Radio-iodine injection for hyperthyroidism

[astridforty]

Does anyone have any experience of this treatment? 17yr old Astrid Cat 1 has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, classic symptoms - thirst, restlessness, vomiting etc. Vet said the thyroid marker in bloods should be about 65 max, hers is 200.

She’s nervous and won’t tolerate any messing - tablets, liquid meds anything. She doesn’t eat anything bar a nibble at the odd biscuit, she’s too suspicious of any treat food to be fooled by stashing a tablet.

I’m reluctant to make her final years super stressful by trying to give twice daily medication and so have asked for a referral for the radioiodine treatment - hopefully a one off injection and 2 week stay at the clinic. I’m north west so would be Chestergates.

I’m assuming insurance would still cover this treatment route, it’s roughly equivalent cost to 18 months of medication and regular bloods.

Any experiences - bad or good, would be really helpful.

Not sure how it works in cats but doesn’t the radioiodine effectively destroy the thyroid. So won’t it force her into hypothyroidism and you would need to give her medication for that?

Still researching and yet to have the consultation but theory is that it just reduces the thyroid activity, only a small (single digit) percentage become hypo.

It might have been there for long enough to cause organ damage which might only be obvious after the treatment - so still a risk of meds there.

It is very successful in cats have had quite a few patients who have had the treatment - there is no hypothyroidism post treatment so no need to medicate.
But the cat must have no other intercurrent disease as they can not receive any other treatment or have investigations in the 2 week holding period due to the risk to human health of having contact with the radioactive cat.

Our cat had this done at Chestergates about 18mths ago. She had to stay in for 2 weeks, then we had to keep her in an outhouse for two weeks after discharge (we didn't have anywhere in the house we could isolate her from the kids). I was a bit concerned about how she's cope with it, but she was absolutely fine (apart from being desperate for a cuddle). She's now 15 and in top form.

Mr cat had this treatment and it was very successful. If I had another cat who needed this treatment, I'd have no hesitation in getting it done. Leaving her at the vet centre for 2 weeks wasn't nice, but I was more upset about it than she was! The vet phoned me every day to keep me updated.
My insurance paid with no problem, but night be worth checking with your insurance company.

Yes my 18 year old cat had it done, her thyroid was completely uncontrolled on tablets and she was getting very ill.
She was in the animal hospital for a week then came home a changed cat. It was so worth it.
She only lived for another year but she was almost 20 when she finally died and she had great quality of life for that year.

Thank you, these are really helpful.

Chestergates want to start her on liquid medication - Thyronorm, I think, for 3 weeks then do another blood test. They apparently need to normalise the thyroid function with meds so they can see if there are other issues that might prevent the radioiodine treatment.

That starts tomorrow then review towards end April. Understand the process but slightly disappointed that I’m still going to be stressing her out with meds initially.

How did you get on at Chestergates? My cat has just been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and starting on tablets. Apparently, there is a shortage of redio-iodine until next year.