I have 3 cats. The two older cats, age 14 and 12, are hyperthyroid. First we tried Metronidazole - terrible side affects in both cats. They just couldn't tolerate it. The 14yo vomited non-stop, dry heaved. The 12yo developed extreme itchiness on his neck, pulling out a good bit of his neck hair. I considered the I-131 treatment but my vet encouraged me to try the Hills y/d. Google is my friend so I spent a lot of time reading online. I read all the bad press on the Hill's Y/D (i.e endocrine blogspot). One should consider that there could possibly be financial motives towards recommending I-131 treatment such as an affiliation with clinics offering the I-131 treatment. At the same time, vets could profit from encouraging you to buy Hills from them. Forever the skeptic.
In the past year or so, my 14yo has had two episodes of blood in her urine, treated successfully with an antibiotic. There's a lot of material if you google about how hyperthyroidism can mask kidney issues. So, you just have to weigh it out, overall health of the cat, kidneys, temperament, age, finances - try the Hills or go the other routes. Given the 14yo's age and the possibility of kidney issues, I decided to try the Hills Y/D wet food. I also gave both cats a little bit of the dry food, about 1 tsp, as a "snack". They weren't very keen on the wet food initially. I added about a tablespoon of water to it, mushed it up, and they liked it better. Within just two weeks, I noticed the following - 1) their coats improved dramatically 2) the constant begging for food was gone 3) the 14yo had practically stopped vomiting 4) the excessive grooming seemed to subside and 5) their stools were getting hard . I increased the amount of water that I added to the wet food - turning it into a mush - but they still liked it, possibly even more so. I decreased the amount of dry that they get (not that it was much to begin with) and when I do give the dry to them "as a snack", I first mix about 1/4 tsp of the wet with water, making it a "soup", and then I add about a 1/2 tsp of the dry to the water and stir it around. The dry food is just barely floating in the bowl. They love it! That's my blessing here - they love the food. I continue to give my third cat the "crack" of cat food... Fancy Feast. It was challenging at first to make sure that they didn't play musical bowls. I'm thinking that even a spec of regular food could "turn the thyroid back on" so I'm very disciplined about this. They seem to like this food so much, that they don't even go for the Fancy Feast bowl any more. Nonetheless, I make sure they don't. So it's been about 6 weeks. Their stools are looking good, LOL.. glistening and soft. Their coats are beautiful. I have not had them back to the vet though, yet. I have not weighed them. This is not very scientific but I think the 12yo has gained weight, just eyeballing him. The 14yo - I'm not sure. I have not had blood work done. Right now, I'm assuming the diet's working given the improvements listed above. I plan to give it about 4 months on this diet and then get them back to the vet, do the bloodwork, weigh them,etc.
The 12yo, also has epilepsy and takes phenobarb and keppra. The diet has not adversely affected that condition. I used Pill Pockets to pill the phenobarb. I had to stop that. Now I pocket the pill with the Hills wet food - it works. Lastly, I have had to deal with constipation/enemas in the 12yo prior to this diet change as well. The takeaway from dealing with that episode last year is water, water, and more water... and brushing them. I even add water to the third cat's food - she has a normal thyroid.
I'll try and get back to update once I get them to the vet.
In the past year or so, my 14yo has had two episodes of blood in her urine, treated successfully with an antibiotic. There's a lot of material if you google about how hyperthyroidism can mask kidney issues. So, you just have to weigh it out, overall health of the cat, kidneys, temperament, age, finances - try the Hills or go the other routes. Given the 14yo's age and the possibility of kidney issues, I decided to try the Hills Y/D wet food. I also gave both cats a little bit of the dry food, about 1 tsp, as a "snack". They weren't very keen on the wet food initially. I added about a tablespoon of water to it, mushed it up, and they liked it better. Within just two weeks, I noticed the following - 1) their coats improved dramatically 2) the constant begging for food was gone 3) the 14yo had practically stopped vomiting 4) the excessive grooming seemed to subside and 5) their stools were getting hard . I increased the amount of water that I added to the wet food - turning it into a mush - but they still liked it, possibly even more so. I decreased the amount of dry that they get (not that it was much to begin with) and when I do give the dry to them "as a snack", I first mix about 1/4 tsp of the wet with water, making it a "soup", and then I add about a 1/2 tsp of the dry to the water and stir it around. The dry food is just barely floating in the bowl. They love it! That's my blessing here - they love the food. I continue to give my third cat the "crack" of cat food... Fancy Feast. It was challenging at first to make sure that they didn't play musical bowls. I'm thinking that even a spec of regular food could "turn the thyroid back on" so I'm very disciplined about this. They seem to like this food so much, that they don't even go for the Fancy Feast bowl any more. Nonetheless, I make sure they don't. So it's been about 6 weeks. Their stools are looking good, LOL.. glistening and soft. Their coats are beautiful. I have not had them back to the vet though, yet. I have not weighed them. This is not very scientific but I think the 12yo has gained weight, just eyeballing him. The 14yo - I'm not sure. I have not had blood work done. Right now, I'm assuming the diet's working given the improvements listed above. I plan to give it about 4 months on this diet and then get them back to the vet, do the bloodwork, weigh them,etc.
The 12yo, also has epilepsy and takes phenobarb and keppra. The diet has not adversely affected that condition. I used Pill Pockets to pill the phenobarb. I had to stop that. Now I pocket the pill with the Hills wet food - it works. Lastly, I have had to deal with constipation/enemas in the 12yo prior to this diet change as well. The takeaway from dealing with that episode last year is water, water, and more water... and brushing them. I even add water to the third cat's food - she has a normal thyroid.
I'll try and get back to update once I get them to the vet.
What matters is that Soleil is stable.
