Hyperthyroidism - Your Cat's Worst Enemy

My cats, Sparkey and Puff, were rapidly losing weight. To make matters worse Sparkey was also suffering from constant vomiting and diarrhea. Both calico cats lost the sparkle in their eyes as well as the gloss to their coats. Our once beautiful healthy cats were mere shadows of themselves.

The reason?

Hyperthyroidism, the deadly thyroid disease that had also taken the life of my little orange cat, Bart. If I had been more attentive I would have seen his skinniness or the way he couldn't keep his meals down as signs of something much more serious. Unfortunately I lost him two years ago this August. He had died of an enlarged heart due to the disease Let this be a warning to all cat parents. Catch the disease early enough with proper diagnosis and blood tests as my vet did with Sparkey and Puff.

To start with hyperthyroidism is the most common hormonal disease affecting older cats and dogs today. It starts showing up in felines ten years or older. It affects males and females, neutereds and un neutereds equally. All animals (including us) have thyroid glands. They consist of two brain like lobes located at the base of the neck. Both lobes are affected in hyperthyroidism. These glands produce the hormone thyroxine that governs the rate of the cat's metabolism. The more this is produced, the higher the animal's metabolism rate. The cat will burn off more calories thus causing the dramatic weigh loss. Excess thyroxine affects every organ in the feline body. It can cause heart enlargement (as with my cat, Bart), high blood pressure , kidney damage and internal problems. The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is the presence of hormone producing hyper functional nodules. A rarer cause is tumors in the glands themselves.