Mill Road Vet Hospital / Tuesday, 27 June 2017

“Mouse” Poot

This story is dear to our hearts: Mouse belonged to vets & practice owners Didier & Julie.

Like builder’s houses, vet’s animals are often the last to get sorted out! At 13 ½ years of age, Julie & Didi had been aware that Mouse was eating like the proverbial horse but losing weight despite it, for some time. She was bright & energetic though, so for months things never got past the “we must run some blood tests on Mouse” stage.

Eventually the eminent arrival of the VSG medical specialist spurred them in to doing a blood test, and as they suspected, Mouse was diagnosed as hyperthyroid.

Hyperthyroidism is a common endocrine (hormonal) condition of older cats. It is caused by a benign growth of the thyroid gland, which causes an over-production of thyroid hormone.

The classic symptoms are weight loss despite a voracious appetite and often hyperactivity and restlessness. Chronic vomiting and diarrhoea, poor coat and various other signs can be seen. Most seriously, hyperthyroidism leads to heart disease and increased blood pressure, which can cause heart failure, sudden blindness or sudden death.

Mouse’s bloods ruled out other concurrent disease. (We are always particularly concerned with checking for kidney insufficiency, which of course is also common in old cats and complicates treatment options.)

The treatment options for hyperthyroidism at the time were lifelong oral medication, surgical removal of the affected thyroid gland(s) or radioactive iodine treatment. (Subsequently another treatment has become available- see below *)

Despite belonging to 2 vets, Mouse is almost impossible to tablet, so that option was immediately ruled out. Thyroidectomy is associated with various risks, both surgical and anaesthetic, due to the heart disease seen with this condition, and has largely gone out of favour. Radioactive iodine treatment is the safest and most effective treatment. This is accomplished by a simple subcutaneous (under the skin) injection of radioactive iodine, which selectively destroys the affected tissue. The only real problem with this treatment is that the patient becomes radioactive for a few weeks! For this reason the treatment must be carried out in a special facility.

So it was off to Auckland for Mouse! The Veterinary Specialist Group has a purpose-built facility for the treatment of hyperthyroid cats. She was admitted, treated and kept in isolation for a week.

For another week after coming home she had to be considered a slight radiation risk, so was not allowed prolonged close contact. This was the hardest part of the whole process really: convincing her she wasn’t allowed to sleep on the bed!

Post treatment blood tests 2 months later confirmed a normal thyroid level and she was quickly back to her normal old self. Mouse went on to enjoy another 5 years of active, happy life and was tragically killed on the road at the ripe old age of 18.

* Since Mouse was treated for her feline hyperthyroidism, Hills have developed a prescription diet that treats the condition. This can be a great option for many cats. For more information see “A new treatment for Hyperthyroidism”