Re: Looking for a vet (in Chicagoland) able to treat feline hypothyroidism
yngver
> Yes, that is hypOthyroidism not hypERthyroidism. Not that vets know
> how to deal with hyper-t either... But I need the first one... A vet
> who suffers from thyroid issues himself/herself is also OK. I am
> getting a little desperate... Please help. I am willing to travel 2
> hours from home if I can find a good vet...
I don't know specifically about hypothyroidism, but two of the top cat
clinics in Chicago are the Chicago Cat Clinic on Devon and the Chicago
Cat Hospital on Irving. If anyone could treat the condition, I imagine
they could.
-yngver
mariib via CatKB.com
>Yes, that is hypOthyroidism not hypERthyroidism. Not that vets know
>how to deal with hyper-t either... But I need the first one... A vet
>who suffers from thyroid issues himself/herself is also OK. I am
>getting a little desperate... Please help. I am willing to travel 2
>hours from home if I can find a good vet...
I'm not quite sure what the problem is. You're saying there are no vets in
Chicago familiar with thyroid diseases? This is hard to believe.
Hypothyroidism is not such a difficult disease either to diagnose or to treat,
in fact it's rather straightforward. My sister has been hypothyroid (since
surgery) for the past 10 years & has been on thyroxine (thyroid hormone)
since. She's monitored once a year & has been stable since the first few
months of treatment. I used to work in a research Endocrinology lab for a
number of years doing various thyroid hormone tests & this was (ouch!) 30
years ago. Actually at that time, we were running the thyoid-screening
program on newborn (human) babies for all of the province of Ontario. In
animals, diagnosis & testing for hypothyroidism shouldn't be a problem, the
symptoms are fairly standard, & treatment is oral medication of thyroid
hormone once or twice daily. The dose will start out adjusted to your cat's
weight & will be monitored frequently at the beginning by checking the T4
levels. Depending on the results, the dose will continue to be adjusted until
stabilized & from then on, your cat should only need to be monitored once or
twice a year. Sorry to sound so surprised but if a vet can treat
hyperthyroidism, & hyperthyroidism is fairly common in cats (over the years
I've had 2 cats that were treated for it), it shouldn't be such a stretch for
them to be able to (research if necessary &) treat hypo-
Good luck! M.
--
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Matthew
to treat this. Good vets are hard to find but my vet is training newbie and
one fresh out of vet school new how to deal with it.
"mariib via CatKB.com" <u22469@uwe> wrote in message
news:7c9a598a95acd@uwe...
mariib via CatKB.com
>There is no TSH assay available for cats so it is not easily diagnosed
>in cats at all. In fact, there is no way to diagnose it properly.
>
>There is no rT3 assay for cats either (so there can't be a
>differentiation made between ESS and secondary hypo-t). TSH (canine
>assay is used for that) moves immediately downwards the moment a tiny
>thyroid supplement is given (so it is useless to see if the hypo-t is
>retreating). T3 assays are not considered for calibration of euthyroid
>because as one feline specialist (I kid you not) told me, "in cats T4
>is the active hormone". And the sun sets in the East. Oh and there is
>the medieval concept of 'false hypo-t" - don't try to explain that
>without falling on your face repeatedly - there is no way to do
>that... doesn't stop the 'feline specialists'.
>
>There are few small animal endocrine specialists in this country, none
>of them in Chicago, none of them in the nearby veterinary schools,
>where endocrine disorders are treated by internists. There is no
>endocrinologist who specializes exclusively in cats (except for
>Peterson, who deals exclusively in feline hypERthyroidism). The
>closest specialist in Chicago is a ...radiologist, who wrote Ph.D. on
>how to treat feline hyper-t with I-131 (radioiodine). Hypo-t is
>considered rare in cats (how would we know without TSH assay?), hyper-
>t is an epidemic we don't know how to prevent and barely know how to
>treat (3 meds available, one not used ever, and one with severe side
>effects; I-131 treatment or surgery not good for renal patients, which
>is 30% cases because that's how many cats present with CRF at the time
>they present with hyper-t)... And that is the reality. So sorry to
>disappoint. Believe me, I am not happy about it myself. But that is
>what I have to deal with. Hence my post.
>
>Oh, and I respectfully disagree that hypo-t is a straightforward
>disease in humans. Having worked with many thyroid patients and having
>been cursed with this issue in the family, I can assure you - nothing
>is easy about thyroid. Nothing. There is a very good forum for thyroid
>patients on yahoo groups, called simply Thyroid (your sister, even if
>she thinks she does not need it now, will need it in the future - sick
>thyroid always finds a way to get you down...), it was started by Mary
>Shomon, who is probably the most outspoken thyroid patient in USA, and
>thank God for that... Or we would still be dealing with old human
>assay for TSH according to which my mom was NOT hypo-t after I-131
>treatment, despite severe symptoms. She was also denied treatment (for
>entire year) like my cat is today. It was the activity of the patients
>that made the medicine reconsider TSH assay. And it is up for revision
>again. So, no, nothing is easy about thyroid. Nothing.
>
>Alice
Have you been on the MSU website & seen what they have to say? specifically
points 3 & 4 re the TSH assay & cats? or perhaps spoken to someone there? My
not-so-beloved late ex- trained & did post-grad work there many years ago.
http://animalhealth.msu.edu/FAQ/Endocrinology/Thyroid_Feline.php
Again, as far as human thyroid problems, my sister has been problem-free the
past 10 years on thyroxine. My mother, now almost 87 years old had her
thyroid removed in 1949, that's more than 50 years ago & has been thyroid
problem-free all these years, so I think your statements are somewhat
dogmatic & too absolute. Ironic that I used to (hands on) do very large
radioimmunoassay runs of TSH, T3, T4 etc - probably 200 patients or more in
duplicate each assay in a special research endocrine lab for 4-5 years in the
mid-late 70's. Repetitive work, but rewarding given the value of the newborn
thyroid screening in detecting hypothyroidism & preventing the subsequent
mental retardation.
Matthew
specialist maybe the hospitals at least they can point you in the right
direction. You are going to need a endocrinologist; I think that is the
right term. Those will be few and far between.
Here in Florida university of Florida in Gainesville has a vet specialty
schools so does the university of Kentucky. My Rumble has been to both. I
would call the local university and see if they can help.
They are going to be few and between. When rumble got epilepsy we saw one
but we ended up having to go out of state for a lot of his work ups since
he was allergic to many of the medications commonly used to treat it. I
flew Rumble first class with me to University of Kentucky to get him
diagnosed properly. There were a few in Miami but they were more about
worrying about getting a name in a journals than doing what was right
On another note I wonder with the rash of hyperthyroidism being linked to
the flame retardant chemicals in our carpet and furniture if we won't start
seeing more of hypothyroidism also
Alice good luck I hope this little information helps ;-)
"Alice" <swie...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:035cb739-5160-4055...@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Dec 12, 8:26 pm, "Matthew" <Iamacatsl...@proudtoserve.com> wrote:
>> My cat was just diagnosed with this. I can't believe you can't find as
>> vet
>> to treat this. Good vets are hard to find but my vet is training newbie
>> and
>> one fresh out of vet school new how to deal with it.
>>
>
> Matthew, if you had no problem diagnosing it then it is feline hypER-t
> you're talking about, not hypO-t.
>
> There are very few described cases of feline congenital hypO-t,
> usually they are juvenile. There were no adult cases of hypo-t
> described in cats until recently. Cats have very stable thyroid. Or
> 'had', until we started messing with their food.
>
> There is some evidence that before hyper-t sets in in cats (when
> adenoma causing it is not toxic yet, when it is only developing due to
> presence of varied thyroid disruptors, like soy and toxic chemicals
> present in food), that at that time cats are hypo-t but... we can't
> test for that, there is no way to prove this theory... We see the
> thyroid issue only when thyrotoxicity is already present in the blood
> serum, i.e., when hypER-t is present.
>
> Most adult hypo-t cases present after radioiodine treatment of
> hypERthyroidism. (In Europe similarly after thyroidectomy, although
> that can also be associated by hypocalcemia due to damage to the
> parathyroids.) Also, after I-131 treatment for thyroid cancer. A
> significant portion of the thyroid is destroyed (the part that was
> taken over by the toxic adenoma, or whole thyroid in the case of
> thyroid cancer). And the tissue that is left in the gland is just not
> enough to produce normal levels of thyroid hormones, that makes
> pituitary release extra TSH (which we can't see, because we can't
> measure it), that in turn turns on the entire endocrine system and all
> sorts of things go out of balance... That is the case with my cat. He
> underwent I-131 treatment and has at present max 30% of thyroid
> functioning. Hence hypOthyroidism.
>
>
> A.
cindys
> Yes, that is hypOthyroidism not hypERthyroidism. Not that vets know
> how to deal with hyper-t either... But I need the first one... A vet
> who suffers from thyroid issues himself/herself is also OK. I am
> getting a little desperate... Please help. I am willing to travel 2
> hours from home if I can find a good vet...
Alice, what I would do if I were you is find someone (anywhere in the US)
who has the expertise to direct your cat's care. Maybe phone Cornell to see
if they have someone. Then, find a local vet whom you trust and have your
local vet work under the direction of the expert from Cornell (via telephone
and/or e-mail). If this were my cat, my veterinarian would already have
taken it upon herself to locate an authority, not left it up to me. But at
any rate, that is what I would do if this were my cat.
Good luck.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.
dbe...@mitre.org
Cornell Vet School has a consultation service phone/fax for
feline issues. There is a reasonable charge. I used the
service when I had a kitten with FIP and thought they
were very helpful. I'm sure they have had experience with
hypothyroidism and may well have an feline endocrinologist
on staff. Take a look at :
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/camuti.htm
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/contact.htm
Good Luck,
Debbie