[cbmare]

so many issues?

Poor Max The Cat has been put on thyroid meds. It seems that since we've put her on it, she has developed some problems. She's around 13.

It seems that she's not completely making it into her litter box. There are puddles outside the box. She makes it in for the "big" performance. She doesn't always bury it. We scoop and change all the time. She's also indoor/outdoor. She has a pet door but with the rains, we make sure the box is available for her.

Her coat is extremely coarse now. It used to be smooth. It is now deeply matted in places.

She is shedding like crazy!

Her mood is so irritable!

Her nails are growing like crazy and she won't let us trim them. I hate having to pay the vet to drug her just to clip her nails.

She's put on so much weight. The vet was concerned that she'd lost 1 & 1/2 pounds in a year after we'd been told to make her lose weight. Now she's above that weight!

I'm beginning to regret putting her on the thyroid med.

[Meg]

Mare, is Max on meds because she's hyper- or hypo-thyroid? And has she been tested again since she went on meds?

Our old guy Stormy (16 1/2) is taking methimazole for hyperthyroidism. He was started on one pill, once a day and was rechecked a month later. He had gone hypo, so was cut back to 1/2 pill a day. He was rechecked a month later and is now normal. Our vet wants to keep checking every three months.

Stormy hasn't had any side effects from the medication. His heart murmur even went away.

Perhaps Max is being over or under-medicated? What does your vet say?

[GatorgalstuckinGA]

i second what meg said..has she been tested??? if she is still high...she may have hypertension (high blood pressure) which decreases blood flow to the kidneys then causing pre renal azotemia (increased kidney values). have him retested and also have a general organ scan done (not just thyroid) in otherwords have his kidneys checked...increase urine can be a sign of kidney failure (not trying to scare you...just educate you). alos have the urine checked. We may be dealing with diabetes if the cat is overwt now. Also, has your vet talked to you about the true treatment for hypertyroidism. You do realize that meds are just controlling it..not fixing it. Most people cannot afford the treatment. the treatment is radioactivating the thryoid...but the treatment is expensive (usually aroudn 3000$). But i would definately bring kitty into your vet, retest the T4 and test the overall organ function

good luck.

[cbmare]

Thanks, ladies. She is hyperthyroid. She was retested after starting her on the meds and the vet was happy with the results. They did test her urine. She is due back in March. Since we are going on a cruise for my DD's wedding in Feb., I think we'll board her there and have them run all the tests while we are gone. She's taking 1/2 pill twice a day right now.

We opted to not have the treatment because of her age. We know it's not fixing the problem but figured she may not live too many more years.

We're really considering talking with the vet and taking her off the meds. She was acting like a kitten again and it was fun. However, we're also concerned that she might have a heart attack or something if we did that.

Thanks again for the advice.

[GatorgalstuckinGA]

i wouldn't recommend taking her off the meds. It will do nothing but harm (ie high blood pressure, heart failure etc). She may just need to be retested and backed down...or she may have other stuff going on. Let me know what you find out. good luck