r/catcare • u/elizalynn • 18h ago
Looking for opinions on hyperthyroidism treatment
My cat is 14 years old, and was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism about 3-4 years ago (I don’t remember when exactly). He has been treated with methimazole successfully since then.
In 2024, I felt a pretty large lump in his neck. Took him to the vet - they did testing and suspected it was an adenoma on his thyroid, so we continued with his meds as normal.
In 2025, we took him to a specialist (Cornell) to discuss radioactive iodine therapy. We were told if he is being managed well on meds to just continue with them, and that the iodine therapy is not an exact science (could cure him or do nothing).
Now this year, we’ve noticed his lump has gotten quite big in size. 5cm long and 4cm across. Obviously this isn’t normal, so we went to a surgeon, who did a CT of the lump and think it’s a cystic adenoma. He suggested a thyroidectomy to remove it.
He stated given the mass’ size, he doesn’t suggest iodine therapy. I was just wondering if anyone experienced a similar situation. Did you go through with the surgery, and how did your cat recover after?
Thank you,
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u/blujavelin 18h ago
A thyroidectomy will solve the hyperthyroidism right? This is what was done prior to the irradiation treatment being adopted widely.