These are my experiences, observations, and opinions and should never take the place of a professional veterinarian physical exam and consultation.

My experience of dealing with feline hyperthyroidism, HIV, and Allergies.

I would like to start by saying that I don’t have the heart to limit my cat’s freedom that they have known and enjoyed their entire lives which now exceeds over 11 years for Cody. I tried keeping them indoors for the betterment of their health but ultimately they are back to going outside.

Believe it or not any disease that a human can have our pets can have it too. Cats and dogs are highly prone to diabetes, heart failure, kidney failure, hyperthyroidism, etc… When we bought our house it came fully loaded with a premium package of feral kitties and one of those kitties decided he was going to move in with us and he is now known as Loki. We quickly learned that he has several food and environmental allergies and after two outbreaks and visits to the vet for corticosteroid injections I made the decision to begin the processes of auto immunotherapy injections. I personally suffer from many food and environmental allergies myself and have undergone the same injection treatment processes. Then came the news that Cody is suffering from a mild hyperthyroidism and feline HIV. My initial treatment regimen is to change Cody’s diet before pursuing the iodine radiation treatment. Now begins the journey to find a food that both Cody and Loki can eat. Loki can’t have barley, corn, tuna, and Cody can’t have foods high in iodine.

I will not take the time to discuss the pathophysiology of feline hyperthyroidism, allergies, or HIV. There is a plethora of great information out there for your leisurely reading and I will focus in more on treatment options I am taking and plan on utilizing and some of the signs and symptoms which alerted me to the issues.

Feline Hyperthyroidism

In August of 2017 I started to that Cody was eating and meowing all the time for food and was over eating and vomiting multiple times a day while continuing to lose weight but what was most troublesome was the combination of how much weight he lost (5 lbs) and how quickly he started to pee in random locations throughout the house. All of these behaviors were serious red flags and him telling me that something was wrong so off to the vet we went.

5 LBS is a huge percentage of a cats body weight and you should take them to the vet immediately!!!! I discovered that Cody is in the early phase of hyperthyroidism and hasn’t sustained any secondary health issues related to the hyperthyroidism. It is common for more serious and severe health issues such as muscle wasting and kidney failure to arise if these early symptoms of hyperthyroidism go unchecked. Cats with renal failure and other health issues will require more specialized diets.

• The material of the can of food
• Rancidity
• High concentrated fish by products
• PBDE’s which are fire retardant chemicals which are found in some fish and house dust.
• And soy which is known as a disruptor of thyroid gland function. (“Feline Hyperthyroidism,” n.d.)

Diets should contain 50-60% protein, 5-10% carbohydrates, and 30-50% fat (“Insights into Veterinary Endocrinology,” 2011).

Feline Iodine Radiation Treatment

After unsuccessful attempts with diet change Cody continued to have elevated T4 cell counts and his hyperthyroidism wasn’t coming down. The vet offered multi daily oral pill treatment and routine follow up blood draws to determine the efficacy. After doing my own research I discovered that there was another form of treatment with Radioactive Iodine 131. I found a veterinarian within an hours drive that performs the procedure and I had my vet send Cody’s medical records there for review. We were able to have him seen and treated with a one time treatment of the iodine 131.  

Cody had to stay in their custody while his urine output was radioactive for around 5 to seven days. After we brought him home we were told not to let him sit on our laps for more than 15 minutes a day and to not let him sleep at the head of our bed at night for two weeks. Nothing in our paper work mentioned anything about how to handle his cat litter. So after a little more research we decided to keep all of the cat litter in a 5 gallon isolation bucket for 80 days to off gas before putting it into our street side trash bin.

Stopping Cody from sleeping with us was impossible and it was even more difficult to stop him from sleeping on our heads but I managed by gently hitting him with a small $5.00 decorative pillow or picking him up and moving him to the foot of the bed. We are now two months after his treatment and he has gained his body weight back but his muscle just isn’t there and I don’t know if this is due to his aging process or the disease. FYI: Once a muscle dies or wastes away it can’t grow back. So if a human body or an animals body starts to break down muscle for energy then it is called “muscle wasting” and that muscle is forever gone.    

He has become a much pickier eater since his treatment and I have to watch him much closer for symptoms of hypothyroidism. Recently he has posed a few hunger strikes and refused to eat the various foods I have on hand for him. This morning for instance I became desperate for him to eat and shredded cooked chicken into his breakfast. Otherwise he is back to his full hearty, demanding, king of the house ways!

Feline HIV and the Outdoors

Cody is in his geriatric years and there is no way for me to know how long he has been HIV positive. After much reading and research on the issue and being a professional nurse I made clinical judgment decision that I will allow Cody to continue to go outside. I learned that there is little to no evidence to support keeping HIV positive cats indoors other than the prevention of spreading the disease and the assumption that by letting him go outside he is at higher risk for contracting a disease. I came to realize that;

#1. If Cody is immune compromised, his immune system is no longer working for him, then any disease that is outdoors will be indoors because Loki goes outside and the recirculated air indoors has a higher concentration level of pollutants.

#2. I understand that the main concern is that he will contract a cold or other disease from another cat and his immune system won’t be able to fight it off and this is why he is only allowed outside with supervision and for short periods of time.

#3.  He is happier going outside to nap in the warmth of the sun and at his age of 11+ years I am not going to take that away from him now.

Feline Environmental and Food Allergies

I first noticed that Loki had quit a few scabs on his back and his incessant licking and biting turned into missing patches of fur that turned into scabs. We didn’t know he was suffering from allergies and tried using a cat suit and deterrent sprays that of course failed because those things were never meant to help allergy suffering cats. I suspected food allergies to be the culprit and changed his diet. Long story short a few vet visits later we finally now understand that Loki is allergic to venison, corn, barley, tuna fish as well as an exceedingly long list of environmental allergens.

I decided to treat Loki with immunotherapy shots, which may continue for the rest of his life, so that he may continue to go outside and live a relatively normal life. The shots are liquid and made up of carefully measured allergens and are slowly introduced into his immune system via subcutaneous injections. The injections start out as a low dose and increase rapidly over the first month as his immune system is allowed to interact and create antibodies to the allergens.

When I had Lokie tested for allergies I received a very thorough PDF and print out of all the  foods that would potentially be safe for him. I cross referenced the recommended foods for Loki to the foods listed by another blogger with a hyperthyroid kitty and she found to be safe such as weruva, versus, evo, and wilderness (Best Food Choices for Hyperthyroid Cats, 2011). I finally broke down and stopped shopping at the crappy pet smart which I only shopped at due to a lack of better options and turned my attention to a healthier local pet store that caters to high end pet products and foods that is just slightly out of the way.

I have started using Grizzly Bear Salmon oil for the Omega 3 to help Loki’s skin and coat. I also have switched to using insulin syringes which are 1mL dosed syringes but say “units” on them instead. So that translates to 4 units being 0.4mL. I switched because Loki seemed to be in pain when I would use the 25g syringes and would try and bite me.

Specialty Foods

With my list of foods in hand I headed to the Animal Park Marketplace. I decided on replacing the cat’s wet food with dehydrated raw food and during the day they have the choice of eating dry kibble. Unfortunately none of the foods that were on my list were found at the store but other viable options were available. I

It is important to watch for negative reactions in your cat such as difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, gas, inflamed red gums, uncontrollable biting and missing patches of fur. It is important that you follow the instructions provided by your vet in recognizing and treating negative reactions. My vet did not give me any instructions and it is not mentioned in the instruction manual that came with the vials of treatment what to do in the event of a negative reaction. Please consult your veterinarian but always note where your emergency veterinarian clinic is located and have their 24 hour phone number available.

To recap we want foods that are high in protein, low in fish, low in carbohydrates, no soy, no corn, no barley, no tuna. I want the food to promote healthy coats, low intestinal gas, low gastric esophageal reflux, and healthy natural sources of ingredients.

Raw food is not encouraged for HIV+ kitties but I buy the food that is dehydrated and poses little to no risk of introducing live bacteria that could otherwise attack or introduce live bacteria to an autoimmune deficient cat.

• Primal freeze dried nuggets
• Orijen kibble
• Wellness Healthy Indulgence
• Nature’s Variety Homestyle
• Taste of the wild canyon river formula
• Blue wilderness chicken and turkey formulas
• Addiction
• EVO
• GO!

Stores like Pet Smart are not a good source of these pet products and you may have to look elsewhere such as whole foods or new seasons but their products will be vastly limited as well. Another option is that you can go to the company’s web site such as Taste of the wild and do a distributor search for local vendors.

All the high end quality pet stores that we have shopped at over the years offer;

• Sample sizes of their products
• And allow for any food that your pet doesn’t like to be returned and exchanged

We still need to have Cody re tested and keep a close eye on his blood levels and symptoms.

Loki is a month into his immunotherapy treatments and is nearly complete with his first vial but he is showing increased signs of allergic reaction, missing patches of fur and skin lesions. Which prompted me to back off of the dosing strength and consult the Veterinarian. I discussed the decision with the vet who unfortunately was unfamiliar with this treatment regiment and had to call for advice from the pharmaceutical company. Ultimately my treatment decision was confirmed to be correct. I haven’t introduced any new foods and am left to conclude that this is a reactionary response to the treatment. I will try to update this as things progress.

Current Status

Update: 11/15/17: after taking Loki to the vet we stopped the immunotherapy to back off the dosing and allow his skin lesions to heal. When I restart the dosing it is as I suspected and I will be restarting the treatment from nearly the beginning.

3?23/18: My vets are a bit discouraging in the fact that I have had to help introduce them to Loki’s immunotherapy treatment and Cody’s Iodine 131 treatment. I restarted Loki’s immnotherapy from bottle one, day one, and giving injections every other day x 6 days per dose. We are now on 0.4mL.

The vets keep saying “Don’t worry its going to get worse before it gets better” when I mention my concerns with Loki’s self inflicting skin lesions. This last month when it felt like spring my allergies kicked into high gear and i was miserable and Loki started to exhibit self inflicted skin lesions again. I can only assume that he was also suffering from the early season allergies which have since subsided for both of us. His wounds are healing and I continue to give him the Salmon Omega 3 vitamin in his food. I also give him one daily dose or half tab of a 10 mg of Zyrtec (5 mg once a day).

Cody has shown signs of improving!

References

Feline Hyperthyroidism. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://catinfo.org/feline-hyperthyroidism/#What_are_the_causes_of_hyperthyroidism_

Insights into Veterinary Endocrinology: The Best Diet to Feed Hyperthyroid Cats. (2011, September 13). Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/2011/09/best-diet-to-feed-hyperthyroid-cats.html