had a heart murmur and due to her age). I did put her through the operation as her brother's mouth was appalling by the time I realised I was with a rubbish vet, and I would never put a cat through mouth pain again. Having said that, I don't think I'd have put her through anything more.

ifonly4 hope your cat is OK after dental work. Mine had teeth out ladt year as she had an abcess.

Saw another vet this morning. He agreed that surgery wasn't a great idea due to age, thyroid and kidney issues.

We are going to keep her as comfortable for as long as possible. She's lost a little weight but generally doing well.

I guess we have a few months together.

My 10 year old is on Thyronorm for now. We wouldn't put her through the trauma of surgery especially as she would have to be away from home for some time.

That's another consideration she gets depressed and refuses to eat when she has to stay for a few days at the vets.