011. Thyroid Problems
Description
This article is from the Medical Information FAQ, posted to rec.pets.cats newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
011. Thyroid Problems
Cats are far more prone to hyperthyroidism, in which too much thyroid is produced, as opposed to too little (hypothyroidism). Symptoms include ?.
Treatment
1. Regular doses of Tapazol.
2. Surgery to remove most of the thyroid. This is a difficult and potentially dangerous operation (especially for an older cat), and it is not necessarily effective. That is, it will reduce the thyroid activity, but not necessarily stop the runaway thyroid growth--it may only reduce or delay the problem and you'll have to give Tapazol anyway. At the other extreme, you might also end up having to give the animal thyroid supplements...
3. Radioactive Iodine treatment of thyroid. This is reported to be very effective in solving the problem. The troubles are it is very expensive, and it means leaving your cat at the facility where it is done for up to two weeks (they have to monitor the cat to make sure all the radioactivity is gone before letting it go home). Leaving a cat at a facility where there are other cats can expose it to the health problems of the other cats there.
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