End-of-Life Pet Choices

[TrekJeni]

Just as a side note - scientific studies show that the transdermal gel does not work as well and is not as reliable in lowering thyroid levels consistently as the pill. A new study is coming out in a few weeks that show that most compounded medications only contain about 80% of the medication they are supposed to have (for example, a 100mg/ml solution is actually testing at 80 mg/ml).

Personally, if one of my kitties becomes hyperthyroid, I'm doing radioactive iodine and being done with it.

The KEY to transdermal is to WASH the ear and let it dry before dosing again. No one ever mentions that and I'm always surprised at how many people aren't told by their vets to do it. While you might have to adjust the dosage, kitties with digestive issues do much better on it. I too would have done iodine but Milford never got well enough to go that route. We managed it for almost a year along with lymphoma before he decided to leave me.

[makbike]

You might ask your vet about y/d a new prescription diet made specificially for treating hyperthyroidism in cats.

[zoom-zoom]

You might ask your vet about y/d a new prescription diet made specificially for treating hyperthyroidism in cats.

Interesting...I have never heard of that. The only issue is it would mean isolating her from the other cats for feedings, which is tricky.

[indysteel]

We went the radioactive iodine route ourselves with Sophie. She was 14 at the time. I think it's worth noting that there is some risk that in treating the thyroid disorder, you worsen or create a renal problem. Plus, a hyperactive thyroid can make it difficult to even determine if the kidneys are functioning because the increased bloodflow caused by the hyperactive thyroid can mask kidney disease. So, it's really important to monitor kidney functioning closely when treating a hyperactive thyroid. And talk to your vet about a renal supportive diet.

With our cat Sophie, we decided to go with RAI, rather than a long-term use of Tapazole because she was very difficult to dose. In retrospect, we may have been better off using a transdermal with the hope of balancing her thyroid and kidney issues. While one of her kidneys was functioning just fine, her other was kaput. About seven months after RAI, she experienced renal failure with the remaining kidney. She didn't respond very well to further interventions, and we ended up having to put her to sleep at that point.