Radioactive iodine treatment concerns - especially home care (thoughts requested)

I am very close to considering radioactive iodine treatment for my kitty (he has diagnosed hyperthyroid). I considered it when he was first diagnosed about 1 1/2 years ago, but he has been quite stable on the medications and is doing well, so I did not pursue it at the time. But my Toffee is turning 15 years old this summer and otherwise is super health, and if I am going to do the iodine treatment, now is the time to do it if I am going to do it.

My local hospital doing treatment keeps the kitties at hospital for 4-7 days until radioactivity levels decrease enough to send home. I am in the process of finding out their home care procedures. What experiences have others had re home care. I am so worried about isolating my cuddly Toffee alone for several weeks after he is sent home - he is a snuggly bunny (he has got friends at home, but I think that he would be okay without them - he is my least social cat of the group) and I wonder about how much it would stress him if he has to be isolated for a few weeks other than very short contact scooping litter.

I am a tad worried about my own potential exposure to radioactivity (even if low amounts), so if anyone can speak to that, then that would be useful too.

Am I being silly to let something like home isolation for a few weeks stop me from considering this very effective treatment for my boy?? Or is this a valid concern?? I just cannot decide if a bit of very short-term isolation for him is worth it to gain him being treated - is the treatment the fairest thing to do for him and his health despite some isolation time.

Feedback please anyone!!

Our Cat Emmi was 14 when she went to Ocean State Vet for this treatment...they kept her there for 6 days (that was the hardest part for me) and she was considered low radiation after her quarantine time. All we had to do was use gloves when dealing with the litter box for a couple of days I think...they tell you the post plan care and what to do. And try not to hold them on your lap for a couple of days. That was it. 

We had no ill effects here and they only released her when the levels they monitor were within an acceptable level.

The reason that we opted for this treatment was ...She was having reactions to the meds...and if I had known how fast and easy it would have been for her to just do the Radio Cat treatment right off the bat It would have been my first choice. She lived another 4 yrs after this treatment and we were very grateful. She gained back all her weight and was in good condition when that thyroid was taken care of.

She needed no close monitoring of labs after the recheck lab was done. She never needed another med.

Hope that helps. Best of luck with your guy!

Carol

Was she able to walk around the house, or was she quarantined in a room? I am guessing that with multiple cats, Toffee may have to be in a separate room so the other kitties don't touch his litter? Do you have multiple cats?

At the time we only had a dog. She was not one to lay down with the dog so I guess if I had multiples at the time I would have asked the vet what to do ...they are pretty good with giving you info about this before you do it.

I would call them and ask to be sure.

I was not sorry I did it. I would have not wasted a month and a half and she would not have lost so much weight before we went to have it done. I swear I would start with that if in the future our cats ever need it.

My cat, Lewis, had the I-131 treatment four years ago, when he was 12 years.  He went to a radiation center dedicated to this treatment, they even had a camera at the facility so we could watch him online at various times.  The guidlines for coming home was he was to be kept separate from the rest of the household (people, not other pets) for a couple weeks.  That meant limited contact for the adults in the family, and they prefered zero contact for young children.  In reality, most of the radiation is already gone, and any residual is being flushed out with the urine.  Be careful with the urine, wear gloves, flush..., and all should be good.  They said another pet could have full, immediate contact, because they will die of natural causes long before contact with any residual radiation in the litter box would cause a health issue.   They said on a limited basis, any radiation exposure to the adult was small.  After some research, I likened the radiation exposure to an adult with extended contact with the cat to be equivalent to what you might get from an airplane, flying across country.  This risk would lessen as the week progressed.  He was to use a flushable litter, to be flushed, not thrown away.  We were told that if the trash company detected radiation in the trash collection, we could be fined.  (Whether they actually check, I don't know.)

So in our experience, there was good and bad with the treatment.  The good - it works and you don't need to worry about the thyroid in the future or continue twice a day medication.  He just had a blood test last week, and his T4 number is perfect. 

The bad depends on the cat and your home situation.  My cat's a bit neurotic and chose to not eat while at the center.  When he came home and was isolated from the rest of the house, he continued to not eat.  I ended up having to force feed him by finger and syringe for a few days, until he started eating on his own.  That meant sitting close a few times a day.  I figured a couple trans-atlantic flights worth of radiation was worth saving my cat.  Hopefully that's all it was. 

The other bad was our plumbing.  It's very sensitive.  Flushing a couple weeks worth of the flushable, non-clumping litter for one cat was a lot for our system.  I had to keep Lewis separate from the other cats because our system would definitely not handle flushing litter for all the cats - and they all would have had to use the flushable kind to make sure Lewis used it. 

So, if your cat is not neurotic and continues to eat, and you have sturdy plumbing, all will be good.  Even with the bad, I would do the treatment again if the health circumstances of my cat allowed it.  Next cat, I would have him spend some time out in the rest of the house, rather than be cooped up the whole time.  I'd close off where the other litter boxes are located, so no one would pee where they weren't supposed to.  Just let the cat be normal for a couple hours in the day. 

FYI, I put beach towels on the bed in the room where he was isolated.  I washed them on a daily basis, trying to keep everything fresh and clean. 

On the whole, my belief is it's the best treatment for the cat.  Good luck!

My kitty, Odie, had the radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroidism a week ago last Monday. He wouldn't eat for them the whole time he was there so they fed him with a syringe. I wasn't surprised since he is very shy - usually hides when we have company. So far, since he came home last Saturday he has been eating - at first very voraciously, but now he's very picky. The vet wants me to make sure he eats so isn't concerned with what he eats at this point. This has me very paranoid. I have three cats and have previously just put out the food. Who eats what, I'm not always sure. Right now, until this Saturday (2 days away) he is still confined to his quarantine room. Of course, he doesn't get much exercise in there so wouldn't have much of an appetite. This whole experience has been very hard. First to have him away for five days, and now that he's home, I can still only see him for no more than an hour a day. I'm thinking he's probably depressed - or is it just me? I just hope he's eating enough.

Scarlett, I am new to the board here ( from Catster...they are closing the forums)  and I know that your post here regarding the Radio Iodine therapy is several months old.....I Just wondered if you ever had it done for Toffee and if so, how are things going?

I have a ten year old tuxedo who has done well on the methimazole for the past five years, but I am still considering the R.I.    My main concern, honestly, as is yours, is the HUMAN exposure to the radiation therapy.  I am really having trouble with that hurdle.  They are telling me that the other alternative to flushing cat litter ( no way, our plumbing is not great now )  or keeping the two weeks worth of litter/waste in sealed container for THREE MONTHS in our house, until all the radioactivity is gone....but Yeesh, this sounds scary and ....I don't know....worriesome. 

I know that people get this done all the time and I have known a few people from my vets who had it done, no problems, but my main consideration is my OWN exposure to all this. 

I wonder if I could get some feedback from you, should you ever pop on the board.

Thanks so much....

Therese

My 13 year old female had the Iodine 131 treatment 6 months ago at Radiocat. They kept her for 4 days but were nice enough to email me (and had even offered to call but I didnt want to be a burden) daily! The hardest part for her was being contained to a cage, they were accommodating to that as well and gave her a double cage so she had more room. Her only issue while she was there was disliking the litter that they recommended and they had to add some clay litter to it before she would use the litter box.

We decided to do the iodine 131 treatment when she was reacting poorly to the methimozle and I wasn't happy with the results based on the dose she was taking, and the studies concerning the drug were concerning to me. The iodine 131 treatment is a CURE. it is along the lines of 96% effective. I did consult radiocat about the chances of it being ineffective and their rules are if it doesn't work they will redo the procedure for half price. Other places will re-do it for free. It is an important question to ask before having the procedure done just in case she is one of the 4% because even half the cost is very expensive!  I also chose to do a urine test prior to the 131 treatment to check my cats kidneys because hyperthyroid can mask CRF and kidney problems so I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to cute the hyper thyroid to have her become very sick from CRF.

My cat did wonderfully with the procedure. When she came home we were told we did NOT have to separate her from my other cat (which was good since her sister was very happy to see her). They just told me to make sure they weren't like obsessively grooming each other. We were told we did not have to contain her but it was better not to allow her in the bedroom since if she climbed into bed at night that wouldnt be best for me and my husband. (Though that was fine for her since my husband is allergic anyway and we don't allow my cats in our bedroom). We live in a 1 bedroom apartment (which radiocat knew) and they said it was fine. They did also tell us to limit our own "cuddle time" to approximatly an hour spread through the day. which is hard since you miss them so much but it is only for a 2 week period. Lastly we had to get a new litter box and a flushable litter. While my cat was away I used half and half for my other cat so she would be use to it, and I did not have to have separate litter boxes for the cats according to the vet. We used a flushable litter in an apartment building and had no plumbing issues or anything which I know concern people. We also had to wear gloves while we cleaned the litter for 2 weeks.

Even though Midnight has sadly been sick since (Trying to get her an appointment tomorrow) it is nothing to do with her hyperthyroid which was successfully cured. I am so glad I chose to do the iodine 131 and plan on doing it for any cat with no kidney problems if I have another hyper thyroid cat in the future. Overall any discomfort not having her for a few days and having to stay a bit away from her was well worth it for her health.

Good luck with your cat

I recently had a friend who had this done with his cat, and the hardest thing was not letting his cat sleep with him at night for two weeks afterwards.  As to the litter issues, he just put it inside a plastic tub outside until the radiation has disbursed, which I think he said is about 3 months.  I think using something like an old Tidy Cat plastic container might be good enough.  You could ask the Vet who is to do the procedure.  Otherwise, I just cleaned out the litterbox wearing rubber gloves and washed his hands after handling her for two weeks and that was it. 

I would do it in a heartbeat if my furkids ever need it, vs giving them the  medication.  (just my two cents)

After much homework, I decided against doing this since Toffee is quite well managed on tapazole. The vet hospital that does the procedure where I live uses the same dosage of I-131 for all cats, with no testing done to identify the tumor size and extent of the problem (which can be used to customize the dosage). My homework revealed that customized dosages are much preferred - if the vet hospital had done customized I-131 dosages, then I would probably have done this treatment.

With non-custom dosages, quite a few cats (more than is typically reported) can become hypothyroid and my homework revealed that the fix for hypothyroid is not as straightforward as they would lead one to believe and can actually be quite a mess and hard to identify with basic testing (cannot remember details, but if I recall correctly basic t4 testing is not enough) and even harder to find vets who can deal with treating this - unrecognized hypothyroid can lead to kidney issues in such cats. I actually joined some yahoo groups and had extensive discussions with people who had done the procedure to help make up my mind.

scarlett 001 said:

After much homework, I decided against doing this since Toffee is quite well managed on tapazole. The vet hospital that does the procedure where I live uses the same dosage of I-131 for all cats, with no testing done to identify the tumor size and extent of the problem (which can be used to customize the dosage). My homework revealed that customized dosages are much preferred - if the vet hospital had done customized I-131 dosages, then I would probably have done this treatment.

With non-custom dosages, quite a few cats (more than is typically reported) can become hypothyroid and my homework revealed that the fix for hypothyroid is not as straightforward as they would lead one to believe and can actually be quite a mess and hard to identify with basic testing (cannot remember details, but if I recall correctly basic t4 testing is not enough) and even harder to find vets who can deal with treating this - unrecognized hypothyroid can lead to kidney issues in such cats. I actually joined some yahoo groups and had extensive discussions with people who had done the procedure to help make up my mind.

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Hi there! I know this is an old thread but I wanted to share my experience to hopefully help others if they are ever in the same boat...
I just picked up my cat Pepper today from her i131 treatment. We chose to do radioiodine therapy because Pepper reacted terribly to the medication. She was already a small cat at 7lbs, but went down to 5.5lbs as she couldn’t keep anything down while on the pills (she was one of the 15-20% that did not respond well to it and lost another half a pound). At her initial consult for the i131 treatment they performed an echocardiogram as she has heart disease but it has not worsened since the diagnosis 4 years ago. She is 9 years old which is fairly young for hyperthyroidism, and after speaking to my previous vet who I unfortunately had to switch from after moving, she told me how her own cat had the procedure and it was a complete success! With her recommendation and really no options since the medication route was not working, I was convinced i131 was the route for me. The other benefit of curing the hyperthyroidism is that it will take a huge stress off her heart, and since she has heart disease this was extremely important.

The hardest part was having Pepper being away for so long - I found her while in college abandoned by her mother at 2 weeks old as she was the runt of the litter, so after bottle feeding her formula since such a young age we have formed an extremely close bond. It broke my heart when we handed her over to the vet tech and she let out a huge meow as if she was being abandoned... yet the center called me daily with check ups to let me know how she was doing. She did finally eat a little on the 3rd day, and we were able to take her home a day early on day 4 as her radiation level was low enough to be released!

I know how strict the guidelines are once your cat comes home after the treatment, but there’s no way Pepper will not sleep in the same room. I am restricting myself from petting her and will keep her off my bed at night, but after doing research the levels that she is giving off is not as dangerous as they make it seem. A human being receives 10x the amount and goes home the same day. Cats only get a tenth of the radioiodine and are quarantined at the facility for at least 3 days, so as long as you are cautious with the litter and limit contact during the first few weeks it’s fine. I even read the amount of radiation they expose you to is equivalent to being on a plane round trip across the country. Just be precautionary, but really it’s nothing to stress over too much.

I’m just hoping in 4 weeks time when we get the follow up blood work that she’s one of the 95% success rate!

On a totally separate note, the medication and frequent blood work quickly surpasses the cost of i131 treatment in two years alone. If you can scrounge up the finances for radioiodine therapy, I strongly advise it as it is an actual cure rather than just simply a treatment.

Good luck to everyone who has to experience this with their cat... it’s not a fun road but fingers crossed there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and a happy, healthy kitty at your side!

portraykarma said:

Hi there! I know this is an old thread but I wanted to share my experience to hopefully help others if they are ever in the same boat...
I just picked up my cat Pepper today from her i131 treatment. We chose to do radioiodine therapy because Pepper reacted terribly to the medication. She was already a small cat at 7lbs, but went down to 5.5lbs as she couldn’t keep anything down while on the pills (she was one of the 15-20% that did not respond well to it and lost another half a pound). At her initial consult for the i131 treatment they performed an echocardiogram as she has heart disease but it has not worsened since the diagnosis 4 years ago. She is 9 years old which is fairly young for hyperthyroidism, and after speaking to my previous vet who I unfortunately had to switch from after moving, she told me how her own cat had the procedure and it was a complete success! With her recommendation and really no options since the medication route was not working, I was convinced i131 was the route for me. The other benefit of curing the hyperthyroidism is that it will take a huge stress off her heart, and since she has heart disease this was extremely important.

The hardest part was having Pepper being away for so long - I found her while in college abandoned by her mother at 2 weeks old as she was the runt of the litter, so after bottle feeding her formula since such a young age we have formed an extremely close bond. It broke my heart when we handed her over to the vet tech and she let out a huge meow as if she was being abandoned... yet the center called me daily with check ups to let me know how she was doing. She did finally eat a little on the 3rd day, and we were able to take her home a day early on day 4 as her radiation level was low enough to be released!

I know how strict the guidelines are once your cat comes home after the treatment, but there’s no way Pepper will not sleep in the same room. I am restricting myself from petting her and will keep her off my bed at night, but after doing research the levels that she is giving off is not as dangerous as they make it seem. A human being receives 10x the amount and goes home the same day. Cats only get a tenth of the radioiodine and are quarantined at the facility for at least 3 days, so as long as you are cautious with the litter and limit contact during the first few weeks it’s fine. I even read the amount of radiation they expose you to is equivalent to being on a plane round trip across the country. Just be precautionary, but really it’s nothing to stress over too much.

I’m just hoping in 4 weeks time when we get the follow up blood work that she’s one of the 95% success rate!

On a totally separate note, the medication and frequent blood work quickly surpasses the cost of i131 treatment in two years alone. If you can scrounge up the finances for radioiodine therapy, I strongly advise it as it is an actual cure rather than just simply a treatment.

Good luck to everyone who has to experience this with their cat... it’s not a fun road but fingers crossed there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and a happy, healthy kitty at your side!

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I agree, this is years after yours but my sweet 16 Molly had this done. It was almost more painful to me then her to have her miserable locked up for 4.5 days since she was a scared abused cat when I got her at 7. Then take her home when she’s used to being by/with me and lock her up for two weeks. They told me 30 minutes a day. Well it worked for one week and I let her out, so tired of her cries and missing her. Will not let her in my room for a week more because she cuddles so crying at night without me
Visit is in a few weeks but she’s doing awesome and so healthy like.
I would do it for any cat! Expensive but cured!