Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Rob Davis — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 14:32:51 GMT

[quote user="villagevet"]

Strangely enough - not only do we not see hypert4 cats despite testing, we have also had one cat revert to normal a couple of years after moving into the area from the UK; we were running bloods for kidney levels as he was doing less well than previously and were advised to withold his meds by lab! Hills have also reported a very poor sale of y/d in the area as well as reps reporting poor drug sales so it seems it's not just us that are missing it!

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Where are you? We see lots in Suffolk.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Lindsey Edwards — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 19:15:36 GMT

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 16:47:32 GMT

[quote user="Iain Richards"]Not blind, just ignorant![/quote]It's lost in the mists of time so I may have been just as ignorant but I don't recall the Eureka moment. From 1977 the practices I worked in had their own labs and were very progressive so we did attempt to test for more than just renal disease!!

I do however recall the time FIV was first recognised and thought back to all the cats I was convinced had FeLV but tested negative and wondered if that is what it really was. Not to mention CPV of course.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Iain Richards — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 14:52:06 GMT

In 1989, bloods were used only to convince an owner of renal failure and the cat needed PTS. My 1987 copy of Feline Med and Therapeutics has the phrase, "only recently been recognised". It was only in my third practice in 1992, that I heard of it as a clinical entity.
Not blind, just ignorant!

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 09:01:38 GMT

[quote user="MartinH1"]I had a strange thought today after watching a Chernobyl documentary...is there a chance the the increase in HyperT is related to radioactivity of feline food intake increasing in the mid 80s? [/quote]I had already postulated this theory but it did also coincide with a period of great enlightenment in feline medicine: we discovered FIV; cats got heart disease and cats got OA which they never did before. But if it was due to Chernobyl fallout then surely we would be expecting a gradual reduction in cases now and wouldn't we be seeing the condition in other species?

[quote user="Iain Richards"]As others have said, I wonder about all those skinny cats I treated for assumed renal failure in the late 80s.[/quote]Sorry Iain but I think you and these 'others' you speak of must have been pretty blind then as the symptoms are different and/or, you/they, clearly never did any blood tests. I could forgive someone for thinking it was liver failure given ALP and ALT are nearly always raised, even though they would hardly have been polyphagic with that, but not renal disease.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Iain Richards — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 08:09:37 GMT

At the back of my dusty mind is the potential damage from Polychlorated Biphenols (PCB). These compounds are known to have an impact on fish and marine mammal endocrinology and may be present in plastic bowls. I'll did my notes out at some point.
It could just be that cats live longer and we see an old age failing/overreactive gland. As others have said, I wonder about all those skinny cats I treated for assumed renal failure in the late 80s.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Martin Hamilton — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 04:12:46 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

I was under the impression that feeding tuna was considered a risk factor. As it is at the top of the food chain (just below us!) it was believed that concentrated heavy metals/chemicals etc may have been a factor.

[/quote]

I had a strange thought today after watching a Chernobyl documentary...is there a chance the the increase in HyperT is related to radioactivity of feline food intake increasing in the mid 80s? Probably not...

Very out there thought, and I know correlation =/= causation.

Otherwise I have no idea, as I wasn't even a thought back in the 80s

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

David Mills — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 01:04:12 GMT

All felines are female.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Lucy Fleming — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 17:46:00 GMT

[quote user="ebedford"]Thanks for the comments! I think I'll go for the water fountain, which I'm sure will be dutifully ignored.[/quote]

The feline inverse economics rule... the more you paid for something, the less likely they are to eat/use/play with it.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

bevs2251 — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 00:46:03 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]

[quote user="bevs2251"]None of my Burmese/Burmese crosses developed it (all succumbed to renal failure) - not a susceptible breed, apparently.[/quote]I have seen Burmese cats with hyper T4, including 2 in one household which were related.

** UK genetics ? Aussie feline specialist Richard Malik told me years ago that Burmese don't develop hyperT4. Saw loads in Siamese but not so much these days as this breed is not so popular any more.

[quote user="bevs2251"]Saw loads of polyphagic/polydypsic/polyuric cats BITD (1980s) - we diagnosed them as EPI cases and put them onto Pancrex (pancreatic enzyme) supplements. Guess these were all hyperT4. Think EPI is rare in cats.[/quote]Chronic pancreatitis is very common in older cats and often missed, but not sure how many develop into EPI. Not so sure about pp/pd/pu cats being missed as hyper T4 but I suspect a lot of cats with elevated liver enzymes were mis-diagnosed as hepatitis.

** Agree re chronic pancreatitis in old cats but suspect they would be more likely to have a capricious appetite rather than polyphagia.

[quote user="bevs2251"] Saw quite a few ATE cases too - also likely secondary to hyperT4. [/quote]More specifically due to HCM caused by hyperthyroidism.

Exactly - missed a step !

[/quote]

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

ebedford — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 22:48:31 GMT

Thanks for the comments! I think I'll go for the water fountain, which I'm sure will be dutifully ignored.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Bob Russell — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 10:19:34 GMT

At one stage it was recommended that pregnant mums to be restricted their tuna intake. This seems to have been overturned by later work!

We see a fair number here.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 09:57:15 GMT

[quote user="bevs2251"] Saw quite a few ATE cases too - also likely secondary to hyperT4. [/quote]More specifically due to HCM caused by hyperthyroidism.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Julie Innes — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:57:21 GMT

Interesting discussion!

We see lots of hyperthyroid cats here, including our 20 year old mad surgery cat. Who ironically enough has decided this week that he will no longer eat out of ceramic bowls, only plastic . Thinking about it though I think I actually used to see more hyperthyroid cats a few years ago.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

bevs2251 — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 05:11:54 GMT

Relatively common in Australia - I have owned 3 cats myself with hyperthyroidism over the last 20 years. Last one has been fed Hills diets only from 3 months of age. None of my Burmese/Burmese crosses developed it (all succumbed to renal failure) - not a susceptible breed, apparently.

Saw loads of polyphagic/polydypsic/polyuric cats BITD (1980s) - we diagnosed them as EPI cases and put them onto Pancrex (pancreatic enzyme) supplements. Guess these were all hyperT4. Think EPI is rare in cats. Saw quite a few ATE cases too - also likely secondary to hyperT4.

I'd say we missed out on most of the I131 fallout from Chernobyl here. Fire retardants and fish diets have been blamed. Our cats do get a bit of human tinned tuna as a treat so maybe that contributed (3 out of 8). One of the first vets here to do radioactive iodine 131 Rx thought diet was a major factor, especially diets with lots of fish.

I wonder if Greek cats get hyperT4 as they seem to live on fresh fish, or don't they live long enough to develop it ?

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Rob Loxley — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 19:00:04 GMT

[quote user="Joyce Whitehead"]Yes I've had reps say that in some areas the practices sell loads of hyperthyroid meds, we have very little, and it isn’t because we don’t test. I’ve had a few cats I was convinced were thyroid issues which turned out not to be. So I think there must be some environmental issue as well. [/quote]

And we have a number of clients whose different cats have all gone on in turn to develop hyperthyroidism

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Joyce Whitehead — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 18:26:06 GMT

Yes I've had reps say that in some areas the practices sell loads of hyperthyroid meds, we have very little, and it isn’t because we don’t test. I’ve had a few cats I was convinced were thyroid issues which turned out not to be. So I think there must be some environmental issue as well.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Lindsey Edwards — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 18:22:44 GMT

It also seems to be highly geographical - in areas where cattle suffer iodine deficiency symptms such as west of Ireland, hyperthyroid cats are rare (even where mostly indoor/fed commercial diets compared with indoor-outdoor hunters in urban areas also snacking on rodents etc)

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 11:07:29 GMT

The most suspicious environmental factor AFAIA is the fire retardant chemicals in household furnishing there is an epidemiological link to that. There is also some weight in Richards theory about contaminated fish as cats fed on diets high in fish are statistically more likely to develop hyperthyroidism.

My personal conspiracy theory is that the incidence of hyperthyroidism increased after the radioactive cloud from the Chernobyl disaster spewed I131 across Europe.

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Emily Rainbow — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 22:41:31 GMT

[quote user="Jill Butterworth"]

I PhD was offered at the RVC some years back looking into the epidemiology of hyperthyroidism and exposure to dioxins as environmental thyroid disruptors by proximity to incinerator sites. I'm assuming that didn't go anywhere or we would have heard about it?

[/quote]

ive been in a lecture where it’s been discussed but I can’t remember where!

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark_Peterson11/publication/232534900_Hyperthyroidism_in_Cats_What%27s_causing_this_epidemic_of_thyroid_disease_and_can_we_prevent_it/links/0deec52acf4c452c66000000/Hyperthyroidism-in-Cats-Whats-causing-this-epidemic-of-thyroid-disease-and-can-we-prevent-it.pdf

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Sarah Keir — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 21:43:09 GMT

To OP, associative links are not causative links. Otherwise, as Hal Thompson once said, if you drink iron-bru your dog will get parvo!

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Jill Butterworth — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 17:53:05 GMT

A PhD was offered at the RVC some years back looking into the epidemiology of hyperthyroidism and exposure to dioxins as environmental thyroid disruptors by proximity to incinerator sites. I'm assuming that didn't go anywhere or we would have heard about it?

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Anthony Todd — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 15:13:31 GMT

[quote user="Clare Tapsfield-Wright"]

How interesting! I always thought I must have missed themin the early eighties and thought they were renal failure cases.At that time wet food prevailed apart from the odd catbisxuits like Gocat.

[/quote]

Er, yes, at least one, and that was with a negative azostix as well.... Classic signs, but nobody thought of it BITD.

First one, and most of them, until we all caught on, was in NW5 and we blamed it on the trains secretly carrying radioactive waste through the area.

Wasn't common, y'see.

Has the incidence changed in the last 50 odd years and, if so, why?

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Noweia — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 12:58:53 GMT

I think someone was postulating the link between fire retardents in furniture and feline hyperthyroidism, not sure if this ever came to anything?

RE: Hyperthyroidism and plastic bowls

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 11:58:25 GMT

How interesting! I always thought I must have missed themin the early eighties and thought they were renal failure cases.At that time wet food prevailed apart from the odd catbisxuits like Gocat.