Older Cat Sick

[yomamab]

It is important that he has the pills everyday to keep the right balance for the hyperthyroidism. The ones my cat was on couldn't be broken or crushed, they had to be go even whole and the same time every day. Every morning it was a battle to give them to her, she tried hiding from me, spitting them out but not having them was not an option. Garfield will get used to it, try giving a treat after the pill. I bought mine online, they are half the price. You will need a prescription from your vet but it was still a lot cheaper. Try not to get stresses, it is a good thing you are doing for Garfield and cats are very forgiving. Keep us updated please.

It sounds like you had a struggle with your cat too. Maybe I'm extra sensitive (and apparently my daughter is too) that I pity Garfield and can't help feeling that he thinks he's being tortured, that we're doing something bad to him. I thought my daughter was having trouble with him taking the pills, but she said he's really not that bad taking them, but she can tell that he doesn't like it and that he might come to hate her. If you say that cats are forgiving, we'll just have to keep that in mind. I do know that I don't want Garfield to die, so it we can save him by giving him these methimazole tabs, then that's what we'll have to do. If it gets worse and he really struggles, maybe we'll switch to the liquid. I'm not sure if they can spit that out or not. The girl I talked to on the phone from the vet's office said that they can get a pharmacy to compound it and they can make it flavored.

 

[yomamab]

Just in case anyone is still following this thread, I'll let you know that we took Garfield back for his followup and to check his T4 level again. It came down from a 13 to a 6, which is a vast improvement, but like the vet said, it's still double what it should be. So he upped his dosage from 1 pill twice a day to 1-1/2 pills twice a day. He more or less left it up to us if we want to bring Garfield back in two months or not. He knows that it's a money ordeal with us and so it's optional if we want to take him back then or not. Otherwise, we can just wait until his next rabies and annual shots. The vet said that very seldom has he ever seen a cat needing to take 2 pills twice a day and is confident that Garfield's recently upped dosage is what he needs to regulate this thyroid.

So now my daughter gives Garfield his morning dose when she gets up for work and I give him his evening dose and we are careful to keep them 12 hours apart. The vet told us that if we don't stick to the regular 12-hour schedule, it could throw off Garfield's levels, and we don't want that to happen. We've been giving him his Methimazole pills in Pill Pockets only making the Pill Pockets smaller because we think they're pretty big for a cat to swallow (my opinion and my daughter's). Garfield takes his pill with no problems. He's a very good boy.

Even his behavior has changed for the better. He seems to be more clear-headed now. Before, he'd want to be outside even in heavy rain, but now he waits outside closeby the house in a dry area to be let back inside after going to the bathroom (he has always chosen the outdoors for that instead of the litter pans that we have in the laundry room). He used to want to stay outside during the night, but now he chooses to sleep either inside on our sofa, upstairs in bed with me, or out on our screened back porch on a sling that we had bought for the cats last year. He's actually smaller than our two-year old cats and fits into the sling very cozily and looks very comfortable in there and probably helps keep him warm. He never seemed to mind the cold outside, but now with his being recovering I hope that the cold won't affect him negatively. He has always seemed to crave the outside and has been an indoor/outdoor cat most of his 13 years, so we don't really want to deny him from going outside. Besides, we don't want him having accidents in the house since he is used to having the outside as his huge litter pan.

So Garfield's prognosis looks good, and we are so happy about that. I will never regret having taken him to the vet, and thanks for all your support and comments!

 

[Kitty Mommy]

Our cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism 9 months ago and we are treating her with the ear gel. Trying to give her pills has never worked for us but the ear gel is very easy to use and she doesn't fight us at all. I do it twice per day as per of our our petting routine. It has worked great and her numbers went back to normal. I know this is a life long treatment and the gel won't cure it. I don't know what the pills are costing you, the gel costs us around $25 per month.

 

[yomamab]

Our cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism 9 months ago and we are treating her with the ear gel. Trying to give her pills has never worked for us but the ear gel is very easy to use and she doesn't fight us at all. I do it twice per day as per of our our petting routine. It has worked great and her numbers went back to normal. I know this is a life long treatment and the gel won't cure it. I don't know what the pills are costing you, the gel costs us around $25 per month.

I'm glad that the ear gel is working for you, and that's a decent price, especially since it means not having to struggle with giving a kitty a pill. Our vet sort of steered us in the direction of opting to give Garfield a pill (or liquid) rather than doing the gel on the ear because he said about the pills and liquid having better results from what he's seen. Now that you said that your cat is doing well with the gel, it makes me half wish that we had gone that route instead, but between my daughter and me we're getting the pills into Garfield every 12 hours and he's been a good boy about it.

The first supply of pills (from the time of his initial exam/bloodwork until when we went back with him for his followup for more bloodwork) cost about $56 for 84 pills, enough for 28 days (I think), which I thought was pretty darn expensive. So then when we had Garfield's followup appointment the vet mentioned that if you get a bottle of 100 pills it's actually cheaper than if you get less than that. They had to order some (which made me think don't they get many cats with hyperthyroidism that they'd keep a small supply on hand?). He said that since "they" have to count out the pills if you get less than 100 (they come in bottles with 100 pills in them), so they charge to do that. When I picked up Garfield's pills when they came in at the vet, they were only $12.75. I thought my gosh, why would it cost an extra FORTY DOLLARS to count out 84 pills compared to handing us a full bottle. Just ridiculous!