Thyroid operation
Ivor Jones
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
Nicolaas Hawkins
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Bill Graham
"Ivor Jones" <iv...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:7ff49nF...@mid.individual.net...
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!
Ivor Jones
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
caroline
"Ivor Jones" wrote
> On 25/08/09 01:30, Bill Graham 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.
Ivor Jones
[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
Bill Graham
"Ivor Jones" <iv...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
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.
Ivor Jones
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)
caroline
"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)
caroline
"Ivor Jones" wrote
> On 25/08/09 23:01, Bill Graham wrote:
>>
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!
Ivor Jones
> "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
Bill Graham
"Ivor Jones" <iv...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
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.
Bob
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
"caroline" <nos...@thanks.com> wrote in message
news:4a95...@news.x-privat.org...
Bob
I think the length of hospital stay varies with local law.
"Ivor Jones" <iv...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:7mr1rqF...@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