Treating Your Cat's Hyperthyroidism With Radiation
Posted on: 6 January 2016
One of the treatment options your vet gave you to treat the tumor in your cat's thyroid gland is radiation. This is normally a one time treatment with few side effects. Your cat will live a normal life once the radiation has destroyed the thyroid tumor. Here is how this treatment works and what to expect when you get your feline companion home from the animal hospital.
Radiation and Cancer Cells
The treatment consists of injecting radioactive iodine into your cat's bloodstream. The thyroid gland absorbs the iodine from the blood. The tumor is full of cells actively reproducing and these cells are the ones that take in most of the radioactive material. The iodine bonds with the tumor cells while leaving the healthy cells untouched.
Over a few hours, the radioactive iodine destroys those cancer cells. Normal, healthy cells begin to take over the production of thyroid hormone, which was disrupted by the tumor. Any remaining iodine that didn't combine with tumor cells gets removed from the body through urine.
Your Cat's Hospital Stay
The radiation treatment takes just a few minutes with the final results in a few hours. The rest of your cat's stay in the veterinary clinic is to allow the radioactive material to leave your cat's body. The larger the tumor and amount of radioactive material used, the longer time it takes for the radiation levels to reach a safe level. The clinic will check your cat's urine throughout the day until the vet sees that the radiation level is safe for the cat to go home to be around you and other pets in the household.
What to Expect When Your Cat Goes Home
When you pick up your cat from the clinic, the staff will give you a number of precautions to take around the radioactive material still being flushed from your cat's body. The radiation level is safe for you to be around in the short term. The vet has you take steps to limit any long-term exposure to the radiation by you and others. Some of these safety precautions include:
- Prevent your cat from coming into contact with family members or other pets in the household for a few days.
- Limit your own physical contact with your cat to a few minutes each time.
- Wash your hands well after petting your cat or coming into contact with their food and water dishes, and litter box.
- Clean the litter box by scooping the litter into a large bucket containing a heavy trash can liner. When full, seal the bucket and place it in an area where it will be undisturbed for several weeks. You can then put the litter out with the trash to be picked up.
You'll have a follow up appointment in a few weeks with the veterinarian to have your cat's urine checked for radioactivity. If the radiation level has decreased sufficiently, the vet will have you stop these precautions.
Share