Hyper Thyroid

[3katldy]

My cat has hyperthyroid and an irregular heartbeat, ans she has lost a lot of weight. She is almost 15 years old. She won't take her medicine (Ear salve, pills, OR liquid) She runs and hides all day when I try to give it to her. Is there at least a food That I can give her to help out? Thank you for any help.

 

[silkenpaw]

Hi and welcome to TCS. You will probably see your question moved to the Cat Health forum; this forum is a special one for spay/neuter questions only. What’s your cat’s name? Can you post a picture?

Yes, there is special food for hyperthyroid cats but it’s not a very good way to control hyperthyroidism, especially if you have other cats. I think the best solution for your cat would be radioactive iodine. You need to talk to your vet about that.

 

[Dr. Phil Bushby]

My cat has hyperthyroid and an irregular heartbeat, ans she has lost a lot of weight. She is almost 15 years old. She won't take her medicine (Ear salve, pills, OR liquid) She runs and hides all day when I try to give it to her. Is there at least a food That I can give her to help out? Thank you for any help.

The major you can do with diet in the hyperthyroid cat is attempt to minimize weight lose (or even cause weight gain). To do this you need a high caloric diet. A diet that is 15 - 25% fat (on a dry matter basis) would help. Also, if the cat does NOT have concurrent kidney disease (which is common in hyperthyroid cats) the diet could be high in protein, 30 - 50% (on a dry matter basis).

Hills Prescription diet y/d (Thyroid health) is low in iodine and claims to help reduce the thyroid production of T4 (thyroid hormone). I have not used this product so can not comment on how effective it is. It is high in fat (25%) and relatively high in protein (36%) so it would help the body weight issue. (Again, it would be important to have kidney function checked before starting this diet).

You don't mention what medications your cat is on but Methimazole is available as a transdermal gel.

 

[LTS3]

Have you tried Pill Pockets or other similar pill dough to hide pills in? That often works. I use a bacon-flavored pill dough for my cat's pred pills.

Ask your vet about getting the methimazole compounded into an easier form. Wedgewood Pharmacy has methimazole in flavored chewable treats and tablets, melt-in-the-mouth tablets, oral paste, and capsules that you can take apart and sprinkle the medicine directly into canned food or something like canned tuna. Methimazol Medication & Information for Animals, Wedgewood Pet RX, Wedgewood Pet RX You can use a local compounding pharmacy as well.

 

[fearlessbenjamn]

My cat, Paul, had Hyperthyroidism. He was an old fella when walked up to me in my backyard. I would dissolve the pill in a tiny bit of water and then syringe it in his mouth. (I ok'd it with the vet that it was ok to do this) It was a little tough at first but became very routine after a while

 

[chris gadbois]

My poor girl Onyx also has hyperthyroid (HT). She is only 5 though with no kidney or liver issues. In 9 days she is going for the Radioactive Iodine. As soon as I got her HT diagnosis I signed her up for the I-131, but the wait to get in was over a month. I tried the pills with her to help slow the T4 in her bloodstream, but she is one of the 15% of cats that has lethargy, facial scratching, vomiting on the meds. So she has been off the meds all together since Aug 2nd and there is nothing I can do until she goes in on the 27th.

I hate seeing my girl so stressed and agitated....just 9 more days baby.

FOOD THOUGHTS - Changing your cats diet is always risky, but that being said a HT cat needs a high protein (animal not plant based) and fat foods, not too many carbs. Lots of carbs in dry food, wet is always better. If your cat does not get enough protein in their food the HT will eat all the muscle mass in your cat. BTW - NO seafood flavors for a HT cat!!!!!

Here is a good list of most all cat foods, the breakdown in protein, fat and carbs. Hopefully you can find some good info here - https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

My Onyx is currently eating 2+ cans a day of Merrick Limited Ingredient and she is still losing weight. I cooked up some free range chicken breasts and hearts, livers and gizzards. Put it all in a blender with some water and made a nice high protein mash to start adding to her diet.

Here is some more on the I-131 treatment - I-131 Therapy - MSPCA-Angell

 

[rdautrem]

My cat has hyperthyroid and an irregular heartbeat, ans she has lost a lot of weight. She is almost 15 years old. She won't take her medicine (Ear salve, pills, OR liquid) She runs and hides all day when I try to give it to her. Is there at least a food That I can give her to help out? Thank you for any help.

There is a food called YD that you can get at petsmart that has the ingredients to balance the thyroid.