🚀 go-pugleaf

"Ivor Jones"  wrote
> On 25/08/09 23:01, Bill Graham wrote:
>>
>> "Ivor Jones"  wrote
>>> On 25/08/09 10:20, caroline wrote:
>>>
>>> [snip]
>>>
>>>> I imagine that at some point she will go back on meds, and then
>>>> remain on
>>>> them, as by having her thyroid removed she's been put into a
>>>> permanent state
>>>> of hypOthyroidism ;o)
>>>
>>> I'm not sure, I volunteer at Cats Protection (UK) and we've had plenty
>>> of cats with hyperthyroidism over the years and I've not heard of them
>>> needing to go back on medication after the operation, but I'll do some
>>> digging.
>>>
>>> It does seem strange though as the main alternative to surgery is
>>> medication for life, so why remove the thyroid glands only to put the
>>> cat on medication again afterwards..?
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Never dealt with it in cats before, but I'm due to have my own thyroid
>>>> removed soon.
>>>
>>> Best of luck :-)
>>>
>>> Ivor
>>
>> My cat didn't have her thyroid removed.....She was just exhibiting
>> "hyper" behavior, and losing weight, so the vet gave us this stuff to
>> rub on her ears......It slows her down, and she is now sleeping 90% of
>> the time, just like the other cats. My wife had her thyroid removed, and
>> she takes medication every day to compensate for the loss. Without her
>> meds, she would be sleepy and lethargic.
>
> Well maybe things work differently in us mere humans ;-)
>
> I've just looked at the info I found in a leaflet I have from Cats 
> Protection and it does say that surgery is a permanent cure,

In that case, I wish I was a cat! <grin>

Perhaps it just means permanent cure to hypER ?
I would have thought it would put her in a hypO state due to the 
post-surgery lack of thyroid gland ?

> alternatives are medication for life or injection with a radioactive 
> iodine that destroys the affected tissue. The problem with that solution 
> is that it can only be done at a limited number of specialist practices 
> and the cat remains highly radioactive for 4 to 6 weeks and must be 
> hospitalised and totally isolated during that time, which would be 
> extremely traumatic for both me and her (not to mention expensive..!)

Yup, I was offered both treatments too (perhaps I *AM* a Cat? *LOL*)...but 
the other drawback for the radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment is that it 
doesn't always work first time and may need to be repeated, whereas removing 
it completely by surgery is a no-brainer (to me anyway).  I also have goitre 
complications, and RAI doesn't do anything to remove the goitre.

> So we went for the surgery, which meant I could bring her home the same 
> day, she seems to be doing well so far, as I said we have a follow-up 
> visit to the vet tomorrow, so I will post further info then.

Looking forward to it!  Fascinating to see the similarities and possible 
differences in treatment, between species so to speak!