Radioactive Therapy For Hyperthyroidism

I agree, but the vet just saw his loss of weight and blood readings and assumed it was all due to the thyroid when the kidney failure was also to blame. A month earlier, he had also told me to stop the steroids Mikka had taken long term - the weight loss started as I discontinued the steroid so probably both the steroid and the active thyroid were keeping the kidney failure at bay.
Again and again, vets (and doctors too) just cure the last thing they see and fail to look at the whole picture. I don't think Mikka could have lived much longer as he had multiple problems and was already old, but his last months could have been handled better and certainly more sensitively.

I have just realised you live in Italy, Antonio. I'm Italian too but live in the UK. I hope things are done better there.

Onda2008 said:

I have just realised you live in Italy, Antonio. I'm Italian too but live in the UK. I hope things are done better there.

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Absolutely not, things like hyperthyroidism are horribly handled here.
Italian vets do not know what to do in these cases, apart from giving Tapazole.
I had my cat treated with I-131, but I had to go abroad, because there are no facilities here.
And my vets were fascinated by what I had done, something unreal, to their eyes, most likely the first person in Italy to have their cat treated with radio-iodine.

If you want to learn more about what I did, you might want to read this
Pallina, The Cat Who Went To Belgium

If you want, you can also PM me.
Hugs!

Onda2008 said:

So good to hear about Felix's progress. The weight gain is particularly good news.
Sadly, the thyroid medicine unmasked my Mikka's kidney failure. He had a massive crisis last week and passed away on Saturday.

I don't think his condition has been managed properly. When he started the thyroid treatment he had normal test results on the kidney but was drinking excessively, something I had told the vet. I have now read a veterinary article suggesting that, when kidney failure is a possibility, the cure for thyroid should start with one 1.25 pill a day to see the effects. As soon as he was given the 5 mg pill, his weight went down rapidly and he had a terrible crisis which led to an irreversible situation. The pills had reduced the heart rate, and the flow of blood to the kidney which was fatal - the hyperthyroidism was actually protecting the kidney.
I hope my sad experience will help others who are reading this.

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I'm really sorry to hear about Mikka. I don't know why vets give such high doses for the medication. The 5mg made Felix so sick and at no point did they ever say, "wElL, mAyBe We ShOuLd LoWeR tHe DoSaGe?! " I'm the one that did that only because Antonio65 mentioned it.

Onda2008 said:

Sadly, the thyroid medicine unmasked my Mikka's kidney failure. He had a massive crisis last week and passed away on Saturday.

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I am so very sorry for your loss. When you feel up to it, please feel free to post a memorial for him here: Crossing the Bridge

Graceful-Lily said:

That's decent. I'm willing to spend whatever it cost. I love this cat more than I love myself. I live in Ontario so it's hard to find a solid price. There are only about 2 clinics I know of that do this treatment.

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Which clinics are those? We are in Ontario too and it would be good to know.

Softmeows said:

Which clinics are those? We are in Ontario too and it would be good to know.

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Right now, Thames Valley Veterinary Services will be your best bet. They were the quickest to respond and most responsible, cost and otherwise.

They are located in London, Ontario.

Everywhere else took forever. I'm not sure what the other clinics are doing now so. . . Try the London clinic.

I've been gone for a while working on my life and some personal issues. Anyway, Felix is now a whopping 14 - 15lb! I can hardly lift him up anymore. He's doing really well. Bloodwork is scheduled for early to mid-April.

Graceful-Lily said:

I've been gone for a while working on my life and some personal issues. Anyway, Felix is now a whopping 14 - 15lb! I can hardly lift him up anymore. He's doing really well. Bloodwork is scheduled for early to mid-April.

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Yay! I was wondering about you and felix. Nice to hear.

That's great news! Thanks for the update.

Graceful-Lily said:

I've been gone for a while working on my life and some personal issues. Anyway, Felix is now a whopping 14 - 15lb! I can hardly lift him up anymore. He's doing really well. Bloodwork is scheduled for early to mid-April.

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That's wonderful news! Thank you for the update!

This makes you feel a hero, doesn't it?

LTS3 said:

There's info here about radioiodine therapy:

Feline Hyperthyroidism
Centers for the Treatment of Feline Hyperthyroidism

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Help. I’m scared. My cat was treated with I 131. First day home and i’ve Held her an hour and a half and staying in same room with her. I’m sick to my stomach afraid of what I have done to myself by not following the rules. Can you please tell me what you think. Should I call my doctor?

WandaD said:

Help. I’m scared. My cat was treated with I 131. First day home and i’ve Held her an hour and a half and staying in same room with her. I’m sick to my stomach afraid of what I have done to myself by not following the rules. Can you please tell me what you think. Should I call my doctor?

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You might have read some of my posts.
When my cat came back home after the I-131, I should have kept her in a different room and followed some simple rules, that I totally ignored, disregarded.
I did it purposedly, I didn't want to keep my cat isolated, alone, in a room without me for two or three weeks.
I chose to do what I did for the sake of my cat, and so far, 18 months later, nothing happened to me.

Did you do what you did by mistake, or because you chose it?

You might call your doctor, but just don't panic

WandaD said:

Help. I’m scared. My cat was treated with I 131. First day home and i’ve Held her an hour and a half and staying in same room with her. I’m sick to my stomach afraid of what I have done to myself by not following the rules. Can you please tell me what you think. Should I call my doctor?

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From Hypurrcat (the place that pioneered I131 for cats)'s website:

Q) These precautions seem like my cat is hazardous to me. How dangerous is the radiation?
The amount of radiation remaining in your cat is extremely low. The amount of radiation you might receive from your cat would be roughly equivalent to that received when you fly round-trip across the country. In fact, human patients can receive up to 15 times our average cat dose of radioiodine and still go home on the day they get treated. The major reason for this discrepancy between cats and people is that human patients always flush their waste down the toilet, removing any radioactive contamination from the home. In contrast, cats generally use a litter box, keeping the radiation in the home.

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They recommend limiting holding your cat for 20 minutes a day, but petting them as much as you want. But I think the risk to you is still very low. As they say, any radiation is really concentrated in the litter, and you should just focus on keeping that separate before disposing of it after a few weeks.

x

Antonio65 said:

You might have read some of my posts.
When my cat came back home after the I-131, I should have kept her in a different room and followed some simple rules, that I totally ignored, disregarded.
I did it purposedly, I didn't want to keep my cat isolated, alone, in a room without me for two or three weeks.
I chose to do what I did for the sake of my cat, and so far, 18 months later, nothing happened to me.

Did you do what you did by mistake, or because you chose it?

You might call your doctor, but just don't panic

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WandaD said:

x

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Thanks for replying antonio65 and Molly92. I don’t know what to say. When I found out my precious fur baby was hyperthyroid no one could talk me out of the active iodine treatment. I never thought twice about it. It seems now I AM panicking. I am with her 24/7 in a very small house. She makes every step I make. I feel like every surface and every breathe I take is contaminated. My head is pounding from worrying yet at the same time I can not turn her away. I have never been attached this much to a cat my entire life. I am using a litter box liner and wearing gloves when changing the litter. I hope everything’s going to be ok. Maybe I’ll adjust eventually and stop this worrying. I can’t believe I’m acting this way.

WandaD said:

Thanks for replying antonio65 and Molly92. I don’t know what to say. When I found out my precious fur baby was hyperthyroid no one could talk me out of the active iodine treatment. I never thought twice about it. It seems now I AM panicking. I am with her 24/7 in a very small house. She makes every step I make. I feel like every surface and every breathe I take is contaminated. My head is pounding from worrying yet at the same time I can not turn her away. I have never been attached this much to a cat my entire life. I am using a litter box liner and wearing gloves when changing the litter. I hope everything’s going to be ok. Maybe I’ll adjust eventually and stop this worrying. I can’t believe I’m acting this way.

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Everything will be ok. You did a great thing for your cat, and you will be fine! If it helps, I did not follow recommendations either...my cat slept on my stomach the night she came home and my doctor has yet to find anything wrong with me...

If you think about it, your tiny little cat was exposed to this radiation and she's fine! It's like getting an x-ray at the dentist or getting a sunburn: if you got one every week it could lead to something, but once every few years is no cause for alarm.

molly92 said:

Everything will be ok. You did a great thing for your cat, and you will be fine! If it helps, I did not follow recommendations either...my cat slept on my stomach the night she came home and my doctor has yet to find anything wrong with me...

If you think about it, your tiny little cat was exposed to this radiation and she's fine! It's like getting an x-ray at the dentist or getting a sunburn: if you got one every week it could lead to something, but once every few years is no cause for alarm.

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Thank you so much, Molly. You are helping me. May ask you one question? (If this makes sense) Is this total experience like an X-ray or is it like an X-ray over and over again every time I touch her, hold her, walk in a room, take a breath? Do that makes sense? I think that is what is sending me into a panicking frenzy.

WandaD said:

Thank you so much, Molly. You are helping me. May ask you one question? (If this makes sense) Is this total experience like an X-ray or is it like an X-ray over and over again every time I touch her, hold her, walk in a room, take a breath? Do that makes sense? I think that is what is sending me into a panicking frenzy.

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Glad to hear it! It is technically like being constantly exposed, except the levels are lower than an x-ray, and constantly dropping exponentially. Regulations vary depending on the state guidelines, but one example I found recommends cats not be released until they're emitting less than .02 mSv per hour at a distance of 1 foot. An x-ray could be about .1 mSv at once, so that's already 5 times lower than an x-ray, and that keeps dropping and dropping every minute. For comparison, a flight across the country exposes you to 0.035 mSv. So you're probably getting about as much exposure as a flight attendant in a busy month. A whole body CT scan would be 10 mSv. If you were to undergo the human radioiodine treatment yourself, you'd be exposed to about 100 mSv. You're also being exposed to very low levels of radiation all the time in the environment, which is the level that your cat's radiation is getting closer to all the time.

(You can breathe as much as you like! Radiation doesn't enter through your lungs.)