Cat losing weight...
rivkadr
13 years ago
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Anne_Marie_Alb
13 years agorivkadr
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Cats
Comments (8)Our 21 lb cat is on a diet. He swallowed a piece of string two weeks ago. During surgery to remove it the vet did liposuction. No kidding - liposuction on the cat because there was fat in the way. I thought he was joking at first. Now that I know it was done I can see the difference. Piper gets a specific amount of food each day and seems fairly happy with that. It's not much less than he was getting anyway. We play with him in a more active way now. He isn't an active cat so it's hard to get him to get up and moving. We tie a piece of paper on a string and drag it around. Whatever we can do to get the cat moving is what we can do. My daughter lugs him to the kitchen so that he walks through the house to get back to the couch. If he's on the couch she turns on the can opener to get him to come to the kitchen. We have Piper's sister. Same mother, apparently different father. He's a 21 lb monster that's brown and has long hair. She's a six pound petite, short black haired cat. They eat the same amount of food. He's lazy and wouldn't go outside to save his soul. She's active and always on the go. Genetics are interesting....See MoreHow to feed overweight and underweight cats together
Comments (14)Feeding cats with different needs can be a challenge, but there are several strategies you can use to ensure both cats are healthy and happy. First, it's important to establish separate feeding areas for the two cats. This will allow you to monitor their food intake and make sure the overweight cat isn't eating the older cat's food. You could also try feeding the cats at different times, so they are not competing for food. For the older cat, you may want to consider feeding a high-quality, high-protein diet that is formulated for senior cats. Senior cat food is designed to be more easily digestible, and often includes additional nutrients that can help support aging cats. You may also want to consider feeding smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day to help ensure your cat is getting enough calories. For the overweight cat, you may want to consider switching to a weight management diet that is designed to help cats lose weight. These diets are often lower in calories and higher in fiber, which can help cats feel full without consuming too many calories. You may also want to measure out the cat's meals and feed at set times throughout the day, rather than leaving food out all the time. Finally, it's important to monitor both cats' weight and adjust their diets as needed. Regular veterinary check-ups can help ensure both cats are healthy and receiving the appropriate nutrition....See Moreupdate in bizarre cat behavior
Comments (10)WEll, I think though Laurie is correct in saying the ideal treatment in Iodine 131 (radioactive iodine, the standard treatment for the same problem in humans), long term methimazole, in the vast majority of cases, is well tolerated by cats and the likelihood of serious problems with methimazole are rather rare. I have treated many hundreds of hyperthyroid cats over the years and though the argument of economics is also often correct, many owners simply cannot put out the $$ needed in a lump sum to have this treatment done. And most of my patients on methimazole do quite well and have very few side effects. I would say only 15-20% of my clients end up going the radiation route, though almost are happy they did it in the end (certainly less hassle in the long run in most cases). What you should know is that treatment is not always succussful the first time, either and a small percentage may need a sedond or rarely a third treatment (costly!!). Also, the 'side effect' of renal failure, which the hyperthyroidism can mask, is harder to deal with once you have blasted the thryroid gland into oblivion, than it is if you have a cat on methimazole (which you can adjust the dose of accordingly). Fortunately most of the specialists who do this radiation procedure warn owners of this potential problem, but still it is a drag when it occurs. Also saying the only cure is radiation is not true, either. Surgery, the old 'gold standard' before radiation became commonly available, usually cured these cats. It however, is fraught with a moderately high incidence of complications if done by vets who do not have a great deal of surgical expertise (sometimes more than just the thyroid gland is removed and that is bad). And if there is thyroid tissue elsewhere (not common, but it occurs) then those cats are often not that much improved. STill, most cats that undergo surgery by an experienced surgeon will ultimately be 100% cured. I do not usually recommend that route, particularly now that radiation is ony a bit more expensive but far safer....See MoreHyperthyroid Cat: Needs Second I-131!
Comments (8)Wow, that really stinks. I totally guessed he had a different problem, but being hyperthyroid is better than my guess (which was cancer). It's really rare for a cat to need a second I131 treatment, but then again it's really rare for such a young cat to become hyperT4. I suspect most older cats die of something else before having a chance to become hyperT4 again. I did a quick google scholar search and couldn't find anything about stats for younger cats and recurrence of hyperthyroidism. I did find a reference for an 8 month old hyperthyroid cat, and during my time as a tech for RadCats we treated an 18 month old cat. But nothing was written in the literature about long-term follow up for the young cat, except her became hypothyroid after treatment. And I don't know about the young guy we treated except he made it through fine and had a normal T4 the following year. As far as why he's hyperT4 again, he just grew another thyroid tumor, either a benign adenoma or a malignant carcinoma. The I131 destroys all active thyroid tissue, which in theory, is all the diseased thyroid tissue (benign or malignant, doesn't matter). However it cannot destroy *future* tumors. As far as why cats become hyperthyroid to begin with, most if the research now is focusing on environmental and food toxins. There was some research into an autoimmune problem, and some about a genetic reason, but most likely the cause is multfactorial. I went to a talk about hyperthyroidism in cats while in school, and from what I remember, she was talking about metals in fish and canning materials that suppressed thyroid tissue long-term and basically wreaked havoc on the autoregulation of thyroid hormone, eventually resulting in hyperthyroidism. The research is still on-going, and unfortunately it's hard to get grant money for it because 1) cats in general don't earn as much research money as dogs and 2) hyperthyroidism can be managed relatively easily. Here's an abstract from the AVMA journal that says cats who eat fish or giblets foods tend to be hyperT4 more than control cats: http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2000.217.853 Here's a review article about hyperthyroidism http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/11446/1/2006%20Lynn.pdf As mentioned before, methimazole can be used to suppress thyroid hormone, as long as your cat doesn't have a reaction to the medication. It's available for oral and transdermal administration. So not being able to do a 3rd I131 treatment doesn't mean your cat can't be treated. I couldn't find any specific studies done on the effect of radioactive I131 in cats. I know that having treated cats for many years, and being exposed to several doses every week, I never was even close to legal radiation limits. Of course I also never injected myself with it either! I linked a general article on I131 below; it has some references. You can also google beta particles and gamma rays for information on the type of radiation I131 produces. Only the beta particles stay in the cat, and they only penetrate up to 5mm tissue. I found another abstract regarding survival times. On the good side, cats treated with I131 live longer than cats treated with methimazole. On the bad side, the younger the cat is, the more quickly it died regardless of treatment. http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.228.4.559 Of course cats with pre-existing renal disease didn't fare too well no matter what treatment was used. I hope Basil beats the odds and has a long happy euthyroid life after this treatment....See Morelaurief_gw
13 years agoRudebekia
13 years agorivkadr
13 years agolaurief_gw
13 years agoAnne_Marie_Alb
13 years agoAnne_Marie_Alb
13 years agorivkadr
13 years agolaurief_gw
13 years agoAnne_Marie_Alb
13 years agoAnne_Marie_Alb
13 years agokentmccarl
10 years ago
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