Hyperthyriodism in

[tinty]

My 14yr old male cat has been diagnosed with hyperthyriodism. His T4 Levels returned at 24.0 !  I believe they were looking for results in the range of (0.4 to 8.8). Anyway he is now on Methimazole half of a 5mg tablet twice a day. He was always 13-15 lbs in weight now he's skinny and 9.6lbs. His stool is slacker and he's urinating a lot more than before, he has an increased appetite and will eat constantly. I have changed his food from dry to canned for more moisture.  He has been taking the meds for 3 days now, can you please indicate if you think the vet was right to put him on a "weak "dosage, and when should I start seeing results of improvement?

[Fluffysmom]

My Fluffy was on that dose of methimazole, and it got his levels down to an acceptable range.  He was seventeen pounds at the time. He did eat a lot, too, even after being on the methimazole for some time.

I was offered the L131 treatment for him, but I was not in a position to undertake the expense or the extra care involved, though I had wished that I was.  Fluffy did fine on that dosage of methimazole for years, even when he was closer to 10 pounds.

Hope your cat does well.

[opus88]

T4 levels are very high your kitty is in the advanced stages of hyperthyroid disease.
from what i read normal levels should be .6-3.0
Methimazole is the drug of choice but I can't say on the dosage. there is another treatment called L131 which allows for twice the survival rate. I believe this is iodine treatments but I'm not sure.
Hyperthyroid is usually a non-cancerous tumor on the thyroid gland, its a progressive disease.
I have 2 websites you can do more reading on.
best of luck to you and kitty, please keep posting and let us all know how kitty is doing.

www.marvistavet.com/html/thyroid.html
www.avmi.net/newfiles/hyperthyrodiis...idism.html