Poor Gabe!

[hellziggy]

The vet called yesterday with the results of Gabe's bloodwork, and he apparently has hyperthyroidism, which is very common in cats over 8 years old. Luckily this is also very treatable. I haven't had a chance to actually talk to the vet yet about our options, but from what I've just read about it there are 3 main avenues of treatment. The first is a oral treatment, twice daily. It is relatively cheap, but will require frequent blood level checks, and it is a treatment, not a cure. The second is surgery to remove the thyroid. It carries the usual surgical/anesthesia risks, and sometimes can lead to hypothyroid, but is generally overall a good option. Of course there are the costs associated with surgery. Option three is radioactive iodine. This will remove just the affected tissue, requires no anesthesia, and is just one injection, and is curative rather than just a treatment. The downside to this one is that your cat has to stay at the treatment center for generally at least 10 days, because he will be radioactive. And I'm sure it isn't cheap.
Poor guy. I'll have a better idea of what we're going to do once I've talked to the vet. I'm sure it will probably be just medicine at first while we weigh our options. But other than the thyroid thing she said his bloodwork looked pretty good.

Comments

[passaddhi.livejournal.com]

Poor guy. *cat hug*

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

Thank you.
This could explain his increasing crankiness that we attributed to him becoming "a cranky old man"

[swnoble.livejournal.com]

Sending best wishes for you and the little bugger.

[notmonochrome.livejournal.com]

I took care of my grandfather's cat who had hyperthyroidism, and we gave him the pill twice a day. After being on it for a few months, his blood levels leveled off and we only needed to give it to him once a day. I think he eventually figured out the pill made him feel better, because he was amazingly good about taking it.

The pills irritated his stomach, though, so we had to give him another pill for that until we cut down to one of the thyroid pills a day.

Poor Gabe.

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

I finally talked to the vet yesterday after playing phone tag. Gabes T4 levels were at 6.4 and normal is 2 - 5.5, so it's not out of control yet. She's going to do a physical while he's there on Wednesday and decide what to do from there.

[notmonochrome.livejournal.com]

Did you find out during a routine check up, or was Gabe getting really skinny? Marvin (my grandpa's cat) had always been think, but he was skeletal before he started getting better. The ASPCA would have thought we were starving him.

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

He's having his teeth cleaned tomorrow and because he's 12 yrs old they had me bring him in to have blood drawn. He is sooooo NOT skinny! :P