Hiya!
I’m looking for any reviews, input, or experiences in general, from folks who’ve recently had a kitty undergo I-131 treatment in California. Preferably northern, but I’m open to a drive outside of the Bay Area if a facility elsewhere blows the local ones out of the water.
I had a great facility all picked out previously, but we’ve since moved out of state and I feel a little lost finding a place now :/ Currently I’m looking at Radiocat in Oakland, or Sage in Redwood City. Unfortunately it sounds like Radiocat does not do scintigraphy beforehand, and I’m waiting to hear back from Sage.
Thanks so much!!!
Context: I have a sweet old lady who has had some high-normal/grey area thyroid values for a while now (over a year). She’s also stage 2 Iris CKD, and has mild hypertension. Old kitty trifecta
She finally seemed to cross the grey area threshold late last year (this time including a TSH assay), and so we briefly attempted a methimazole trial, specifically Felimazole, at a dose of 2.5mg once a day.
Sadly, at about 2 weeks and some change in, her condition began plummeting. Inappetence, vomiting, & lethargy slowly picking up for 1-2 days. It got particularly bad by night 2, so I took her to an ER. Her bloodwork showed skyrocketing liver values.
After a bunch of Cerenia and fluids, and no methimazole for 3 days, she began to improve. Of course, we hadn’t made the connection of the symptoms yet, and a lot could be shrugged off as coincidence (maybe she just ate a bug?! maybe the Felimazole coating super grossed her out?). So back on Felimazole she went a day later, and by the second dose, she was already on the way to rough shape again. Then came the twitching, face scratching, and a redness/rash developing on her lips.
I quit the methimazole and we never looked back. While I know there are other options to try again at a lower, twice a day dose, or with transdermal, I’m terrified to try again. As was our doctor at the time. So the plan changed to wait and monitor, and plan on I-131.
I’m looking for any reviews, input, or experiences in general, from folks who’ve recently had a kitty undergo I-131 treatment in California. Preferably northern, but I’m open to a drive outside of the Bay Area if a facility elsewhere blows the local ones out of the water.
I had a great facility all picked out previously, but we’ve since moved out of state and I feel a little lost finding a place now :/ Currently I’m looking at Radiocat in Oakland, or Sage in Redwood City. Unfortunately it sounds like Radiocat does not do scintigraphy beforehand, and I’m waiting to hear back from Sage.
Thanks so much!!!
Context: I have a sweet old lady who has had some high-normal/grey area thyroid values for a while now (over a year). She’s also stage 2 Iris CKD, and has mild hypertension. Old kitty trifecta
She finally seemed to cross the grey area threshold late last year (this time including a TSH assay), and so we briefly attempted a methimazole trial, specifically Felimazole, at a dose of 2.5mg once a day.
Sadly, at about 2 weeks and some change in, her condition began plummeting. Inappetence, vomiting, & lethargy slowly picking up for 1-2 days. It got particularly bad by night 2, so I took her to an ER. Her bloodwork showed skyrocketing liver values.
After a bunch of Cerenia and fluids, and no methimazole for 3 days, she began to improve. Of course, we hadn’t made the connection of the symptoms yet, and a lot could be shrugged off as coincidence (maybe she just ate a bug?! maybe the Felimazole coating super grossed her out?). So back on Felimazole she went a day later, and by the second dose, she was already on the way to rough shape again. Then came the twitching, face scratching, and a redness/rash developing on her lips.
I quit the methimazole and we never looked back. While I know there are other options to try again at a lower, twice a day dose, or with transdermal, I’m terrified to try again. As was our doctor at the time. So the plan changed to wait and monitor, and plan on I-131.
Although I don't live in CA our cat had the I-131 radioactive treatment almost three years ago and we had a very positive experience. We also have a Radiocat facility here and I opted to not use them for the exact same reason you mentioned, i.e. they do not do scintigraphy which I feel is very important. I hope Sage does the scintigraphy and wish you the best of luck.
