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My Cat Glows in the Dark
Apr. 25th, 2006 07:06 pm..and he's at a kitty resort for three days.
AKA: Our older cat, Rufus the Red, has hyperthyroidism. And he hates being pilled. There are two treatments for hyperthyroidism, and they're both the same as for humans; daily pills to reduce thyroid production or radiation treatment to kill part of the thyroid gland. Daily pills was right out (he was hiding from us all the time), and the ointment that you can swipe on their ears (I don't think they do that for humans) wasn't too popular either. So we decided to go with the radiation treatment. Basically, the cat gets a shot of Iodine-131 which is selectively taken up by the thyroid and reduces the amount of thyroid tissue. It's pretty safe, but for three days the cat's too radioactive to be in a home environment.
So while he's glowing, he's at the vet's. They give me daily updates, and when I talked to them today I was a little surprised that they told me he was eating well; he's usually a slow eater. The vet tech calmly told me that she feeds them buffet style: "I like a buffet so I figure the cats would too. A little tuna, a little babyfood, some fancy feast.." He's going to be so disappointed once he gets home.
For two weeks after he comes home we have to use a special litter and flush it daily. Some amusing quotes from the 'Radiocat' documentation: "Your cat is still emitting a very small amount of radiation, probably less than you would receive if you took a flight across the country or spent a day at the beach." "Your vet may not be familiar with treating radioactive animals." "Keep the cat confined to your home. Area wildlife, neighbors, their children and pets, are unaware of the radioactivity in the cat’s urine or feces."
AKA: Our older cat, Rufus the Red, has hyperthyroidism. And he hates being pilled. There are two treatments for hyperthyroidism, and they're both the same as for humans; daily pills to reduce thyroid production or radiation treatment to kill part of the thyroid gland. Daily pills was right out (he was hiding from us all the time), and the ointment that you can swipe on their ears (I don't think they do that for humans) wasn't too popular either. So we decided to go with the radiation treatment. Basically, the cat gets a shot of Iodine-131 which is selectively taken up by the thyroid and reduces the amount of thyroid tissue. It's pretty safe, but for three days the cat's too radioactive to be in a home environment.
So while he's glowing, he's at the vet's. They give me daily updates, and when I talked to them today I was a little surprised that they told me he was eating well; he's usually a slow eater. The vet tech calmly told me that she feeds them buffet style: "I like a buffet so I figure the cats would too. A little tuna, a little babyfood, some fancy feast.." He's going to be so disappointed once he gets home.
For two weeks after he comes home we have to use a special litter and flush it daily. Some amusing quotes from the 'Radiocat' documentation: "Your cat is still emitting a very small amount of radiation, probably less than you would receive if you took a flight across the country or spent a day at the beach." "Your vet may not be familiar with treating radioactive animals." "Keep the cat confined to your home. Area wildlife, neighbors, their children and pets, are unaware of the radioactivity in the cat’s urine or feces."
