Talk to me about radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroid

Hello all. My gorgeous kitty Toffee has been diagnosed with hyperthyroid. I am so sad. I've had a very difficult past few years in my life so when something goes wrong with my cats, it hits me so hard. FYI I've had a hyperthyroid cat in the past and we treated him successfully with meds for 4 years before he passed on from cancer. I know hyperthyroid is not the worst diagnosis, but I am still very very upset.

Toffee is a bit of a heavy cat, so I did not pick up on this by skinny cat symptoms with overeating. I keep a baby scale at home and weight my cats every few months, and noticed a very small weight loss over the past few months (you cannot tell by looking at him that he has lost weight). His bloodwork was done last year (no health reason, just a senior cat checkup) and all was fine. But he has not been eating well for a couple of days so I took him in to the vet for an exam and bloodwork. Strangely, he is hyperthyroid. The weight loss (even if minor at this pont) is consistent, but not the loss of appetite - although I did read that in 7% of cases this is a symptom. So we will begin him on some medication - I will compound the meds I think. But today it is a real struggle to get him to eat anything - may need an appetite stimulant if he does not perk up (we will begin the medication tomorrow). I really hope that there does not turn out to be some other hidden second issue - we will redo bloodwork after treatment to doublecheck kidneys. I hope that the meds will get him feeling better and eating again.

Anyhow, I would consider the radioactive iodine treatment (I realize that it is pricy but I will find a way if it is best) but I want to hear more about it. The thought of Toffee being locked up in a cage for any length of time without being able to see me is dreadful and is almost enough to put me off of considering this. Does anyone have any stories to share about radioactive iodine treatment? Or anything else in general that might make me feel a bit better.

This is Toffee (scrapbook page I made for him).

Toffee is gorgeous! I'm just here to send vibes!

I had a kitty who, in hindsight, was probably hyper-thyroid, and my Dusty may be becoming that way now.

I hope someone will come along who can offer you some real help!

You'll want to look at what treatment facilities are available you--different ones tend to offer different levels of service and care. The one I went to had the cages in a room that faced an aviary, so the kitties got to watch the birds. There were kitty cames as well, so that I could log on and watch my kitty. I was encouraged to bring a piece of clothing or a towel that smelled like me so that my kitty had something with my scent on it (it had to be something I wouldn't get back). How long the kitty has to stay depends on local laws and the kitty's own metabolism. Where I am it was four days. The techs sent me daily emails to update me on how my kitty was doing. My cat was very laid back, and he did fine while he was there.

If at all possible, I'd highly recommend getting an echocardiogram before committing to radioiodine therapy. My cat had a heart murmur that was due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We don't know whether it was related to his hyperthyroidism or if it was pre-existing. I believe that his heart condition was worsened as a side effect of the radioiodine therapy--as the thyroid tumor began to die, it released excess hormones and caused his T4 level to shoot up. The high level of T4 put a strain on his weakened heart, which ultimately led to his death. I wish that I had had the echocardiogram done before his second treatment with radioiodine (he was one of the few that didn't respond to the first treatment) so that I could have made a more informed decision.

Good luck to you and your kitty!

Your Toffee is a cutie! So sorry that he's been diagnosed with hyperthyroid. We adopted Dorothy in January, brought her home on Saturday and I had a vet appointment set up for Monday morning for a well-check and fecal test and all the good stuff. Well, she MEOWED all night long LOUDLY all weekend. I got no sleep, because I eventually let her out of the bathroom and tried to be awake to keep her and Genever separate. It kinda worked.. Anyway, I'd read on here that night vocalizing is a symptom of HT, so I mentioned it to the vet. She did bloodwork, and yep, she had T4 of 5.4 (upper range limit is 4.0), So the vet thinks it was in the very early stages. The vet told me about the 3 options- meds, surgery, or radioactive iodine. But she didn't say a whole lot about it and just said most people have success with the meds, so that's what we decided to do. Does it suck sometimes to have to make sure I'm home at 7AM and 7PM for her pill? Sometimes. But I do the best I can, and luckily Dorothy gobbles up the pill smooshed in a soft treat without noticing. (She's got a good appetite, but also a very healthy weight since we got her on meds right away. She's my curvy lady. )

I have read about the radioactive iodine treatment, and it looks like they have to keep the cat for 2 weeks, and then you have to be careful with getting rid of waste in the litterbox for a while after that... kind of scary, but it would be cool if that could cure it. And depending on how long the cat lives, it might not cost more than daily meds for all those years.

I guess I have nothing of value to add, I just rambled a bunch, but I'm interested in seeing if anyone else has experience with it too.

Thank you for sharing stories. Some great information.

Good to learn about the heart complications. I never heard about that possible complication before.

I think the heart complications tend to happen if the kitty already has heart disease. Since hyperthyroidism can increase blood pressure and heart rate, it increases the amount of work an already damaged heart has to do.

I'm a nurse and have looked after many people who have undergone Iodine 131 treatments for their thyroid. They aren't radioactive, but their urine is so you need to wear gloves when handling anything urine related.

My RB kitty, Chynna, had hyperthyroidism. There is no treatment centre here for the iodine treatment, so I had to give her medications. I hated doing that. It was traumatic to her and for me. The pills also hasten kidney failure.

If any of my kitties become hyperthyroid in the future, I'll pay the extra money and expenses to take my kitty to another province where they do have Iodine 131 treatment.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

The pills also hasten kidney failure.

Click to expand...

I never read that before, and I don't like the sound of it!! I'll definitely look into it though. Thanks for mentioning it.

Its' expensive.  About $1400 with pretesting,, treatment and post testing.  I brought my cat in (approx 12yrs old) for evaluation because she was losing weight while eating like a horse.  She was hyperthyroid.  

I brought her in for the Iodine treatment and her weight went from 7.3 lbs to 8.75 lbs in approx 2 mos. and she is not as frenetic about food.

I just brought her in, today,  for a followup T4.

I couldn't guarantee I could get the pills in, over many years the pills add up in total cost and stress for me and   I didn't want surgery so I opted for $$$.

Good luck with your decision,