Hi
I've just joined the site. I have two wonderful cats. Carter is 17 and Hugo is 4. Both are accidental cats where luck has played a huge part in bringing us together. I've had both since 8 weeks old. Carter is allegedly half Burmese according to his paperwork. He is getting old but is the same cat he was 15 years ago. I noticed that he is not putting on weight even though he eats good food and a lot of it. Also his fur started looking unkempt and he's drinking more. A quick trip to the vets confirmed my suspicions. He has an overactive thyroid gland and has arthritis in his back legs. The thyroid issue has two solutions. One is medication to manage it and the other a non surgical removal of the thyroid. It involves being in vet care for up to 8 weeks which would kill him. We are going the daily medication route. His arthritis is clearly causing discomfort and the vet have us Temgesic to deal with his pain. On researching this I discovered that its Buprenorphine more commonly known in the UK as Subutex. It's a heavy duty pain killer used in helping people with opiate addictions. Carter is on half a 0.2mg tablet a day. This is all well except the tablet is sub lingual meaning it has to dissolve under the tongue to work. The human version is the same. I'm finding it impossible to give him this tablet. He ends up swallowing it. We managed one dose where it dissolves and within 20mins he was zonked out in an opiate dream world. I'm worried because this medication is so strong and surely regular use will give him a dependency. It costs £20 per two weeks so isn't expensive. A liquid version is available at 3 times more money. Does anybody know of an alternative that isn't as potent and doesn't cause drowsiness? I want him to be pain free but not asleep all day as even at 17 he is active and basically the same cat from 15 years ago. Our other cat Hugo is very close to Carter. They spend all their time together and have a wonderful friendship. I want Carter to enjoy his remaining years as I'm aware that he is at the evening time of his life. I had a half Burmese cat as a child and she lives to 20 so I hope Carter outdoes that! Any advice regarding Temgesic and over active thyroid in cats would be appreciated. Thanks
I've just joined the site. I have two wonderful cats. Carter is 17 and Hugo is 4. Both are accidental cats where luck has played a huge part in bringing us together. I've had both since 8 weeks old. Carter is allegedly half Burmese according to his paperwork. He is getting old but is the same cat he was 15 years ago. I noticed that he is not putting on weight even though he eats good food and a lot of it. Also his fur started looking unkempt and he's drinking more. A quick trip to the vets confirmed my suspicions. He has an overactive thyroid gland and has arthritis in his back legs. The thyroid issue has two solutions. One is medication to manage it and the other a non surgical removal of the thyroid. It involves being in vet care for up to 8 weeks which would kill him. We are going the daily medication route. His arthritis is clearly causing discomfort and the vet have us Temgesic to deal with his pain. On researching this I discovered that its Buprenorphine more commonly known in the UK as Subutex. It's a heavy duty pain killer used in helping people with opiate addictions. Carter is on half a 0.2mg tablet a day. This is all well except the tablet is sub lingual meaning it has to dissolve under the tongue to work. The human version is the same. I'm finding it impossible to give him this tablet. He ends up swallowing it. We managed one dose where it dissolves and within 20mins he was zonked out in an opiate dream world. I'm worried because this medication is so strong and surely regular use will give him a dependency. It costs £20 per two weeks so isn't expensive. A liquid version is available at 3 times more money. Does anybody know of an alternative that isn't as potent and doesn't cause drowsiness? I want him to be pain free but not asleep all day as even at 17 he is active and basically the same cat from 15 years ago. Our other cat Hugo is very close to Carter. They spend all their time together and have a wonderful friendship. I want Carter to enjoy his remaining years as I'm aware that he is at the evening time of his life. I had a half Burmese cat as a child and she lives to 20 so I hope Carter outdoes that! Any advice regarding Temgesic and over active thyroid in cats would be appreciated. Thanks