About Cat with Hyperthyroidism

 A a few years ago I rescued a white tabby cat that was as normal and healthy as she could be but when she turned 9 years old her health changed drastically and her illness seemed to come onto her quickly.

Photo of Missy on the day we rescued her

At first I noticed that she was more affectionate as she was always wanting to be petted and constantly rubbed her face on mine. Another concern was that Missy had become hyper, literally she was running all over the house, playing with her toys, leaping off the sofa, rolling on the rug. We decided to stop spraying the scratching post with catnip, thinking that was why she was so active. Then I noticed that she was eating her food but losing weight.

A greasy coat is a symptom of hyperthyroidism

It was not until we noticed that Missy was losing weight and her coat which was always soft and shiny looked greasy. We thought it was time for her to go to the veterinarian.

The veterinarian gave our cat a wellness exam and then checked her blood, the blood work showed nothing wrong with her. So the veterinarian asked if they could check her thyroid levels and this is when our cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.

Know that the excess thyroid hormone causes an overactive metabolism which is why Missy was running all over the house and is also why she was losing weight,

We were assured that once the medicine kicked in that our kitty would resume to a quality life but the medicine was a treatment it was not a way to fix her condition. However, we would have to change Missy’s diet. We feed our cats Hills Science Diet kibble and canned food for cats age 7+. Missy prefers kibble to canned food. However, pate canned food is better for hyperthyroidism cats because dry food is too high in carbohydrates. We needed to stick with a high quality canned pate food that was primarily meat and low in plant protein.

The veterinarian suggested several treatment options, the medicine is taken by mouth twice daily or the ratio iodine thereby which is one treatment to remove the abnormal thyroid tissue and will cure your cat but it is expensive, with costs running up to $1,500. Then they said we could try the treatment that is applied to the cat behind their ears. This treatment would replace the oral pill form.

Presently we are managing our cat's hyperthyroidism with high-quality canned pate food that limits the dietary iodine intake which reduces the thyroid hormone. We are also treating our cat's condition with daily medication that is an anti-thyroid drug. This drug stops the production of the thyroid hormone.

Missy has been taking her medication for 21 days now and we are starting to see a slight change. She has put on weight (1 lb) and isn't as hyper. Her coat doesn't look as greasy.

We have a 30-day follow-up appointment and will know more than as to how she is doing.