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Many older cats suffer from health problems caused by an overactive thyroid, and although there is no single cause, chemicals that disrupt hormones in the environment are considered an important factor. A new study involving furry volunteers suggests that these chemicals include fire retardants that are commonly found in homes.
The researchers recruited 78 cats and their owners for their experience. Cats were 7 years old and older and half of them had been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. They attached silicone tags to the cats for a week; These tags could collect tiny chemical samples of their environment while the cats lounged around the house. The labels were specifically designed to detect chemicals such as organophosphate esters (OPEs), including tris (1,3-dichloroisopropyl) phosphate (TDCIPP), suspected to be hormonal disruptors. In the early 2000s, OPEs began to replace an old clbad of flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).
At the end of the experiment, they found that cats with hyperthyroidism were exposed to higher levels of TDCIPP on average, as indicated by the labels. Cats without hyperthyroidism, but with higher hormone levels related to the condition, were apparently also exposed to more TDCIPP than cats with normal hormone levels. Interestingly, cats who lived in homes where deodorants were used or regularly sat on upholstered furniture were more exposed to TDCIPP.
The cats themselves were nonchalant about the study, the owners declaring that they were not at all disturbed by the tags of pets or had gotten used to them quickly.
The conclusions of the study were published Wednesday in Environmental Science & Technology.
Previous research had linked PBDE exposure to hormonal problems in cats and humans. Feline hyperthyroidism, for example, was extremely rare before the 1970s, when PBDEs began to be widely used in consumer products. Because of these concerns, they were largely removed from the US market from around 2004 (although they regularly end up in older homes or products).
The rates of hyperthyroidism in cats have continued to be high since then, however. Part of the fault can be attributed to the fact that veterinarians simply improve the diagnosis of the disease or that cats live longer on average. But OPEs such as TDCIPP have emerged as a possible cause, as they are also thought to interfere with the endocrine system. The new study is not even the first to link TDCIPP exposure with feline hyperthyroidism. But the authors say theirs is the first to rely on pet silicone tags as a convenient way to measure how much TDCIPP cats are regularly exposed. The cats themselves were nonchalant about the study, the owners declaring that they were not at all disturbed by the tags of pets or had gotten used to them quickly.
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"This study provides proof of concept data for the use of pet silicone labels with pets and further indicates that bioavailable exposures to TDCIPP are badociated with hyperthyroidism." feline, "wrote the authors.
Although the health of hairballs in our country is obviously paramount (we now think that feline hyperthyroidism affects 10% of older cats and can lead to weight loss, vomiting and diarrhea), the results are probably not auspicious for humans. Cats are in fact the only other animal, apart from humans, to suffer regularly from hyperthyroidism, to our knowledge, and they are even used in the laboratory as a test animal to study the disease. So, if our cats get sick of these chemicals, there is a good chance we will be too. The health effects of OPEs and other hormone-disrupting chemicals may be much more subtle for us than for Captain Chonky, but more and more evidence suggests they are happening.
Scientists and conservationists are starting to fight hard for regulations that would limit or ban the use of these chemicals at home, but given the current state of politics, it is unlikely that this will happen. produce so soon. And even if we stop using the OPE in all products at the moment, they are already ubiquitous in the environment.
Some known risk factors for hyperthyroidism in cats are in advanced age, a diet consisting mainly of canned cat food and the use of a litter. These could be hard to avoid for domestic cats, but maintaining their constant iodine levels may help.
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