Thyroid Removal

[Crazyone84]

Hello all, I previously posted about my cat having Hypothyroidism. We have now got this under control, thankfully and she is feeling better and acting more herself.

As she is relatively young I am now looking onto surgery to remove the thyroid gland, one at the moment, may be both in the future as I do not want her on medication for the rest of her life, which in turn may cause other issues and problems with her kidneys, liver etc.

Anyway, my question is has anyone had the surgery? and if so how much did you pay?

I am opting for the surgery as the Iodine treatment, although highly recommended and less invasive is far out of our price budget (£4-5K). I have googled and seen people having the surgery around the £500 - £700 mark. My vets have recently quoted me:
AURA Vets in Guildford: removal of one thyroid gland £3500.
Lumbry Park in Alton: removal of one thyroid gland £4000-5000, CT scan £3200
The Ralph in Marlow: removal of both thyroid glands £3000-4000

Am I being taken for a ride here?

Our last cat had both thyroid glands removed. We didn't consider any other course of treatment/action, as advised by our vet. She had no further problems (related to that) for the rest of her life - maybe 8 years or so.

In terms of cost, I couldn't tell you - it was too long ago, so not that relevant, but in any case it was fully covered by insurance. £500-£700 feels very unrealistic though, by the time you've factored in anaesthesia and aftercare etc, let alone the op itself. So your thyroid removal options are similar to the option your vet is recommending. I'm guessing you don't have insurance, otherwise you wouldn't be making decisions about your cat's care based on money?

@TheTripThatWasnt unfortunately we are not insured and this is why money is a big factor. Thank you for your insight, good to know
We are happy to keep her on medication but the vet has said she would not recommend this for longevity.

Don't they still need medication if their thyroid is removed? In humans you would be on medication for life after such surgery

@BloodyAdultDC apparently not

Ours didn't need any medication at all after the op.

Personally, I would get the thyroid removed. We were quoted 2.5k last year for one to be removed but were trying to stabilise our cat on thyronorm first. We had hoped to do the radioiodine but were quoted 6k which was beyond us. Unfortunately our cat died, she couldn't tolerate the thyronorm at the level it needed to be to get her levels back to normal. At the rate vet costs are increasing and the fact that you are closer to London and we are in a very poor area, I would say the 3k quote is in line with what I would expect. It is scandalous that vets charge so much though and if we get any more cats in future, we plan to get them insured from birth.

My female cat had the op but it was ten years ago so my pricing won't be a lot of use to you. It was day case, I took her in at 8.30 and she was back home for tea. It was under £400. I am in the South East, although a less 'expensive' area than Guildford or Marlow.

I know prices have risen hugely but the prices you were quoted sound massive. But since they are all very similar, you haven't got a lot of choice.

No, they don't need medication after the surgery.

I know as I only checked yesterday Anderson Moores Feline Hyoerthyroid clinic at Winchester is £3.5K for the radioactive iodine treatment and this is where I send all my patients that maybe with investigating.

Bloody hell!! We're in Oxfordshire, not exactly a cheap place to live, and when we had our old cat's thyroid gland removed last year it cost around a thousand quid, I think. Radiation therapy (gold standard for hyperthyroidism) was at least twice as much and involved quarantine (because your cat -and his poo - is actually radioactive for a while!) and lots of indoor care for weeks.