Senior hyperthyroid cat with liver issues - possibly Vidalta caused?

[HelenD]

Thanks for all your messages. The vet rang today but the test results werent back yet so she said they would call back tomorrow after speaking to the referral people.

She's still eating chicken ok, and I got a bit of cream cheese down as well but she still won't touch the RC food. The vet said depending on the test results we might be able to put her on convalescence food or a high cal supplement.

As for her heart rate, I just tried to count it myself (she's been asleep on the sofa) and I counted to about 90 in 30 seconds so nothing to do with the vets.

I hope they ring soon tomorrow, she's been a bit more sleepy than normal this evening, which I wasn't expecting.

H
X

[Rosella moggy]

  to Purrs but so very sorry it's under such worrying circumstances 

The vets are going to ring a referral centre after they get the test results back to get a specialists opinion,

I would encourage vets to refer to specialist ASAP.  What results are they waiting for exactly? Sorry just re read your post.  How long before results are back?

Different circumstances but our Tom (sadly now gone aged 18) reacted badly to Vidalta a lot quicker than Schmoo (raised liver results) but Tom was "borderline HyperT" and I think should never have been put on Vidalta as unable to get low enough doses.  He too was being sick a great deal (heart rate close to 300) and ended up eating very small amounts of A/D from my finger towards the end.  He was quite badly anaemic and we had to let him go.  Still not sure exactly what caused it all initially

As I say, I would ask your vets to contact specialists with all haste.  Sending all good wishes for you both 

[Gillian Harvey]

Sorry to hear about Schmoo's liver problems. It certainly doesnt sound like she's a good candidate for the op at the moment  There is a supplement called Hepatosyl for cats with liver probs, might be worth discussing with your vet. I don't think it is a presciription product http://www.vetuk.co.uk/dog-and-cat-supplements-dietary-organ-supplements-c-5_143/hepatosyl-capsules-liver-supplement-p-723

[Tiggy's Mum]

  to Purrs, sorry it's not under happier circumstances  I don't have any experiences with Vidalta but my childhood cat was hyperthyroid for around 5 years - she was on felimazole and thankfully did very well on it. I lost her just short of her 19th birthday of an unrelated illness.

It's good to see your vets are being pro-active and seeking advice from the specialists.  I'm a big fan of Feliway but wouldn't have thought hyperthyroid related heartrate increase is something it could help with. If she is picking up on your stresses and that is adding to her heartrate then it might be worth considering though.

As Gill says, the heartrate could be vastly increased due to vet stress, I know my cats heart used to be sky-high at check up time but her thyroid levels were always pretty good thanks to the felimazole so it was purely vet-stress related. Has she been in the vets for any other ailments (pre-thyroid) where they might have recorded her heartrate in the notes? This will give you an idea of how much of the increased heartrate is due to her thyroid or whether it could be vet-stress related.

Foodwise, Hills AD is a 'recovery' food aimed at recovering/ill cats so if she can keep it down it may help build her up.

You asked if anyone had an older cat that had been operated on to remove the thyroid, I chose not too at the time as was terrified of losing my cat (who was 14 at the time) but looking back I wished I'd gone for the op as 5 years of twice daily tablets took it's toll on both of us!

There's a member on here who recently took on a stray cat from the vets to stop her being put to sleep, her thyroid was sky-high but she had the op to remove it and although it's early days seems to be doing well. She was 2.95kg shortly before the op (up from 1.7kg when she was found as a stray a few months ago). http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,38866.msg689405.html#new

Hope you can find a solution for her and that you have many more happy years together

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

  to Purrs 

My cat Kocka had a thyroid opereation when she was about 14/16 yrs and that was a long time ago now so medical care will be better. Sadly she never put back on all the weight she lost almost overnight.

She also developed kidney problems after the op, probably because back then they did not put older cats on a drip.

Could it be you cats heart was racing from the traumor of being at the vets, Misa went for a check up a couple of weeks ago and Gareth said his heart ws racing and it was because he was scared.

Sorry I dont know anythoing about the meds and only know that liver problems are serious.

I think its a very good idea for your vet to seek expert advice and wish all vets would do this, rather than guessing.

My totally uneducated opinion would be that if your cat is being sick all the time then a thyroid op is the only answer and maybe her heart will stop racing once being left to settle at the vets. I know Kocka didnt like eating at all once she was supposed to be well and I spent the last 3 years of her life crawling round the floor to try and get a can of AD diet into her every day, from my finger. Also leaving her to eat any other cat food she could. I had a supermarket of cat foods!

She was a featherweight.

I lost her to the Bridge at age 20yrs and she suddenly became very ill but she had a quality of life until about 19 plus but the move here and all the problems really finished her sadly. Only a month before she came on holiday with me to Devon and was just fantastic.

Sending lots of good wishes for your cat and just remembered to say my cat was never medicated as she wouldnt have pills 

[HelenD]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a first time poster on here, so I hope I get all the etiquette right!

I'm in a bit of a state about my cat Schmoo at the moment - and even the vets seem a bit stumped, so I thought I might ask if anyone else may have been in a similar situation? This might be a bit of a long post so sorry in advance!

Our cat Schmoo is a domestic ginger shorthair, who wandered into my flat 12 years ago now, and never left ! We suspect her age to be about 14 now. She was healthy and a normal cat (shes always been a bit of a Princess - and very vocal about things shes not impressed by!) up until 2 1/2 years ago, just after we moved house.

We noticed her weight dropping off, and she seemed a lot more skittish than normal, so we popped her along to the vets. Turns out she was hyperthyroid :/ We started treating her with Felimazole (low dose) which we gradually increased in line with her T4 results - which were really high. Felimazole didnt seem to do the trick, so we switched to Vidalta 10mg, which then increased to 15mg. This finally levelled her out and shes been on this for some time now.

However in August we noticed her weight dropping off again, and she wasnt as 'pink' in her ears and pawpads as normal, so it was off to the vets again. They did a full blood panel and it came back with very high ALT and billirubin - her liver was damaged. They ruled out Pancreatitis and kidney problems, and they couldnt feel any masses on her liver, so we put her on a course of antibiotics. Unfortunately after that course, her levels had gone up yet again, and her WBC had gone down

They now think that the thyroid meds may be causing the liver issues, so we took her off the Vidalta last week (Thursday was her last tablet). We took her back into the vets last night and are waiting for the results now.

But from what the vets said we dont know what to do. If it is the meds, the only option really is to operate to remove the thyroid - but her weight has dropped to 2.57Kg (shes a little cat anyway, at the most shes got to just over 3kg) and her heart rate was 200 last night, so they dont want to operate when shes like that. But if they put her back on the meds, her liver could fail

I just dont know what to do for the best at the moment. The vets mentioned maybe trying to put her back on Felimazole but that may have the same liver issues as the Vidalta. The vets are going to ring a referral centre after they get the test results back to get a specialists opinion, but has anyone else with an elderly cat had the thyroid op at all?

I'm also trying to get her to eat as much as I can at the moment, without her being sick, but all I can get her to eat is poached chicken at the moment. She turned her nose up to the RC Sensitive wet that the vet gave us, and any retail stuff we try shes sick with :/

Has anyone tried any supplements that might help? Shes burning everything off so fast at the moment, I'd like to boost things as much as I can...

And one more question (sorry!) but does any one know if Feliway can help relax a cat and drop their heart rate? I know hers is going mad because shes off the meds, but I wondered if this might help. In herself shes actually acting completely fine at the moment though, so its not a behavioural thing?

Sorry if this is a bit rambling - I think I just need to vent. Everytime we go to the vets at the moment it seems like we just get more questions and no answers, and my brain is running away with all the worst case scenarios all the time :/

Thanks for listening...

Helen