Living with hyperthyroidism

Hi there, Billy here. I just thought I’d write to let you know what’s been going on with me just recently.  

Mum told me that she’s written a piece on hyperthyroidism in cats which you can find in the Feline Fitness section but she asked if I’d like to write about what it’s like for me to live with this very big long word thingy.

I have always liked my food and to be honest, if the truth be known, I have always been a little bit greedy. Whereas Ollie and Sam will go absolutely hours and hours between meals, I like to have something more or less every four hours or so with a snack thrown in between for good measure. I always have wet food and there are always ‘sweeties’ (complete dry food) in a dispenser near my food bowl, so if ever Mum is out for any length of time and I feel a mite peckish, I can raid the ‘sweeties’ dish.

But just recently I’ve been a bit grumpy and although Sam hasn’t done anything towards me that warrants my behaviour back to him, I like to thump him if he comes near me. Sometimes, I’ll even run after him and jump on his back and then when he turns around to give me ‘what for’ I have to run away. Mum says this is out of character and she noted it down in the file (Mum’s brain) for future reference.

Something else I’ve been doing lately which has worried the pants off Mum is losing weight. When I got pancreatitis two years ago, I was very poorly indeed and it was touch and go whether I would survive and I lost a lot of weight then. I’ve never really picked up from that despite eating quite well and now I only weigh 3 kilos which is about 6 pounds. Mum said that I’m very skinny now and weigh little more than a youngish kitten.

And I cry a lot. If she’s upstairs on the computer and I’m downstairs and I want something to eat I keep crying and wailing like I haven’t eaten in Y-E-A-R-S. I cry out at night as well although Mum is sensible and doesn’t come down to see what I want. I don’t mean to cry but it just happens and it’s very loud – frightens me sometimes – and Mum’s neighbour spoke to her the other day and said he could hear me yelling.

So Mum added up all these different things and coupled with an article she read about hyperthyroidism, she took me to see Kevin, our vet. He didn’t think it was that because I don’t have a swelling (a goitre) on my thyroid glands and my heart wasn’t racing which are, apparently, classic symptoms, but he took some blood from me just the same.

He rang Mum back a few days later and told her that she was right: it IS hyperthyroidism and Mum was upset because it’s a serious illness. She went back to see Kevin and he gave her some little pink pills which I have to have once a day. At first she put one in my breakfast because she knows I am very hungry first thing in the morning and she thought that I’d be so hungry, I’d just gulp my food down without noticing the little pink pill lurking in there somewhere. Hah! I fooled her! I saw it and ate around it!

So then she took the soggy pill out of my food bowl and wrapped me up in a tea towel and tried to put it in my mouth. She gave me a lovely big cuddle afterwards (she’s a great cuddler, is Mum) but once she put me down on the floor and she started doing her exercises, she noticed the little pink pill on the edge of the carpet. Hah! Fooled her again!

She picked up what was left of the pill and wrapped me in the tea towel again and tried again. I must have had a blind moment because I didn’t realise what she was doing and before I knew it, I’d swallowed the darn thing! She’s cunning and clever, is our Mum. And that is what we do every day. She lets me eat my breakfast and then I go through the rigmarole of being wrapped in a tea towel while she tries to put the pill in my mouth and I pretend that I’ve swallowed it so after the cuddle and she lets me get down, I spit it out! And then we try again.

At the moment I don’t feel any different. It takes about 3 weeks for the pink pills to start working and I know Mum is hoping that I will put on some more weight and stop fighting with Sam. She also hopes that my appetite will slow down and I’ll actually enjoy what I’m eating rather than eating like there’ll be no tomorrow and then throwing up everywhere. When she gets up in the morning with that sleepy one eye open, one eye shut thing going on, she has trodden in my sick on numerous occasions. Not a good start to the day for anyone, really!

I’ll keep you posted how things go. I know you’ll be thinking of me but if any of you also have hyperthyroidism, perhaps you’ll write to let me know how you’re getting on and what treatment you’re having. We can support each other.

See you later, Sam’s just come into the office and I have an uncontrollable urge to thump the living daylights out of him!

Love Billy xxxxx 

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