Dear Dr. Forsythe: I’ve been having serious problems giving my cat and his pills lately. Blackie sees me and disappears for the entire night, and finding him is almost impossible. He takes tapazole twice a day (one half of a tablet morning and evening) for his elevated thyroid condition. He has had his hormone problem for over a year, and he has been increasingly stubborn and strong willed whenever he knows I’m going to give him a pill. I’d say right now I’m lucky to give him his medicine about half the time. Is there anything I can do with such a difficult animal?
Living with a pill
Dear Living with a pill: There are other forms of tapazole you can get besides a pill: the medication can be formulated into an oral liquid or a gel that you dab into the ear. But if the pet is out of site for medicating, you may want to consider having his thyroid condition treated permanently with radioactive Iodine treatment. This is a permanent – but somewhat costly – treatment offered at UC Davis which utilizes radioactive isotopes which are taken up preferentially by the abnormal thyroid tissue but ignores the normal thyroid. The treatment is locally destructive but specifically targets only the overactive thyroid tissue and destroys enough of it so that the gland returns to normal function. Radiation safety precautions require that cats remain hospitalized following their Iodine therapy until they have eliminated a majority of the radioactive Iodine from their bodies. This usually requires a hospitalization of three to seven days. This is a great treatment for feline hyperthyroidism because it involves a single nonstressful procedure and has not shown to involve significant side effects. Ninety-five percent of treated cats return to persistently normal thyroid condition and do not need medications after treatment. Perhaps this would be a good option to discuss with your doctor? Maybe this would allow you to spend more quality time with Blackie and less time chasing him around to give him a pill!
Thanks for writing, Dr. F
Dear Dr. Forsythe: I’m really worried about flea medicine after the news report again last week showing pets having seizures and dying. Is it true that this stuff is really dangerous? I’m not using anything now and wondering what to do with the fleas on my pet.
Mrs. Turfa
Dear Mrs. Turfa: Our hospital received 20 calls the day after the most recent report aired, and I was really surprised at all the hoopla the report generated. Most of the problems stem from people using the wrong sized product on the wrong species—dog products on cats, the large size product placed improperly onto a small pet. In looking more closely, the trend shows that more incidences of complication have occurred since people have purchased products on line and out of state without any established relationship or hands on help in using the medications. In some cases, people might be buying knock-off products that are packaged to look EXACTLY like Frontline or Advantage but do not contain the active ingredients or are made with different carrier ingredients to deliver the medication onto the pet.
While there are always going to be some side effects with any pet product, it really seems like this situation has been catastrophized and blown out of proportion to sensationalize and dramatize the problem. The legitimate flea and tick medication industry has reproduced – sorry, no pun – into a multi-billion dollar industry. With the contribution of high tech counterfeiter printers and the influx of scam artists infiltrating the industry, it was just a matter of time before pets started paying the price. My advice is to continue to treat your pets with veterinary approved flea and tick products. Veterinarians treat pets for these parasites to avoid all the associated problems that can come from fleas and ticks including blood diseases, allergies, tapeworms, hot spots, itching, ear problems, and more. Speak to your veterinarian about the safety of the products and how to apply them properly. Maintain the relationship you have with your doctor: he will guarantee the products for safety and purity and also show you how to apply them so you won’t have to worry. Scare tactics really just confuse and bewilder everybody and muddy the waters, so I’d get some good information from your doctor on this one.
Thanks for your question, Dr. F.
