Anyone on here's cats had a operation to remove thyroid?

V1NN

V1NN

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Hi guys. Me and my mum are in a dilema at the moment, we have a 15yr old cat Posie, last yr she was diagnosed as having an overactive thyroid. She has been on pills and has been having blood tests monthly to see if there is any improvement but she has only gained minimal weight so the vets are now suggesting that we give her this operation. Now the cost is not the problem here at all its not a question, but last yr posie's son had this same operation and afterwards started having fits an he ended up having to be put down as he was in so much distress, we have been told this is extremely rare and that Posie shoud get the op.
I and a lot of people have said no because of her age and because of this risk involved, she is an active and happy cat imo but she is just very small and thin. she eats LOTS! is very bright etc. theres no way i'd consider having her put to sleep at this point but imo i'd like to just keep her on the pills and see how she goes, my mum cant decide. What is your opinions?
Thanks for any replys i get
 
I had a similar aged female cat with an overactive thyroid, however, the pills worked well for her, and she would take them quite happily (we hid them in lumps of chicken).
I remember being told that the options for her included radiation to destroy her thryroid gland, which involved keeping her in quarantine (to protect humans) for about a month afterwards, so we decided against it.
She lived til she was nearly 20 incidentally, and simply died of old age.
S
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Thanks for that Shilasdair, yeah i think my mum did mention something along those lines to but i dont think we're going to consider that either think she would pine to much in quarrantine. cheers x
 
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Thanks for that Shilasdair, yeah i think my mum did mention something along those lines to but i dont think we're going to consider that either think she would pine to much in quarrantine. cheers x

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It's hard to say what you should do.
Does your vet have any idea why the pills don't work for her?
If she is happy in herself, and maintaining weight rather than losing it, it seems to me that you can bide your time.
If her weight is declining, it seems that you only have a limited time to decide whether to choose risking the op, or having her PTS.
She's your cat - only you can tell at what point her quality of life dictates action.
Sorry not to be more help,
S
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My cat midnight was diagnosed with an over active thyroid. He was on tablets and then once the levels in his blood began to come back to a normal level he had the op to remove the larger gland. It worked for a while but then the other gland became over active aswell so this one was removed too and he then stayed on the tablets. He had no side effects from the ops and was happy in himself. He stayed on tablets for the rest of his life until he disappeared this time last year, we presume he must have died as he wouldn't have been able to survive without his tablets. They eat a lot but are still skinny because there metabolism is in overdrive and unless you can find a way to bring the level down into a more normal range then they won't gain any weight. Midnight was monitored almost every month for about 2 years before he disappeared and his dosage was regularly increased or decreased depending on his levels that month. You know your animal best so don't let your vet make the decision for you.
 
Thanks S she has gained the tiniest amount of weight but at least she has not lost any i guess, we think we are going to try her with a different pill for a month (1 thats not had such great resuts :S ) or so and see if this helps the vets say just sometimes it doesnt work :S but yeah we'll keep a close eye on her, she's such a sweet little thing. x
 
my elderly cat was diagnosed we were told not to go for pills as could shorten life span we decided to go for op, she survived op but died a few weeks later. i was devastated and wished i had gone for pills.
 
Aww Kezimac i'm so sorry to hear that
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you only did what you thought was right, what you were recomended to do, its just 1 of those things x
 
taking out both thyroids can be quite risky and cause low Calcium levels and potentially then seizures and death. i have seen this too often and now only take out one side at a time - this seems to work really well for most cats and they go on to do really well, but often will require a 2nd op to remove the 2nd side at some point.
 
I've had two cats with overactive thyroid, both oldish when diagnosed (mid teens), one even had the op twice. None of the ops was successful and I wished I hadn't put them through it. I don't know what you should do, only you and your mum know that. But I do know, I absolutely would not do it again. Best of luck with whatever you decide xxx
 
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