Hyperthyroid cats is a fact of life for people lucky enough to have an old cat. Most of y’all who read this blog know that Seren-Kitty is a senior citizen girl, and as such she’s at risk for hyperthyroid disease. At her last checkup, we ran tests to check and–thank goodness!–she’s normal and doesn’t have that issue. That makes this Mother’s Day a happy one for this “cat mom.”
Old Cat & Hyperthyroid Concerns
That’s not the case with many older cats. There are a couple of causes of the condition, with about 95% of cases due to a benign tumor on the cat’s thyroid, which is highly treatable. I write about feline hyperthryoidism signs, diagnosis and treatment in my CAT FACTS and also my COMPLETE CARE FOR YOUR AGING CAT books. (Both are way-cheap in the Ebook versions *s*).
Learning about cat care issues is an ongoing passion at my house. Maybe you know a “cat mom” that needs some solid information to keep her cat-babies healthy and happy.
Signs of Feline Hyperthyroidism
AAFP’s Cat Friendly Practice has created a feline hyperthroid disease brochure that you can download with all the details. They’ve also shared this neato infographic, below, for quick reference.
Do you have an aging cat? Has your kitty shown telltale signs of problems? Seren-Kitty had thickened claws from arthritis, and needed regular claw trims. Or maybe your feline kid has been diagnosed and gone through treatment for feline hyperthyroidism. Please share your experiences in the comments–it could help other “cat moms” out there!
I love hearing from you, so please share comments and questions. Do you have an ASK AMY question you’d like answered? Do you have a new kitten and need answers? NOTE: Some links to books or other products may be to affiliates, from which I may earn a small percentage of sales, but I recommend nothing unless I feel it would benefit readers. Stay up to date on all the latest just subscribe the blog, “like” me on Facebook, and sign up for Pet Peeves newsletter. Stay up to date with the latest book giveaways and appearances related to my September Day pet-centric THRILLERS WITH BITE!
I will note from personal experience that hyperthyroidism is ABSOLUTELY treatable. And better late than never, so don’t assume that if you didn’t have money for testing, or didn’t notice early, that it’s too late and no use.
Thanks Karyl, I was hoping you’d weigh in!
Forgot to add: after the meds he was like a whole new cat again. Biggest thing is to make sure you follow the vet instructions EXACTLY for the medicine and don’t over- or under-dose.
Oh, and that according to our vet sometimes taking care of the thyroid issue, if your cat is on the verge of having kidney issues, can create a need to alter their diet, so you want to get full bloodwork for that stuff done as well to make sure everything’s going okay. They have lots of healthy kidney diets, and most vets will recommend lower protein, however our cat didn’t do so well when we tried that, so I hit the internet to see what else I could find. Ultimately I found some suggestion that for cats it may not always be that they need less protein, but more digestible protein so that their bodies don’t have to work as hard to process it. (Remember much like people not all cats will get the same results! Also I don’t think any large studies have been done to confirm this statement, in our case it was a matter of needing any solution because the one we tried wasn’t working.)
So we switched to a homemade diet that I was handling myself, with baked chicken and egg yolk, and crushed eggshell for calcium. (If anyone has had trouble and wants to try it, I’m sure I have it written down somewhere more exactly and can dig it up for you.) Apparently it worked, because his health improved even more after I started him on that diet, and the last bloodwork we ever had done for him showed his kidney values had improved.