Erik update

[cellio]

My vet called this morning with the results from Erik's blood tests. His white-cell count is high (and his temperature was higher than usual but not quite a fever Monday), so I'm to start giving him antibiotics now instead of next week when they'd be due (for the hepatitis). His thyroid number is also, for the first time, unusually high.

Back when he first started losing weight (a few years ago), the vet suspected hyper-thyroidism as the cause. We did bunches of tests and that number was always normal, so after eliminating other possible explanations (some scary), she shrugged and said "idiopathic". Now, suddenly, it's high. Huh? (She has no idea why.) One bit of good news, though: arrhythmia is sometimes a symptom of hyper-thyroidism, so with luck he doesn't really have heart disease.

There are three ways to treat hyper-thyroidism, she said. The first is surgery, which she doesn't recommend because of Erik's other health problems. Having seen the trauma the last surgery put him through, I concur. The second is a radioactive iodine treatment; they inject him with this stuff (once) and somehow, by magic, the radiation finds its way to the damaged thyroid cells and kills them without damaging anything else. There are two problems with this. First, it makes the cat radioactive for some period of time (a week or two?), and while that's true he has to be sequestered in a special facility. So, essentially, I'd have to take him to some place where they do this procedure (she thinks there is now one in western PA; you used to have to go out of state), and then I wouldn't be able to have any contact with him until he's cooled down sufficiently. (And I'm betting that during that time he's not going to get much attention from the staff, since they'd have to suit up to go near him.) Second, they will only do this after a large battery of tests, some expensive, come back ok.

The third option is medication. Both surgery and radiation are one-time permanent solutions, so medication sounds like the last resort, except for two things: first, I suspect (haven't checked with the vet) that factored over the life-expectancy of a 14-year-old cat, the drugs are probably the least-expensive option. Second and the deal-maker, though, is that according to my vet, treating hyper-thyroidism can make Erik's existing liver problems worse. So before we even consider a permanent solution, I want to do something that we can abort if it starts damaging his liver. If that happens, she said, then essentially we'd experiment to find the right balancing point, treating the thyroid as much as possible without harming the liver. Medicine is not boolean; a partial treatment can still help.

If I understood my vet correctly, treating the thyroid problem might also help Erik gain some weight.

These are my notes from our phone conversation; I haven't yet consulted Doctor Google for more background.

Comments

[schulman.livejournal.com]

I've done the radioactive cat thing. (I do not actually spend all my time and money on expensive veterinary treatments for my cats, but it does feel that way sometimes.)

It worked perfectly for my cat Cricket; she soon regained weight and became slightly less neurotic until she died a year and half later of unrelated causes. She was otherwise healthy at the time, though, so she didn't have Erik's liver concerns.

My vet referred me to Radiocat (http://www.radiocat.com/), a traveling practice that does monthly (I think) treatment cycles at Northview Animal Hospital, just off McKnight Road. The techs were very nice, and were obviously used to reassuring owners who were surrendering their precious snookums. They kept Cricket for five days, then returned her with a bag of Sweatscoop litter and strict instructions to wear latex gloves while I scooped, flush the radioactive cat poop and clumps down the toilet, and for God's sake not to throw any of it in the trash because it would set off radioactivity alarms at the waste facility and they'd come after me and there would be Terrible Consequences. (Seriously, Google "radioactive cat poop" and you'll find a news story where this happened.)

Anyway. I had two weeks of radioactive litter box detail, trying to keep her off my pillow, and washing my hands after touching her; and then she was back to what passed for normal. I didn't even have to separate her from the other cat. All in all, fairly painless compared to having to pill her every day.

By the way: You can also get Tapazole in the form of a cream that you rub into the cat's ears. Don't you wish you could get people medicines that way?

[cellio]

Thanks for the information! My vet said she thought there was now a place in the North Hills where this could be done -- sounds like Radiocat. I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience with them.

Google "radioactive cat poop" and you'll find a news story where this happened.

The overlords at work who monitor web traffic might just be wondering about that. :-)

By the way: You can also get Tapazole in the form of a cream that you rub into the cat's ears. Don't you wish you could get people medicines that way?

Ooh, that's definitely worth trying!