Hyperthyroidism and heart disease...

[IndyJones]

May 26th I took my cats in for their annual checkups, Indy had a clean bill of health but Kabuto was a different story. He is 16 years old.

Kabuto's heart has a grade 3 murmur and his chest was full of fluid. He has heat disease and the vet found his t4 levels at 150, three times as high as they should be.

He doesn't look or act like a hyperthyroidism cat at all, his coat is pristine, his appetite is less than normal if anything. He always was a fast eater though so maybe it just wasn't noticeable.
He has lost weight but I thought it was just bony old cat body.

Now he is on a red pill for his thyroid and a diuretic to get rid of the fluid.

Unfortunately the vet is very guarded about his health. Eventually the heart disease will take his life. For now I'm just keeping him comfortable and enjoying his company.

Does anyone have experience with hyperthyroidism cats? Maybe some stories of your cats past or present?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
My angel Poppycat was hyper-T. We didn't want to put him through the stress of having to be at the vet's for the iodine therapy, and his liver was already compromised so the medicine was not possible, so the only option was the Hills y/d. It, along with Weruva's nonprescription WX, worked for the rest of his time with us.

I handfed him since he was too finicky, and was able to help him avoid most of the weight loss.

 

[silent meowlook]

My cat has been on Methimazole for hyperthyroidism for about 2 years now. She is doing well.

Fluid on the chest is significant. Are you able to get a referral to a specialist such as a cardiologist? The heart and the thyroid together are pretty complicated and should be managed by a specialist if you can do it.

Heart disease and hyperthyroidism often are concurrent. Renal disease is often masked by hyperthyroidism, so once the thyroid is under control the kidney values need to be checked again. Blood pressure is very important to check routinely as hyperthyroidism often leads to hypertension. It is important to know that the only really noninvasive accurate blood pressure method for cats is the doppler method.

Of course, the most important is to keep your cat as stress free as possible and learn to know what the warning signs of him going into congestive heart failure are. Watch for any difficulty breathing, open mouth breathing, lethargy, inappetence, yowling, hiding, any behavior that is not the normal for your cat should make you alert to that there is a problem and that you need to contact your vet immediately. You may also want to have a copy of your veterinary records on hand in the chance that you might need to go to an emergency veterinary hospital.

I hope your kitty does okay. I know it seems overwhelming and very depressing, but I have known cats that were managed well and went on to live years with both diseases.

 

[Antonio65]

My cat was diagnosed with HT at the age of 15 and put on methimazole, pills first, eargel later.
Eventually I managed to have her accepted at a facility where she was treated with I-131 for her HT at the age of 16, and during the preliminary visit the vets at the facility found some fluids around her lungs, though her heart was fine.
Because she was otherwise fine, they decided to proceed with the I-131 therapy, but advised me to have her checked as soon as possible for that fluid in her chest.

Despite all kind of tests, scans, visits and the diuretic she was put on, no vet could understand where that fluid would come from.

The I-131 treatment worked fine and the HT disappeared, those fluids were drained five times in a year.

What took her away from me, though, was likely a liver failure. This is my experience.

 

[neely]

Blood pressure is very important to check routinely as hyperthyroidism often leads to hypertension.

Exactly!

When our guy was diagnosed with H-T we started him on the transdermal gel form of Methimazole. It worked okay but since he had no organ involvement and, therefore, was a good candidate for the I-131 treatment we saved up for it. In our case I'm glad he had the radioactive iodine since it's been 1 1/2 years and he's doing pretty well. However, as mentioned above, approx. nine months later he was diagnosed with high blood pressure which I'm thankful to report is now under control. I second the comment about seeing a specialist to treat both the heart and thyroid health issue. Best of luck, please keep us updated.

 

[IndyJones]

My vet did meantion the radiation therapy but didnt think Kabuto was a good candidate with his heart disease but Kabuto is very attached to me, he is more dog like than cat. and I dont know how long he has left. I really dont want to stress him out any more than nessisary.



Im also on disability so i only have so much to spend.

 

[Alldara]

My now late cat Lily had hyperthyroid and her heartrate slowed after medication. I took the script to a human pharmacy and it saved me a lot of money.

However, we couldn't get her levels as low as it should be, so she remained immunocompromised. I think she caught a fungal infection as when she was on a combination antibiotic/antifungal she did better but I wasn't at a cat-only vet at that time. She had to be PTS because the chronic infections made her stop eating and she was miserable.

My neighbour's hyper-thyroid cat has lived 5 healthy years on methimazole.

 

[neely]

I really dont want to stress him out any more than nessisary. Im also on disability so i only have so much to spend.

If it helps, at 16 yrs. old and with heart complications I completely understand your situation. As A Alldara mentioned you may want to talk with your vet as to whether they feel Methimazole might help her. Thinking of you and sending special thoughts.

 

[IndyJones]

Kabuto is on Felimezole and a water pill for the fluid. Vet says the fluid is from the heart disease. He had breathing problems before but this has lessoned a bit since starting the water pill a week ago.

 

[fionasmom]

Fiona was on Felimazole for about three years successfully.

 

[lucyrima]

Echo seems to have settled into a routine - eats FF pates and Whiskas Meaty Selections with Friskies Chicken or Turkey in gravy dumped on top many times a day, and naps the rest of the time except for huge litter leavings (but that's what Tidy Cats does) , so I'm glad for the big sale of the gravy stuff this month but litter's heavy (when putting out garbage) and I wish that was cheaper! He's heavy if anything. I also put him back on the Thyroid Support Gold and I think it's good for his heart, liver, etc... his coat's better too.

 

[IndyJones]

So far the medication seems to be helping but Kabuto seems quite sleepy. Is this typical with felimezole?

Now that most of the water weight is gone i'm noticing how skinny he has gotten too.

I almost feel he has been hiding this thyroid condition for longer than I thought.

 

[lucyrima]

It's very possible - thyroid problems can look like other things and can take months or even yrs to be more obvious even to vets.

 

[Twylasmom]

So far the medication seems to be helping but Kabuto seems quite sleepy. Is this typical with felimezole?

Now that most of the water weight is gone i'm noticing how skinny he has gotten too.

I almost feel he has been hiding this thyroid condition for longer than I thought.

What is the dosage of felimazole he is getting? It is possible the dose has lowered his thyroid level to low normal or possibly below normal. He may need to have the dose adjusted. Do you have an appointment to recheck his thyroid levels? It is customary to check after a few weeks to make sure the dose is correct.

 

[IndyJones]

The vet wants to see him at the end of the month to recheck his blood, I will meantion he doesn't seem to have as much energy lately.

He is eating and toileting fairly well. His eyes look bright and his coat is so soft. He just seems tired.

On the weekend he did come outside with me on his leash for an hour. I havn't had either cat outside because of the smog from the Quebec fires being so bad but it disipated over the weekend. He seemed to really enjoy that, he was watching a chipmunk scurry across the driveway and tried to roll in the garden.

 

[neely]

What is the dosage of felimazole he is getting? It is possible the dose has lowered his thyroid level to low normal or possibly below normal. He may need to have the dose adjusted.

This is not uncommon when the dose is too high.

I'm glad to hear he is eating and using his litter box but you didn't mention what dose of felimazole your vet prescribed. Do you mind letting us know?

 

[IndyJones]

Looks like 1.25mg twice a day.

 

[silent meowlook]

That is a low starting dose. My cat is on that amount. That is good.
The thyroid levels should be checked in 30 days.

 

[neely]

Looks like 1.25mg twice a day.

Great, thanks for letting us know. When our cat was on Methimazole he was also on 1.25 twice p/day.

 

[IndyJones]

He seems quite comfortable just sleeping alot. Started about a week afterhe started the thyroid medication. He definatly needs it though, his thyroid levels were at 150 which is tripple what they consider normal.

I do have about a weeks worth of medication left. So the vet will likely want to see him soon and I will be in touch to pick up more.

He is playing with his mouse toy right now. And grooming himself.