Just picked up our cat Whisper from the vet today. She’s been over at the Carrboro Animal Hospital in their RadCats facility for the past two weeks getting her thyroid treated. It seems that cats are prone to tumors on their thyroids. The tumors produce excess hormones which cause them problems.
The treatment is a dose of radioactive iodine (I-131) injected under the skin. She then had to stay in isolation for three days and at the vet’s facility for another week and a half. Technically, we brought her home early and we still need to take precautions, but it’s good to have her home.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Hi,
I got a call from Dr Dorsch at the Animal Hospital this afternoon, saying that my 14-year-old calico will need treatment for hyerthyroidism. I did some googling on the disease as it presents in cats, then decided to google Rad Cat, as I see the name on the hospital sign every day as I drive by the practice. And, for goodness sakes - your entry about Whisper popped up! I am just wondering how she is, as it has been about a year since her treatment. Thanks for any information.
Sandy
September 28th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Hi Sandy,
I’ll drop you an email as well - I’m not certain if this responds to you or not.
Whisper is doing great. She put back on the weight that she had lost. She’s active and happy. I can’t remember when we last took her to the vet, but her bloodwork is fine.
I believe that we originally started her off by giving her pills. That did two things: 1) showed that it was treatable; and 2) let us test to see if the hyperthyroidism was masking other problems (e.g., kidney disease). The pills did work and so we had a choice, put her on medication forever or give her the radiation treatment.
The radiation treatment is costs about $1100. IIRC, that’s about two years worth of medication. We opted for radiation b/c: 1) it was cheaper in the long run; and 2) we hate pilling cats
Anyway, I’ll send this in email as well. If you have specific questions, I’m more than happy to try to answer them.
-cec