Radio active Iodine is considered to be a cure. A boy I bred had the treatment a few years ago. He was given Methimazole transdermal gel to stabilise his condition prior to the iodine. I am not sure where he was referred but I know he was not an inpatient for as long as I had expected and I don't think he had to be kept in isolation when he came home.

 

Thanks QOTN. We have been offered either tablets or a liquid medication and I understand this is for life and doesn't stop the thyroid tumour growing. Sasha has always been practically impossible to tablet and would rather starve than eat food spiked with medication. Due to the importance of getting this under control we are keen to look at the radio iodine therapy. The gel sounds interesting as an initial treatment, I'll ask the vet about that. It's tricky because she is not very experienced and her English is very poor so discussing on the phone following blood results has been confusing and time consuming. We are going to go in and see the senior vet early next week instead as he is excellent.

 

I have an old girl who was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism three years ago. Neither surgery nor iodine were options for her. She is very frail so she had methimazole gel for the first 6 months. You rub it on the inside of the ear (you have to use gloves!) It is only available from Summit Veterinary. It is recommended for stabilising cats prior to other treatment. My vet had previous success using it long term but we could not keep my girl stable on it so she now has felimazole.

 

I’ve not had a pet who had it but it is a very effective treatment. Sometimes it doesn’t work first time though but they can repeat (and I think it’s included in the cost initially actually), and if for any reason it still didn’t do the trick surgery remains an option.

So the thyroid LOVES iodine, it sucks it up like there’s no tomorrow. They tag iodine with radioactive stuff which gets absorbed in and that’s how it stops the hyperactivity by destroying cells (I think!).

Cats are weird in that they can have thyroid tissue in their chests not just their necks, and they can regenerate it too. I’m not sure how frequent regeneration may occur following the treatment versus surgery though. But the radioactive iodine is what is known as a ‘systemic’ treatment in that it will work wherever there is thyroid tissue. With surgery, if they just remove what is in the neck, if there IS anything else anywhere, that will still be there and potentially hyperactive. This happened to our Cleo who had multiple surgeries (she had some thyroid tissue in her chest) and despite them still needed thyroid medication in her latest years as she still had tissue regenerate (but nowhere near as much as when she was first diagnosed pre-op, she was very hyper!!)

I believe there is a facility in Kent, not sure where others are. They do this treatment on people too for thyroid cancer (not so much in just hyperactivity as we are easier to pill).

 

I've not had a pet who had it but it is a very effective treatment. Sometimes it doesn't work first time though but they can repeat (and I think it's included in the cost initially actually), and if for any reason it still didn't do the trick surgery remains an option.

So the thyroid LOVES iodine, it sucks it up like there's no tomorrow. They tag iodine with radioactive stuff which gets absorbed in and that's how it stops the hyperactivity by destroying cells (I think!).

Cats are weird in that they can have thyroid tissue in their chests not just their necks, and they can regenerate it too. I'm not sure how frequent regeneration may occur following the treatment versus surgery though. But the radioactive iodine is what is known as a 'systemic' treatment in that it will work wherever there is thyroid tissue. With surgery, if they just remove what is in the neck, if there IS anything else anywhere, that will still be there and potentially hyperactive. This happened to our Cleo who had multiple surgeries (she had some thyroid tissue in her chest) and despite them still needed thyroid medication in her latest years as she still had tissue regenerate (but nowhere near as much as when she was first diagnosed pre-op, she was very hyper!!)

I believe there is a facility in Kent, not sure where others are. They do this treatment on people too for thyroid cancer (not so much in just hyperactivity as we are easier to pill).

That was news to me about the thyroids sometimes being down in their chest. The more I read the more it puts me off the surgery route, which interesting,y was not suggested by the vet.

 

I am not sure where he was referred but I know he was not an inpatient for as long as I had expected and I don't think he had to be kept in isolation when he came home.

 

I think there's a place up north, possibly Yorkshire?

 

Thank you everyone. I found the place in Yorkshire online and they’ve got some very helpful information. It’s a long way for us to travel though so I’m hoping there are other centres nearer! However of course we will do what’s best for her. When it’s a new diagnosis it’s a bit overwhelming and lots of the information is contradictory , so one centre said they preferred to do the therapy with no previous treatment to preserve any healthy thyroid as much as psooble. Other advice says to stabilise the condition with meds first, as hyperthyroidism can mask kidney problems. Trust our cat too, most seem to be ravenous with this condition but ours is totally off her food, so costing a fortune in fresh chicken just to try and keep her ticking over.

 

The advent of Thyronorm liquid has made the oral administration of thyroid medication easier in most cats, and IMO should be tried before the gel except in exceptional circumstances.

I personally don't like the gel and have never had much success with it, often having to resort back to oral medication. I do understand that some people have used it successfully, however.

It's also worth bearing in mind that by law, vets must prescribe licensed medications before unlicensed ones. As the gel is unlicensed, technically it should not be prescribed until licensed forms (tablets and liquid) have been tried and failed.

For younger hyperthyroid cats who are otherwise in good health, I'd always go for the radioiodine personally. It's curative and will treat ectopic thyroid tissue (if present) as well. New centres are opening around the country all the time so it's much easier to attend one for most people now.

 

My Raffles has radio active iodine treatment about this time last year. He was stabilised with Thyronorm first and kidneys and other bloods tests checked. He was 14 and otherwise very healthy. I caught it very early as I weigh him weekly and he’d lost a few hundred grams. We are very pleased with the results, 12 months later he’s in great shape. We used a vet at Ripon.

 

I think it depends on the age of your cat. My cat was old when diagnosed and my vet didn’t recommend it. He said he would have to stay as an inpatient which is stressful for the cat. He said at my cat’s age the stress of being parted from us could kill him and if he died whilst there could we live with that, so we just gave him felimazole.

 

I think it depends on the age of your cat. My cat was old when diagnosed and my vet didn't recommend it. He said he would have to stay as an inpatient which is stressful for the cat. He said at my cat's age the stress of being parted from us could kill him and if he died whilst there could we live with that, so we just gave him felimazole.

Yes I can see it would be stressful. Sasha is about 10 and is used to going to the cattery once a year, as we have no relatives locally to look after her when we go away. Also not really a lap cat, so hopefully she'd cope ok. My OH collected Thyronorm today and asked about the iodine radiotherapy but they just started googling information, so it seems we'll have to research ourselves.

 

Raffles didn’t seem to suffer too much, and he does like to snuggle on laps. It probably us affected more as we felt mean for refusing him cuddles.

He used Thyronorm first for a couple of months or so, to stabilise him, so they could check bloods for kidney problems. Then before going for the treatment, can’t temember if it was a week or two weeks, he had to come off the meds again, so the radio active stuff could target the problem.

He was there for two weeks and the vets sent us regular updates by text and phone. They used Feliway and Zylkene to keep him as calm and stress free as possible. When we picked him up we were told he’d been very chilled and had a voracious appetite, eating 5 pouches of food the day before. That was great, as he needed to put weight back on, after hyperthyroidism had caused him to lose some.

Once back home we had to use a flushable litter and dispose of it down the toilet, and avoid physical contact for more than a couple of mins for two weeks. He had repeat blood tests at intervals, and he soon got back to normal.

The condition was totally cured and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again with another cat. If your cat usually goes in a cattery, maybe you could arrange for him to be be treated when you go on holiday - although I suppose we’re moving towards the wrong time of year. Just thought you would save on cattery fees, which you could offset against the treatment, or insurance excess.

Not sure where you are located, but there were two choices for us, both Yorkshire, a centre at Wetherby and another at Ripon. We’re in Sheffield and there wasn’t much in it; our own vet had referred to Ripon before, so we used that one.

 

Good to hear your positive experience Jansheff. I’ve found a clinic fairly near us, in Chipping Norton so I’ll follow up next week. Thanks again

 

I would speak to the referral centre - they should be able to tell you their own protocols etc. I've not had a cat have it, but I used Bishopton (Ripon referral centre mentioned) as my standard vets previously and they had all sorts of info about it on their website/ leaflets in the waiting room/ consult rooms (which I was often hanging around in by myself bored with my stressed cat who couldn't be kennelled) etc. They did allow some flexibility for individual circumstances.

 

A friend of mine her cat had it done in witherby the cost was £2000 so far she's doing well.

 

Nice to hear of all the positive experiences. Knowing our luck it won’t work on Sasha! After 4 weeks on Thyronorm she will have blood tests again and then we will ask her to be referred. The medication is £48 for a months supply .

 

Hi Janeylo

My cat Meg had radioactive iodine treatment at Pride Veterinary Hospital in Derby, our local vet referred us to Francis Boyer there, no problems at all & did the trick! Happy to answer any questions, I’ll dig out the info pack we had, lots of info later!

 

Hi Janeylo

My cat Meg had radioactive iodine treatment at Pride Veterinary Hospital in Derby, our local vet referred us to Francis Boyer there, no problems at all & did the trick! Happy to answer any questions, I'll dig out the info pack we had, lots of info later!

Thank you! Did Meg have medication for a long time before having the radioactive iodine treatment or was she referred straight for it?

 

My boy had surgery about a year ago and so far it's been hugely successful. He's back at a normal weight and no longer completely ravenous. It's lovely to have him back to himself. He was only 9 (he's 10 now) and tableting him was becoming near impossible after a few months hence why I had it done (and unfortunately not in a position to afford radioactive iodine treatment). I know it seems a less popular option now but it has worked well for my boy.

 

That's great to hear ribbon. Our vets haven't given us much information so I'm investigating options myself. Glad the surgery worked for your boy.