Hello everyone! I'm Annie and I'm brand new here and looking for a little bit of advice.
I'm mum to three gorgeous pusscats ... a 10 year old ginger boy and nearly 10 year old all-black girl who I've had since they were kittens, and a little black and white old lady who is the cause of me turning to you for advice!
Minnie has been with me since 2007 when her former owners, my neighbours, emigrated and couldn't take her. They weren't exactly sure how old she was but said she was already an adult when they found her sleeping in a skip and took her in, in 2000. Our vet thinks she's at least 17 now but could be as old as 21.
Back in July 2013, I booked a vet appointment for Minnie after she had lost a noticeable amount of weight in a matter of weeks, and was always insatiably hungry and irritable. Unsurprisingly they diagnosed hyperthyroidism, with her T4 levels sky high and her weight loss being over 1.5kg since she'd been weighed last at her annual booster appointment eight months beforehand. She was put onto 10mg of Vidalta a day. When we returned to the vet for blood tests three months later, the T4 levels had returned to normal and she'd gained back nearly all of the weight, plus was eating far more normally and no longer attacking my husband at random
She had more blood tests six months later again showing everything was normal.
We returned again for routine bloods in October 2014 when the vet was happy with Minnie's weight and my account that she remained eating and behaving normally. However when the results came back, the vet advised that the T4 level was now much too low and that Minnie now appeared to have hypothyroidism. I was reluctant to change anything given that she seemed well, but the vet advised we halve her dose of Vidalta to 10mg every other day (since a smaller size tablet isn't available and the tablets can't be split).
Within two months it was clear all was not well - Minnie had visibly lost weight again and was back to eating constantly. We went back to the vet where lo and behold she had lost 1.7kg - so was now weighing below 2kg. The vet put her back onto the daily dose of Vidalta and advised repeat blood tests in three months, which we had two weeks ago. On the day of the blood tests she was weighed and was back to her normal weight, which the vet agreed proves the point that she responds well to the daily 10mg dose.
The T4 and free T4 have both come back as very low again. The vet seems a bit stumped but has said that since we know Minnie is well on her daily tablet but loses weight and eats incessantly on a lower dose, we should keep her on the daily tablet for now and repeat the tests again in three months when we will have to discuss 'other options' if the T4 remains too low. I queried how the T4 levels can be indicating hypothyrodism if Minnie has no symptoms of it, and the vet said it can 'take a while to get the levels right' when a cat is newly diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. I see her point but it doesn't make much sense why the T4 levels were perfect for almost a year after she started medication and have only been low more recently.
Does anyone else have experience of something similar with a cat with hyperthyroidism? And does anyone know what the 'other options' discussed might be? I already know from discussions with the vet when Minnie was first diagnosed that surgery and radiotherapy are the usual alternatives to medication but are not recommended in Minnie's case due to her age and the fact that she doesn't weigh much - even when well she has never been above 3.5kg.
Sorry for the long post and for asking for advice on my first visit but I'm both confused and worried so would be very very grateful of any light anyone can shed on this odd situation!
