Semi-Requisite Disclaimer
No, I'm not a vet. I'm a guy who has lived most of his life with cats and who has watched too many die sooner than they should simply because there was something that I didn't know. The information and opinions here are not intended to replace working with a vet, and if you have a hyperthyroid cat (or think you might), I strongly suggest that you join one of the groups listed below. I will sometimes disagree with your vet, but I cannot guarantee that anything here will work for you. What I ask is that you do some real thinking. I'll give references and reasons, but those aren't enough. Check what I say. The vet has a degree, but that isn't enough, either. Check what the vet says. Cats are quirky, something you've probably noticed, and that can make diagnosing and treating them a combination of science, empathy, experimentation, and luck.
For More Help
The two groups listed below are almost certainly the largest accumulations of experience on the subject of feline hyperthyroidism and related problems. Some of the members have been working in the groups for many years, gathering information from many sources in addition to the results seen in the groups themselves. In addition, the people in the groups are largely those who will understand what you're going through, not the type to say, "just a cat". Even if things are going well on your hyperT adventure, I really suggest joining one of the groups. For what it's worth, I spend more time on the Facebook group but try to stay involved with both.
Facebook Hyperthyroid Cats Group Yahoo Feline Hyperthyroid GroupThe Price and Promise of Love
We do what we can with what we have and what we know, but there eventually comes a time when “everything” just isn't enough. There are no easier or better ways to go through this loss. Over the years, I've lost fur-kin suddenly and slowly. Sometimes I've been there, and sometimes I haven't. The pain is the same.
Someone will always say that the pain goes away in time, but that's really not true. Still, time is our friend because we do heal and regain perspective. When pain is fresh, it dominates everything else until, over time, we reabsorb the new pain back into our whole being. In digesting the pain, it mixes with all the joys and pains that we have accumulated over the years, and so even though the pain remains, we don't feel it so acutely. That also means that we can once again remember the joys, and and recognize that it's only the depth of the joy that makes the pain feel so bad when it comes.
Memories will be bittersweet since joy is never fully separate from the pain of loss, but eventually, the joy dominates once again. That's the promise of love. We may swear to never let ourselves love again because of the pain, just as I long ago swore that no more cats would enter my life.
Cats don't listen to us, of course, and since that vow we've gained and lost Lance, Al, and Buddy. We've added and still share with Glyph, Brulee, Ariel, Roto, Rooter, Bianca, Berlioz, Raucous, Bob, Charli, Dapper, and Natasha, along with the assorted strays we've fed. Sometimes, I look at one of them and feel a bit of the loss from the past and the loss that I know will come, but I'd never give up the joy they bring us.
We can never do all that we would like for them, and the price of love is sorrow. The best that we can do is swallow the pain like medicine while sipping the joy like wine and keeping the heart open for the fur-kin we have and those who are looking for us. The price is bitter medicine, indeed, but like wine, the joy ages so very well and eventually dilutes that bitter taste until it's once again the joy that we taste and feel most. I'll pay the price because I've also learned that the promise is kept.
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We currently have quite a few fur-kin that we care for or help care for. All were strays at one time, and some have extra issues with one asthmatic, one FIV positive, one FeLV positive, and one hyperthyroid. The information and stories are free to all, and that especially applies to the medical material since I don't want to be accused of practicing without a license, but donations are certainly appreciated.