Gracein-hyperthyroid

my1gracein

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Gracein is around ten and has irritable bowel for many years.Not awefully bad but there. He recently came up on a blood test with hyperthyroidism ..a 6.5 level.I have  him on Rad raw cat food for four months and he seemed to be doing better.Just started ear gel thyroid med for one week. Had to pull off (temporary?) till he felt better.Seemed to be in intestinal pain. Confusing, seems like irritable bowel pain...unsure.He has been on Rad raw, cooked chicken and a little canned wellness turkey or chicken.I keep it healthy and plain.Any changes upset the irritable bowel. Now what? Like to keep him drug free IF POSSIBLE...Is Hills YD food plain enough to not upset bowels of irritable bowel cats?Anyone have experience here with a cat with irritable bowel and hyperthyroid. I believe his blood  test to be on the low side 6.5 of hyperthyroidism (14 being high). Welcome input, Marlene
 

peaches08

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I'm confused. You had to take him off his transdermal thyroid medication until he felt better? Or you had to take him off the RadCat until he felt better?

As far as Hill's YD, I looked at both the canned and dry and the ingredient lists are atrocious. I would rather feed well and administer the transdermal.
 

ldg

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Here is information on the Y/D diet written by the endocrinologist that first discovered the condition of hyperthyroid in cats in1979:

http://animalendocrine.blogspot.com/2013/02/should-hills-yd-diet-ever-be-used-to.html


And his take on what to feed them:

http://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/2011/09/best-diet-to-feed-hyperthyroid-cats.html

http://animalendocrine.blogspot.com/2013/03/muscle-wasting-in-hyperthyroid-cat-fed.html

And Dr. Lisa Pierson's take on hyperthyroid and y/d:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felinehyperthyroidism

The bottom line? If you can not afford the I-131 treatment and he can't tolerate the transdermal methimazole (and surgery is not an option), the y/d is all you're left with. :(
 
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my1gracein

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Hi Thanks for responding. He has been on the gel thyroid medicine for a week and got sick.Seemed to be sleeping lots and had intestinal pain.I called vet and he said to pull off med for a week and see if he feels better. Is getting better, but realized after the fact he may have ate spoiled chicken I cooked for him.Unsure what got him sick.He is on Rad raw turkey and chicken twice a day,cooked homemade chicken and Wellness canned Turkey/chicken a little....Rad has kelp, not good for hyperthyroid.Oh boy.....Marlene
 

peaches08

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Is it possible that you administered too much of the transdermal? Or the dosage may be incorrect?
 
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my1gracein

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Thank you for supportive comments.Gracein seems better, eating but seems to breath rapidly ongoing.The rapid movement seems to come from belly area.Unsure of cat organ anatomy.I will call vet tomorrow and maybe bring him in.Otherwise he seems fine.Perhaps dosage was too high of gel med.I did  .05 mLs on ear once a day.He doesnt seem as hyper and demanding as prior med..but .went into tiredness and discomfort.Researched non iodine raw food and it seems Feline Pride  is one.Marlene and Gracein
 
 

raintyger

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I've heard that l-carnitine can help with hyperthyroidism, maybe you can suggest that to your vet. With a raw diet, though, he should be getting plenty of l-carnitine.
 

peaches08

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Good point peaches. My understanding is that it can take a little while to determine the correct dosage for each cat?
It's hard to dose humans correctly (repeat blood work to check levels and adjust dosage), and with cats being a smaller size it would have to be hard as well. My understanding with cats is they do much better with twice a day dosage. So if the cat is supposed to get 0.5 ml per day, then 0.25 ml twice a day does better.
 

ldg

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:nod: That's how Dr. Peterson explains it in the link (that's a link in the link I provided to the health forum thread discussing dosing. :lol3: ).
 

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I've had one cat treated by the I131 and one cat currently treated by oral methimazole. I spent a lot of time reading and discussing with the vet about the methimazole. It is far better for your cat to start slowly because it can easily cause stomach upset, and to split the total daily dose into two, 12 hours a part. The life of the meds is 12 hours. By giving the cat a full day's dose at once creates a roller coaster type effect on the cat's thyroid process, control and no control. It can take a little while to stabalize the dose, which will require blood tests.

The internist originally prescribed 5 mg, once per day, because that's the general instructions put out by the pharmaceutical company. When I questioned the dose, a different vet scaled back to 2.5 mg, once a day. I cut it in half and give twice a day. Turns out, for my cat, that that is the correct dose, his T4 number is now perfect and has been for 8 months. He also never had stomach upset.

The oral meds I use are liver treats ("vet chews") that are compounded by BCP Pharmacy in Texas. I live in CA, and door to door service takes 3 days. My cat begs for them. For better cost, I asked that my vet order the 2.5 mg in one treat. It easily slices into two. I had to give Buprenex by ear gel once, and no one was happy. For us, the "vet chews" are the way to go. It all depends on the cat.

I hope you can figure it out. I've read those articles that Laurie provided links to. I feed a high protein, no carb diet to my cats (raw and home cooked) and my old cats have no sarcopenia (muscle wasting) issues at all. Good luck.
 
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