I'm hoping someone on here might have some experience they can share with me...

My cat was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid last Friday. I took her to the vets because she was urinating a lot, nagging for food and had lost weight (she'd gone from 4.5 kg to 3.3 kg in two months).

The vet gave her special food (Hills Prescription Diet y/d Thyroid Health) and told me to make sure she had food available at all times... the theory is the cat self-treats by eating as much food as is necessary to control the thyroid problem.

The vet also said what should happen is that Tabitha should put on weight, and then stabilise, and that she would probably eat a huge amount at first and then that would stabilise back to her normal amount.

So I've been putting plenty of food out and keeping track of how much she eats and today I weighed her again... and her weight has gone down to 2.8 kg - that's a loss of 500g since last Friday. I'm not used to worrying about her loosing weight... but this is concerning me.

Does anyone else have any experience of treating an overactive thyroid this way? Does it take a while for the food to take effect?

Thanks in advance for any advice / reassurance.

I think my cat has a thyroid problem - but he claims he just has big bones

Yes, but how much has she been eating? More than 500g? I'd give it another couple of days and then get the vet to check her again. It could be something else - like cancer. Our cat lost weight before she was diagnosed, but she wasn't eating much at all so not quite the same symptoms. But our vet did miss it the first time we took her in and only found it when he investigated a bit more.

This in fact is absolutely worrying. I'd bring her back to the vet or - better - make the vet come to my place.

I know by experience that in case of need it's difficult to make a cat eat. But half a kilo less in 6 days is terrible.

Does she have sufficient water?

In my experience, the cat will need a medication that need to be adjusted to his condition.

I doubt that the special food is precise enough. Also, if your cat is not eating enough, it will not get the right amount of medication.

And yes, your cat need to be rechecked. If he gets it, the medication should work pretty fast.

We 'inherited' a 21 year old cat with a thyroid problem during the six months we were living in Boston but she was on medication. I think it's quite difficult to get an a accurate dose with the hormone added to the food as it's hard to control how much the cat eats.

Our biggest fear was that the cat would die whilst we were looking after her ( although the owners.knew it was a real possibility and wouldn't have blamed us) but fortunately she lived until we left and her owners returned and a further 6 months after that. She was 22 when she died and had been on medication for about 7 years.

Hi

I have been reading up on this on seeing your post as my cat had thyroid problems and we had to give him tablets to suppress his thyroid. It looks like the Hill's food is a new development and it is offered as a 4th option in the treatment of hyperthyroid. The weight loss your cat is suffering makes me worried you need a more aggressive form of treatment and fast. Please go back to your vet or to another one for a second opinion.

Thank you for the replies and advice everyone...

Am feeling greatly relieved as I'd decided to ring the vets this morning, and before doing so I decided just to check Tabitha's weight again - and she weighed in at 3.7kg, which is an increase of 400g from last Friday! (She's eaten 480g of food so that seems about right). I double-checked and got the same results both times.

I can only assume that I mis-read the scales yesterday or got my sums wrong... which is rather embarrassing but I'd rather have to admit I'm mathematically challenged than to have a lot of worry over my cat.

So panic over... and the food seems to be working for her. I was only offered food or a cream to rub inside her ears and I opted for the food as getting Tabitha to sit still while I applied the cream would have been a challenge... but getting her to eat is not. Although surprisingly (considering she has a history of greediness) she hasn't been eating everything I put down - after the first day when she ate 150g of food she's now settled at around 80g per day.

So thanks for all the advice... and next time I will double-check her weight before getting into a flap.

Good news Vlh22. Hope things settle down now and she's okay.