Ok, now I’m miffed!
The vet, obviously didn’t tell me it was a tumor! Because I didn’t know the right questions to ask (he called to tell me the test results) I really made an uninformed treatment decision. Because he said we’ll recheck (thyroid blood tests) in 2or 3 weeks I (wrongly) took it in time we might be able to go off meds.
Of course the cost of treatment was a huge factor in deciding. When he said the The iodine was around $1200, I opted for the second form of treatment not understanding what is happinging with my 13 year old.
So, I’m miffed!
Now, thanks to your informative help, I’m a little better equipped to reconsider the course of action.
It could be with his age, and the T4 amount that the iodine (& costs) won’t be the best decision?
Thank you for helping me think through this, and I’m sure anyone else struggling for answers finds this enlightening!!
The vet, obviously didn’t tell me it was a tumor! Because I didn’t know the right questions to ask (he called to tell me the test results) I really made an uninformed treatment decision. Because he said we’ll recheck (thyroid blood tests) in 2or 3 weeks I (wrongly) took it in time we might be able to go off meds.
Of course the cost of treatment was a huge factor in deciding. When he said the The iodine was around $1200, I opted for the second form of treatment not understanding what is happinging with my 13 year old.
So, I’m miffed!
Now, thanks to your informative help, I’m a little better equipped to reconsider the course of action.
It could be with his age, and the T4 amount that the iodine (& costs) won’t be the best decision?
Thank you for helping me think through this, and I’m sure anyone else struggling for answers finds this enlightening!!
A hyperthyroid IS a tumor, though benign in the high majority of cases. The cat's thyroid is increased in volume and produces more hormone than it should be, and this causes all the symptoms you see.
The methimazole is NOT curing the tumor, it's only addressing the symptoms, but the thyroid will keep growing. This is the reason why a cat needs to be visited and assessed often through blood test, to see if the med needs to be re-dosed.
Both thyroid and methimazole causes different issues in the cats body, liver, kidneys, heart are heavily affected.
The treatment of first choice is the radioactive therapy with I-131. This radioactive therapy destroys the bad cells in the cats thyroid. There wiil be no more need of blood tests and meds for the rest of the cat's life.
The dosage of methimazole depends on the severity of the problem. The gel may be dosed in different concentrations, in my case also on customer's request.
I had my gel prepared at 25mg/ml. I had to give my cat 1.0 or 1.25 mg of methimazole twice a day, so I would rub 0.04 or 0.05 ml of gel each time.