Hill’s Pet Nutrition updates thyroid health cat food guidelines

Hill’s Pet Nutrition released an updated set of guidelines and algorithms for veterinarians managing a cat's  hyperthyroid conditions with its Prescription Diet y/d Feline Thyroid Health pet food. 
Prescription Diet y/d Feline must be the only food eaten by the feline patient, Hill’s says, because consuming any other food or treats will decrease or prevent the cat food’s beneficial effects.
S. Dru Forrester, DVM, director of scientific and technical communication for Hill’s, says veterinarians should first perform a clinical examination on the feline patient, checking for signs such as weight loss, polyphagia, hyperactivity, polyuria, polydipsia, cardiac murmur, tachycardia, vomiting and diarrhea.
Following the clinical examination, vets should do a diagnostic evaluation on the patient, involving looking at the patient’s history, physical examination, complete blood count, serum chemistries, urinalysis and measurement of serum thyroxine, or T4, said Dr. Forrester.
After the diagnosis, Dr. Forrester recommends that vets discuss their findings with the pet owner and outline the various management options, which include radioactive iodine, anti-thyroid medication methimazole, Hill’s Prescription Diet y/d Feline or a thyroidectomy.
“Every veterinarian who diagnoses this should discuss all of those options with the pet owner, and the advantages and disadvantages of each,” she said. “You have to figure out what’s best for the individual cat and the owner.”
If a hyperthyroid cat is being transitioned from medication to the pet food, Forrester said that a baseline evaluation should be done, and depending on the results, the medication dosage should either be discontinued or reduced by 50 percent when the transition to the cat food begins.
“The food and the medication can have a potentially potent effect, making the thyroid hormone go too low,” said Forrester. “Cats should be carefully monitored when they transition off the medication and are beginning nutritional management. In the recently revised guidelines, we added more detailed information to help veterinarians understand the importance of doing that baseline evaluation, even though the cat is receiving anti-thyroid medication.”
The most current version of suggested guidelines and algorithms are available online.
“The key is careful monitoring,” said Forrester. “Use your clinical judgment. The guidelines we’ve provided are suggestions and can’t account for every nuance of every single patient. The attending veterinarian is in the best position to make decisions for their individual patients.”

Hill's launches Prescription Diet cat food to help manage hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism, a common disease of middle-aged and senior cats, is a condition that creates an excess of thyroid hormones causing health issues such as weight loss, heart problems and vomiting. Hill's Prescription Diet y/d Feline Thyroid Health is a new product intended as an alternative solution to managing this condition.

Hill's says its Prescription Diet y/d is a daily, low-iodine nutrition solution designed to manage hyperthyroidism in cats. This may be an easier and more cost-effective way for pet owners to treat their cat's thyroid condition, according to Hill's, rather than other treatments like paying for thyroid removal surgery or having to give the cat a daily pill.
Hill’s recently released results from three studies conducted to determine the impact of varying iodine concentrations in cat food. The studies showed the iodine concentrations necessary to normalize a hyperthyroid cat and those needed to ensure normal cats do not become iodine deficient. According to the company, the studies found that when iodine content can be kept below 0.32 ppm, hyperthyroidism in cats can be controlled through nutrition therapy like the prescription cat food. However, the effectiveness of nutritional therapy also depends on the pet owner's compliance in feeding only Hill's Prescription Diet food to their cat, while also not allowing the cat to eat any other products rich in iodine, the company says.

Vet dispels hyperthyroidism, canned food myth

Hyperthyroidism in cats is not caused by cans, according to Dr. Michael Fox's Q-and-A column in the Pocono Record.
Some cat owners believe the condition is caused by the plastic lining in cans of wet cat food and that cats fed only dry food cannot be affected; however there are no reports in veterinary literature that prove this, according to Dr. Fox. The only known problem of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on the inner lining of cans is bisphenol-A (BPA), but other sources of chemicals can cause even more harm. These sources include dioxins and PCBs found in animal fat and bromides used in fire-retardant chemicals. Bromides can be found in the dust on carpets and upholstery in most homes, as well as in seafood. Petfood manufacturers are phasing out the use of cans lined with the epoxy compound containing BPA.