🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:19:51 +0100, Ivor Jones <ivor@nospam.invalid>  wrote
in <news:7ff49nF2jkn65U1@mid.individual.net>:

> My 15yr old girl Missy has just had her thyroid glands removed as she 
> was diagnosed hyperthyroid.
> 
> She's recovering well, but is there anything I should watch out for..?
> 
> Ivor

Unguided missiles, low-flying seagulls, and slow dogs.  :)

-- 
- Nicolaas

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@nospam.invalid> wrote in message 
news:7ff49nF2jkn65U1@mid.individual.net...
>
> My 15yr old girl Missy has just had her thyroid glands removed as she was 
> diagnosed hyperthyroid.
>
> She's recovering well, but is there anything I should watch out for..?
>
> Ivor
>
Yes.....Watch her weight and level of activity, and be sure to adjust her 
medication to keep those within the proper limits.....We have one also, and 
we give her her medicine in a salve that we rub on the inside of her ear 
flaps twice a day. It is very easy to apply if we remember to do it! 

On 25/08/09 01:30, Bill Graham wrote:
>
> "Ivor Jones" <ivor@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:7ff49nF2jkn65U1@mid.individual.net...
>>
>> My 15yr old girl Missy has just had her thyroid glands removed as she
>> was diagnosed hyperthyroid.
>>
>> She's recovering well, but is there anything I should watch out for..?
>>
>> Ivor
>>
> Yes.....Watch her weight and level of activity, and be sure to adjust
> her medication to keep those within the proper limits.....We have one
> also, and we give her her medicine in a salve that we rub on the inside
> of her ear flaps twice a day. It is very easy to apply if we remember to
> do it!

Thanks for that, she's not on any medication now that she's had the 
surgery, she's due to see the vet again on Wednesday for a follow-up so 
we'll see what happens then.

Ivor

"Ivor Jones"  wrote
> On 25/08/09 01:30, Bill Graham wrote:
>>
>> "Ivor Jones"  wrote
>>>
>>> My 15yr old girl Missy has just had her thyroid glands removed as she
>>> was diagnosed hyperthyroid.
>>>
>>> She's recovering well, but is there anything I should watch out for..?
>>>
>>> Ivor
>>>
>> Yes.....Watch her weight and level of activity, and be sure to adjust
>> her medication to keep those within the proper limits.....We have one
>> also, and we give her her medicine in a salve that we rub on the inside
>> of her ear flaps twice a day. It is very easy to apply if we remember to
>> do it!
>
> Thanks for that, she's not on any medication now that she's had the 
> surgery, she's due to see the vet again on Wednesday for a follow-up so 
> we'll see what happens then.

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)

Never dealt with it in cats before, but I'm due to have my own thyroid 
removed soon. 

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

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@nospam.invalid> wrote in message 
news:7fio8vF2ktk4qU1@mid.individual.net...
> 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. 

On 25/08/09 23:01, Bill Graham wrote:
>
> "Ivor Jones" <ivor@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:7fio8vF2ktk4qU1@mid.individual.net...
>> 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, 
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..!)

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.

Thanks for all the replies.

Ivor (and Missy)

"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..?

Because generally (in humans anyway) hypER is more dangerous and harder to 
control than hypO

I would have thought it stands to reason that she'll need medication again. 
The thyroid gland does an important job, its second in command to the 
pituitary if you like. By having it removed, she'll need another way to 
produce the thyroid hormone that her body needs, e.g via synthetic thyroid 
hormone medication.  Just it will be better controlled on meds, whereas when 
she was in a dysfunctional hypER state it was producing too much for her 
needs.

I'm of course assuming the thyroid gland in cats does a similar job to that 
in humans :o)  Can't imagine that it doesn't?

>
>>
>> Never dealt with it in cats before, but I'm due to have my own thyroid
>> removed soon.
>
> Best of luck :-)

Thank you ;o) 

"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! 

On 26/08/09 11:54, caroline wrote:
> "Ivor Jones"  wrote

[snip]

>> 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!

Well the reason for no medication is explained, apparently only one 
thyroid gland was removed, presumably the remaining one will produce 
enough to keep her going so to speak without becoming hyperthyroid 
again. The vet told me that the chances of that happening in a cat of 
Missy's age (15) are quite rare, so let's hope she's right..!

Incidentally, I visited my doctor yesterday as well and I mentioned it 
to him in the course of conversation, he remarked that the cost (�120) 
was very cheap, the same operation for a human is around �5000 if done 
privately here in the UK..!

Ivor

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@nospam.invalid> wrote in message 
news:7fj8hpF2k601qU1@mid.individual.net...
> On 25/08/09 23:01, Bill Graham wrote:
>>
>> "Ivor Jones" <ivor@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:7fio8vF2ktk4qU1@mid.individual.net...
>>> 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, 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..!)
>
> 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.
>
> Thanks for all the replies.
>
> Ivor (and Missy)
>
>
I had a friend who had radiation therapy that apparently destroyed part of 
his thyroid gland, without destroying it's function completely.....This 
compensated for his hyper active behavior, and brought him down into the, 
"normal" range. Perhaps they can do the same thing with cats. If so, it is 
generally a lot cheaper than an operation. With my wife, she had thyroid 
cancer, so they had to remove the whole gland, and now she takes regular 
medication, which she must take for the rest of her life. 

My cat is having Radioiodine treatment on 12/7.

I've done the research and I'm convinced it's the best way to go.

It does not require 4-6 weeks of hospitalization as another poster said.

She will go in on Monday and come home on Thursday.

See these links:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/hyperthyroid.html

http://www.radiocat.com/radioiodine-therapy.html

http://www.radiocat.com/


"caroline" <nospam@thanks.com> wrote in message 
news:4a95147e@news.x-privat.org...
>
> "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!
> 

Glad to hear your Missy is doing well!

I think the length of hospital stay varies with local law.

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@nospam.invalid> wrote in message 
news:7mr1rqF3junaeU1@mid.individual.net...
> On 21/11/09 20:39, Bob wrote:
>> My cat is having Radioiodine treatment on 12/7.
>>
>> I've done the research and I'm convinced it's the best way to go.
>>
>> It does not require 4-6 weeks of hospitalization as another poster said.
>>
>> She will go in on Monday and come home on Thursday.
>>
>> See these links:
>>
>> http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/hyperthyroid.html
>>
>> http://www.radiocat.com/radioiodine-therapy.html
>>
>> http://www.radiocat.com/
>
> Well that's interesting. The leaflet produced by Cats Protection here in 
> the UK says different:
>
> http://www.cats.org.uk/catcare/leaflets/VET17-Hyperthyroidism.pdf
>
> The relevant part is on page 6.
>
> Discuss, as they say.
>
> FWIW my Missy was back to her old self within a couple of weeks of the 
> surgery.
>
> Ivor