I would like to take my 18 yr old cat off Tapozole for hyper-thyroidism.
She’s been on it for about 2 yrs.-her age concerns me tho she is
doing fine. Shes only thin-is this possible?
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I would like to take my 18 yr old cat off Tapozole for hyper-thyroidism.
She’s been on it for about 2 yrs.-her age concerns me tho she is
doing fine. Shes only thin-is this possible?
I wouldn’t recommend it, unless your cat is having a particular problem with the Tapazole. Even patients with concurrent kidney disease still need to have their thyroid treated if it is diseased, albeit that a doctor has to be more careful in balancing the needs of the 2 affected organs. In my experience, clients who took their cats off the Tapazole without a good medical reason ended up losing their pet to the advancing symptoms that hyperthyroidism causes. If you have any concerns, you should bring these up with your veterinarian and have her/him run laboratory work to screen for the potential complications for which you are concerned. Good luck.
Manhattan Beach Animal Hospital
Manhattan Beach, CA
If you take her off Tapazole without doing either surgery to remove the diseased thyroid, or radioactive iodine treatment, she will progressively get thinner and eventually die from starvation. If Tapazole is controlling her symptoms with minimum side effects, I would leave her on it.
Mack L. Barney, DVM
Barney & Russum Animal Clinic
Fairfield, CA 94533
She is only doing fine because she’s on the Tapazole.
Iodine 131 is an alternative.
Philip McHugh, DVM
Park Veterinary Hospital
Durham, NC 27713
Just some things that I have noticed from treating hyperT4 cats is that if you stop the medication, the clinical signs will come back and the levels will come back up again. If there are no side effects to the Tapazole, why would you want to stop it? I know the pet’s age is a concern, but have you also considered radioactive Iodine treatment so that you could go off the oral medication?
Mark Helvie, DVM
Dahlonega Veterinary Hospital