Thyroid Surgery in Cat

[fiendj]

I'm just looking for anyone's experience really. My oldest cat (who is ten) was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism at the end of November and we have been treating it with medication. Her thyroid levels are heading in the right direction and she is slowly gaining weight but the vets have now increased the dosage and we are at the stage of deciding whether surgery would be a better option.
The vets are also now concerned about her kidneys which we know is both a product of her condition and also a side effect of her medication so increasing the dosage seems counterintuitive to me. I am worried about the risk of developing hypocalcemia post surgery.

Has anyone decided on surgery for their pet? What was your experience like and did they develop any other issues post surgery?

[jndt]

My cat, who will be 15 in May, was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in October 2020. He is still on tablets twice daily as his bloods look good and with his age the anaesthetic could kill him.

A friend did go ahead with the surgery for their cat and she lived another 2.5 years (medication free).

[storm]

Not personally but a cat in the care of our local rescue had his surgery funded by donations and he did amazingly. He became well enough to be re homed after almost a year in care. He looked so much better weight gained, bloods great.
10 isn't an old cat and has many years ahead. They said that once he was more stable on meds the vets recommended the surgery for long term benefits. My DH had Graves disease & was treated with radio active iodine pity that isn't available to pets as much cheaper.

[mitch84]

I would be tempted not to. I’m reasonably anti surgery on our pets unless absolutely necessary.

In humans thyroid surgery tends to leave the thyroid under active. Which could leave the cat on medication regardless.

I’d just keep an eye on the kidneys etc.

I’d do your research, our vets are lovely, but very pro surgery, whereas I am much more conservative

[marypoppins38]

Originally Posted by storm

Not personally but a cat in the care of our local rescue had his surgery funded by donations and he did amazingly. He became well enough to be re homed after almost a year in care. He looked so much better weight gained, bloods great.
10 isn't an old cat and has many years ahead. They said that once he was more stable on meds the vets recommended the surgery for long term benefits. My DH had Graves disease & was treated with radio active iodine pity that isn't available to pets as much cheaper.

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I have Graves disease too and have had a complete thyroidectomy. I wasn't suitable for radio active iodine treatment as I had the associated Graves eye disease and he treatment can make it worse. OP, sorry for posting on your thread, I know its possible not helpful to compare it in a human to your cat but I just wanted to say that I felt so much better after my op. If the vet is careful to remove the parathyroid gland from the thyroid then calcium levels aren't compromised at all. 10 is still quite young so I sure they could do really well.

Edited to add: I just asked DD why radioactive iodine treatment isn't given and she said it is but its quite rare as there are very few vets in the UK offer it. This is due to the cat needing to be housed until it clears their system and specialised units are required due to the fact that it is radio active.

[Trickytenrec]

This surgery has been done at my work a couple of time on cats of a similar age to yours and was very successful. Given the age of the cat I would do the surgery.
My mums cat is 20 with this condition but is far too old for a GA.

[fiendj]

Originally Posted by mitch84

I would be tempted not to. I’m reasonably anti surgery on our pets unless absolutely necessary.

In humans thyroid surgery tends to leave the thyroid under active. Which could leave the cat on medication regardless.

I’d just keep an eye on the kidneys etc.

I’d do your research, our vets are lovely, but very pro surgery, whereas I am much more conservative

See more...

We are of the same mindset in terms of treating conservatively. We had a few nightmares post op when our last cat had a tumour removed simply for diagnostic purposes and his recovery was a complete mess. Normally our vets practice is fantastic and we don't have complaints at all but the new vet that has been seeing her has been a bit off putting. He very much was pushing the radioactive iodine treatment at first, which we had researched and deemed unfeasible, and it does feel a bit like he is rushing to the next step constantly. We have decided that her future appointments will be with any available vet at the practice as opposed to specifically him.

Edit to add: We are not opposed to her having the surgery at all. We are just weighing up all of our options and I think some of the hesitance is related to how this particular vet has behaved.

It is really is nice to hear about these positive outcomes from others. I call her my old girl but she is really on the young side of what's considered "senior" cats.

[marypoppins38]

She is gorgeous! That tiny pink nose!

[Feebee2]

My lovely Feebee had that op, not long after went blind and didn't live long after that.
It might not have anything to do with the op. The vet said she suddenly went blind after a rapid increase in blood pressure.
She was about 12, as a rescue we were never certain of her age.