hypothyroidism and coat care

Hi. I have a cat who is hypothyroid (was hyper, did the radioactive iodine, and she was one of the few that go under normal afterwards). Overall her levels are fine and she is maintaining her weight just fine. However, her skin and fur get so oily that if I do not get her groomed bimonthly the matts are unremovable. As a result I just had to have her shaved, which horrified me. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to help her keep her fur from getting so matted in between groomings?

Thanks

Is she on medication to bring her thyroid levels back in to the normal range? If not, you may want to look into that. Also, what are you feeding her? Diet has a big impact on coat condition.

Other than the coat problems she is fine, so the vets have not put us on supplementation. I have to admit to not being keed to do that (altough if it is the only option I will) because we did the rad iodine because she hated being pilled with the tapazole so much. I am feeding her senior nutro right now, though she may be getting into the other cats food occasionally (which is nutro as well, just not senior).

It sounds like her coat condition may be a sign of the hypothyroidism:

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/hypothyroidism.html

I understand your reluctance to give more pills. How long ago was the I-131 treatment done? Sometimes the levels do come back up to the normal range after a while. You may also want to talk to a local compounding pharmacist to see if they would be able to create either a transdermal form or a treat using the thyroid supplement.

My cat has hypothyroidism and has been on medication for about 6 months now. The vet put him on Thyroxin and let me tell you it has worked wonders! His hair grew back, he lost weight and his coat returned to its thick and gorgeous state.

I would recommend trying another treatment because it really helped my cat.
Good Luck!

I will talk to the vet about it. The thing is, other than her coat, she is doing great. her weight is fine, and all that . so both my primary vet and the vet that did the rad iodine did not suggest thyroxin. She has not lost hair, it is just that it gets really oily. Thanks for the advice.