Cats
Hyperthyroidism: Why Your Senior Cat Is Ravenous but Shrinking
The classic picture
A senior cat with a huge appetite who keeps losing weight, drinks more, races around like a kitten with anxiety, yowls at night, and sports an unkempt coat. An overactive thyroid is revving their metabolism into the red.
Why treat it
Untreated hyperthyroidism strains the heart, drives high blood pressure, and masks kidney disease. It feels like energy but it's a body burning itself. A simple blood test at any senior checkup catches it.
Four treatment paths
Daily medication (pills or ear gel) controls it affordably; radioactive iodine treatment cures most cats permanently at specialty centers; prescription low-iodine diets manage it when nothing else fits; surgery is less common now. Your vet will match the option to your cat and budget.
After treatment
Weight returns, the midnight opera quiets, and many owners realize how ill their cat had been. Because treatment can unmask hidden kidney disease, follow-up bloodwork matters — managed well, hyperthyroid cats routinely enjoy years of good life.
If the day is coming
Ease The Paw coordinates in-home pet euthanasia across South Africa — we find and book the vet, arrange the cremation and handle the keepsakes, so you can simply be present. A flat R950 covers the coordination and your keepsake memorial; the vet and cremation are billed separately at their own rates.
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