Hyperthyroidism

[thecatlikesmebest]

My 14 year old cat has just been diagnosed. He's lost weight and been eating more and very vocal and grumpy. He's always been grumpy so that's not new but the constant complaining was new.
Getting some liquid drug next week to give twice daily. Then blood tests in a few weeks.
I gather this is common in older cats but treatment can be very effective.
Any tips?

Sorry to highjack the thread but how is everyone's cats now? My 8 yeah old cat diagnosed two weeks ago. But now on the meds he has explosive diarrhea and won't eat. He's gone completely the other way. He wants to sleep a lot. He has a vet check up but wondered if anyone else had this. He goes up to the food but then won't eat it. I'm on a thyroid cat group and some people says his meds could be too high. I didn't give him any meds yesterday too see if that helped as Before he would eat a pouch in the morning but then refuse to eat all day after his meds but today he's still not eating except for a few dreamies

Don’t withhold any more doses. Give what the vet has prescribed properly. Thyroid cat groups are not vets. If you think his dose is too high, and two weeks is actually too soon to know, call your vet for advice about him not eating. Or try a different type of food. Your cat might think it’s the food giving him diarrhoea so won’t eat it. We found the thyroid meds made our cat sleepy. He had previously had tons of energy for a cat his age and the vet said that wasn’t right.

As for how mine is doing, we’re about another £1500 in vet bills in the three months since I last posted. Luckily the insurance is covering some of it as the vet has classified it as a new problem, even though we’re almost sure it’s caused by the thyroid problem. My gorgeous boy is panting like a dog several times a day, with a racing heart. He’s had heart scans, lots more blood tests, and is due another scan soon. Otherwise his behaviour is completely normal - eating, drinking, sleeping, toileting all fine.
He’s now on 6mg Thyronorm twice a day which is a very high dose.
The yowling has never stopped. He only does it on the upstairs landing, as if he’s having a loud argument with himself about which room to sleep in.

I've just joined this particular club... with two cats at once! I think one has had it for quite a long time in retrospect. I'm about to order Thyronorm online (vet gave a script no quibble), and the first cat's blood re-test is in 3 weeks. Cat 2 (cat 1's offspring) is 13 and was in for a major dental but also had tachycardia and panting, though some of the latter may be triggered by stress of being at the vet and it's gone away with post-surgical gabapentin. Naturally one is happy taking the meds, the other is being totally awkward, even if assisted with Lick-e-Lix.

I do have insurance (Petplan covered for life) but not sure how the claim process works for ongoing conditions. Guess I'm about to find out...