Feline Facts & Fun

I get many calls from people wanting a flea bath for their cat.As much as I would like to make the money for giving a flea bath, I prefer not to do it. Here are the reasons why, and what I suggest to people.

1. Flea bath chemicals can be very harsh and you should not use them if you are going to use other flea products on the cat or in the house.
2. After bathing, the fleas will be gone from the cat until you go back home. Fleas live in carpeting and bedding. The fleas will jump right back on after the flea bath “wears” off.
3. How do you get fleas in your house if your cat never goes outside? Fleas can come in on your clothes if you come into contact with another animal with fleas, or if you walk in the grass. Fleas can come in through a crawl space or basement. If you get any rodents in your house, such as mice or squirrels, they can be carried in. Fleas multiply quickly.
4. If you have a serious flea problem in the house, it is best to call a professional pest control company to treat for fleas. Do it yourself flea bombs are a hassle, they stink, and can be dangerous. If the flea problem is not severe, you can buy Adams Plus Flea Spray at a pet store or online. Make sure that the label states that it kills fleas, eggs, and larvae. It can be used on the premises or on the pet. Spray your carpeting, furniture, and your pet’s sleeping areas. Read directions on the bottle.
5. After the house is treated, you can buy Capstar from a pet store, online, or from your vet. One pill kills all fleas on the animal in one hour. Then start spot-on flea control on the cat. Advantage or Revolution are the two products I use. Frontline, or off the shelf fipronil products (fipronil is used in Frontline) do not work very well. Vets have told me that the fleas seem to be developing a resistance to fipronil. I have groomed several animals in which the owner uses frontline, and I have found fleas and ticks on them. I would never use a flea collar. They smell awful and burn my eyes. I can imagine it is just as awful to a cat. The seresto flea collars work, but they do not have a safety release and an animal could strangle if it snags on something. They are also expensive, and if your pet loses it outside, you are out a lot of money.
6. Whatever you choose, make sure to read the directions. Make sure you choose a product for the correct weight of your cat. NEVER use a product that is labeled for dogs on a cat. If your cat gets an overdose or has a reaction, such as vomiting, lethargy, or seizures, get him to a veterinarian immediately.
7. Once the fleas are gone, if your cat still has leftover flea dirt and debris in his coat, then is the time to have a bath with cat shampoo, not flea chemicals. Giving a flea bath while there are still fleas in the house is a waste of your time and money.
8. If your cat has had fleas, he will probably get tapeworms. Tapeworm segments look like tiny pieces of rice clinging to your cat’s butt. They get them from swallowing fleas when grooming themselves. After the flea problem is gone, you may have to deworm your cat for tapeworms. You can find tapeworm tabs in pet stores, online, or from your vet. Make sure the dose is weight appropriate and read directions.

Hyperthyroidism results from an overproduction of thyroid hormones (mainly T4) from a tumor in the thyroid gland.  This tumor, in over 97% of all cases, is a benign (non-cancerous) adenoma. To repeat, hyperthyroid patients do not have cancer except in very rare (2-3%) cases where a thyroid carcinoma is the cause of the disease.

An elevation in thyroid hormones increases the metabolic rate of the body which puts stress on the heart, kidneys, nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, liver, as well as all other organs of the body.

Think of how hard your car’s engine has to work and how much fuel it uses if you rev up the motor (increase its rpms) by stepping on the gas pedal while in neutral.

This is what is happening inside your hyperthyroid cat’s body.  Every organ system is under the negative influence of an abnormal increase in the body’s metabolism.

In the analogy above, food is your cat’s fuel and it is being used at a faster rate than normal which results in an increased hunger and weight loss.

Hyperthyroidism is eventually fatal if left untreated.

What are the signs of hyperthyroidism? 
Since elevated thyroid hormones negatively affect every organ system in the body, the clinical signs are extremely varied but include some or all of the following – with an increased appetite and weight loss being the two most common:

What are the treatment options for hyperthyroidism?
There are 4 treatment options for hyperthyroidism:

1. radioactive iodine (I-131) – the ‘gold standard‘ – cures hyperthyroidism
2. anti-thyroid medication (e.g. methimazole) – controls hyperthyroidism
3. surgery – cures hyperthyroidism
4. Hill’s y/d (a diet deficient in iodine – canned and dry)  – controls hyperthyroidism

Radioactive iodine – 131 (I-131)

Radioactive iodine is the treatment of choice for hyperthyroidism in nearly all cases. This treatment involves an injection of a very small dose of radioactive iodine that is placed just under the skin.  Because the thyroid gland heavily concentrates iodine, the thyroid tumor will be selectively destroyed.

In addition to the thyroid tumor being targeted, any other ectopic (found somewhere other than its normal location) overactive thyroid tissue will also be destroyed. This ectopic tissue is often located in the chest cavity.

A small risk (~5%) of hypothyroidism (the opposite of hyperthyroidism) exists if too much of the normal tissue is also destroyed.  These cats will need to receive thyroxine supplementation temporarily or for life.

On the flip side, a small number of cats (~5%) remain hyperthyroid (and require a second treatment) if not enough of the adenoma is destroyed or if the patient actually has a carcinoma (cancer) instead of a benign adenoma.  In the case of a carcinoma, a higher dosage of I-131 is needed to effectively treat the disease.

Anti-thyroid medication:

Methimazole (Tapazole and Felimazole)
There are many cats that do well on these drugs but side effects are not uncommon and include nausea, vomiting, and severe allergic/itchy facial skin reactions and, less frequently, life-threatening liver dysfunction, bone marrow disease, and bleeding problems.

While these drugs effectively lower the thyroid hormones and ameliorate the clinical signs of hyperthyroidism, they do not address the underlying tumor and, therefore, the tumor will continue to grow with the risk that it will become malignant cancer over time.

As the tumor continues to grow, the dosage will often need to be raised which means that the patient must be monitored with periodic blood tests for life.  The frequency will depend on the patient but as we all know, trips to the veterinarian are expensive and very stressful for the patient.

Other health factors may necessitate lowering the dosage.  Therefore, lab monitoring is very important for these patients.
At first glance, I-131 may appear to be a more expensive treatment but in many cases, it turns out to be less expensive when compared to lifelong treatment with methimazole when the cost of the medication and the continued monitoring are considered. Also, the hassle of twice-daily medication must be considered.

Surgery

Surgery to remove the thyroid adenoma has fallen out of favor since I-131 became available.  This is true for several reasons.

1. It is impossible to differentiate normal tissue from tumor tissue.  If both lobes of the gland are involved and removed, this will result in hypothyroidism necessitating lifelong treatment with thyroxine.
2. The parathyroid gland which sits right next to the thyroid gland can be damaged or accidentally removed. The parathyroid gland is critical for calcium balance in the body and if damaged or removed, serious complications, including death, can result.
3. General anesthesia is necessary which is always a risk, but even more so in an older patient with hyperthyroidism considering how many organs are negatively affected by this disease.  Severe heart disease can be present in these patients especially if they have been hyperthyroid for a long time.  Any level of heart disease will increase the risk associated with anesthesia.
4. Some hyperthyroid cats have ectopic (not in the normal location) thyroid adenoma or carcinoma tissue located in the chest cavity which the surgeon will not be able to remove.  Plus, the surgeon will not even be aware of its presence unless a thyroid scan was performed.

Iodine deficient diet
Y/d is formulated to be deficient in iodine with the simple goal of providing less ‘building material’ for the patient’s thyroid tumor and normal glandular tissue to make thyroid hormones (T3 and T4). Iodine is an important component of these hormones withT3 needing 3 iodine atoms and T4 containing 4 iodine atoms. The premise of this diet is simply to starve the thyroid gland of iodine but here is where the issue of tunnel vision’ nutrition comes into play.  In addition, the expense of the food and the ongoing blood work makes this option expensive in the long run.

While starving the thyroid gland of iodine, the entire body – including the thyroid gland itself – is also negatively affected by this deficiency.

•  y/d leaves the whole body in a state of iodine deficiency.  This is an excellent example of tunnel vision nutrition – i.e.- only paying attention to the thyroid gland, in this case, and not the rest of the body.  Safety studies have not been conducted to assess the long-term damage to the body when left in an iodine-deficient state. Most of our knowledge of iodine centers around the thyroid gland but there is strong evidence pointing to iodine as playing an important role in immune health, adrenal function, breast health, and also having antioxidant properties.
• y/d does not address the disease process (tumor) that is causing the hyperthyroidism and the tumor will continue to grow.  Therefore, it does not “restore thyroid health” as claimed. The longer the tumor is allowed to grow, the higher the chance of it becoming a malignant carcinoma.
• y/d is too low in protein for many cats especially considering the muscle-wasting state that hyperthyroid cats are already in.
• y/d is too high in carbohydrates. Note that many hyperthyroid cats have sub-clinical diabetes.  Feeding them a high carbohydrate diet could very well tip them over the edge into overt diabetes.
• dry y/d has an extremely unhealthy ingredient list for an obligate carnivore and it is water-depleted. Corn Gluten Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Whole Grain Corn, Soybean Mill Run, Dried Egg Product, L-Lysine, Chicken Liver Flavor…..
• Please read the above ingredient list with your cat’s obligate carnivore status in mind.  Also, understand that your hyperthyroid cat needs a high amount of high-quality protein since the disease is causing his body to ‘eat’ (catabolize) his own muscle mass.
• Corn is not a “high quality” protein for a carnivore.
• The patient cannot be allowed to eat any other food which means no treats of any kind.  He must eat only y/d which can pose a problem in multiple-cat households or if he suddenly stops eating the food.
• This diet cannot be fed to non-hyperthyroid cats.  Hill’s states that it can be fed to normal cats if these cats are also fed some regular food.  However, I would not subject your healthy cat to this diet with the hope that you feed enough food from another source to meet his iodine needs – especially in light of the fact that there are diets on the market that are very low in iodine – too low to furnish enough iodine to make up for the bulk of the diet being iodine-deficient.
• There is compelling scientific evidence to show that feeding an iodine-deficient diet can actually make the hyperthyroid patient worse over time.
  • When there is not enough iodine in the body, thyroid hormones decrease. This signals the pituitary gland to secrete TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone).  TSH’s action on the thyroid gland causes it to grow larger (hypertrophy/goiter).

“A recent case-control study reported that cats consuming commercial foods which were relatively deficient in iodine were more than 4 times as likely to develop hyperthyroidism compared with cats that ate iodine-supplemented foods.”

“Could y/d make this situation worse?”

…..will lowering T4 and T3 secretion in these hyperthyroid cats lead to increases in circulating TSH and continued stimulation of thyroid growth and proliferation in some cats? Will this TSH stimulation cause transformation of benign adenomatous thyroid tissue to carcinoma, as has been documented to occur in some hyperthyroid cats?

The short answer is this: we simply do not know. The long-term safety studies needed to answer this question have not yet been done.

Dr. Mark E. Peterson, DVM, DACVIM, Animal Endocrine Clinic

September 2012
Lisa A. Pierson, DVM
[email protected]

Excerpt from: Del Ray Animal Hospital
Alexandria, Va.Canned food, because of the way it is formulated and prepared, is much higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates than dry cat food, regardless of the “quality” of the brand. Obviously, it also has a much higher moisture content. Recent research is making it clear that it is nutritionally dangerous to feed cats diets that are too high in carbohydrates. This is because cats are obligate carnivores – they are designed to acquire their nutrition from meat sources. When you think of a mouse, what is it made of? It is about 45% protein, 45% fat, and less than 5% carbohydrates. It also contains a lot of water. This is what we want to feed our cats. For years we have been feeding cats dry foods (in general 35-60% carbohydrates), primarily for convenience to the owner and because grain-based carbohydrate ingredients are cheaper for manufacturers than quality meat ingredients. In fact, cats lack the enzymes necessary to efficiently convert carbohydrates into energy for storage. They are very efficient at converting protein, however. If fed too many carbohydrates, the resulting glucose produced lingers in their bloodstream for a prolonged period of time. It interferes with insulin production, lipid metabolism, and digestive system health. Cats also seem less satisfied by the calories they consume as carbohydrates. Their brains require protein by-products to get the message “I am full”. So, if fed high carbohydrate diets, they are more likely to overeat and not be satiated. Pet owners and veterinarians are now facing an epidemic of obesity and diabetes in cats that have emerged over the last 15 years because of these facts. Finally, cats are not big drinkers. While cats on dry diets will drink water, they generally take in about 1/3 less water than canned food eaters. This may well be contributing to the increased frequency of cats in our practice that suffer from urinary tract/renal disease and constipation.WHAT BRANDS SHOULD I FEED? The first thing to know, feeding ANY brand of canned cat food is probably
preferable to feeding dry food, even a premium brand. As a general guideline, we would recommend feeding a canned diet whose first 2 or 3 listed ingredients are meats, meat broths and not by-products or grains. Finding these diets can be difficult in the supermarket, so again, we say that feeding ANY canned food is better than feeding dry.The VERY IMPORTANT EXCEPTION is canned foods with cornstarch, food starch, or cellulose. Make sure you look for these on the label so as to avoid these high carbohydrate ingredients. We would recommend that any diet chosen have received AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) approval; this should be noted on the label.

My cats do not go out, but I still vaccinate them. I will tell you some very good reasons why. Your cat might escape to the great outdoors and could come into contact with a sick stray or even an unvaccinated neighbor’s cat that is sick.

Your cat might even go nose to nose with a sick cat through a window screen.

Bats do get into homes, and bats are common carriers of rabies and you know how much cats like to catch things that fly.

A rabid raccoon or another wild animal might get into your home. I read a news article about a man who opened his door to get the newspaper and a rabid raccoon rushed in and attacked his dog. Luckily, the dog was vaccinated and the owner did not get bitten.

If you have to board your cat, kennels and groomers want to see a record of vaccination. Ok, so maybe your neighbor watches your cat when you are out of town, but what if there is a house fire or flood? You may have to get the cat out of the house until you can move back into your home. Most insurance companies will pay for pet boarding in the event of a disaster. Also, keep in mind that it takes a couple of weeks for the vaccine to build up immunity. Do NOT wait until the day before boarding to vaccinate your cat, because it takes time for immunity to build up.

If your cat becomes ill and needs a trip to the veterinarian, there may be a sick cat in the waiting room, or even hospitalized. Some viruses are transmitted in the air, some by transfer from hands or surfaces, and some by direct contact. Also, most vets require that your pets be vaccinated, and it is not a good idea to vaccinate a sick animal. It is the law that pets be vaccinated for rabies.

Why risk it? The feline distemper virus (panleukopenia) is horrible. It is a parvovirus like a virus that can infect dogs. It spreads from cat to cat rapidly and can be fatal in a very short time. Calicivirus is another virus that can be fatal. Feline herpes virus is forever, and your cat will periodically break out with herpes virus once he has been infected. It causes sneezing, runny eyes, and can progress to a bacterial infection. The chlamydia virus affects the eyes and causes runny eyes and can lead to bacterial infection. And of course, we all know about the dangers of rabies. Rabies is always fatal and can be transmitted to humans and other animals through bite wounds.

After the first rabies vaccine, the next one given one year later won’t have to be repeated for three years. The distemper vaccine (FVRCP) can be repeated every two years after initial vaccine and boosters. If your vet insists on every year vaccines, ask the vet if he follows the vaccine recommendations of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Although allergic vaccine reactions are rare, always keep a close eye on your cat for at least an hour after vaccination. If you see drooling, coughing, vomiting, diarrhea, dilated pupils, or any sign of stress, immediately call your vet and bring your cat in. Reactions can happen up to 24 hours after vaccination, however, it is usually less severe if it happens after the first hour. Your cat might not seem to feel good and possibly not eat the day after vaccination but this is normal. If it lasts more than a day though, contact your vet immediately.

If your cat does go outside, he should also be vaccinated for feline leukemia. Unfortunately, the FIV vaccine for a feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV feline aids) is not thought to be reliable, so you are still putting your cat at risk if you let him outside.