Alley the Radiocat
What is a Radiocat, you ask. Unfortunately, my beautiful Alley will become one on June 23. Here she is in all her cat beauty lounging in my cool, Mango Tango laptop case. “Hey, you did buy this for me, didn’t you?”
About 3 weeks ago I became concerned over Alley’s weight loss. She’s had a good appetite and was definitely eating. I took her to Dr. Engel at Brookeville Animal Hospital imagining all the bleak possibilities. Having been through various serious conditions with kitties over the years I was not looking forward to the diagnosis. Alley is 13 years old and usually weighs around 13 pounds. This day she only weighed 6 1/2 pounds. I knew she was smaller but this was a shock. Anyway, blood was taken and we were told to wait for the results.
It turns out that senior cats often develop hyperthyroidism. This really is the best possible diagnosis. The condition is treated either by life-long administration of oral meds or by Radiocat. Radiocat is Radioactive Iodine Therapy and is curative. There are specialized hospitals that provide this treatment and even though the price seems liek alot, by the time you pay for meds and periodic bloodwork for a couple years, it is really a deal. Not to mention that Alley has already become wise to the pill-pockets making if difficult to get the necessary medication into her.
She will be in the hospital for 4 days with no visitors. Apparently the place is radioactive along with the kitty patients. Once we bring her home she will still be glowing for 2 weeks so her litter has to be disposed of in an environmentally safe way. That means flushing it down the toilet. They say the special litter is okay for septic systems. I sure hope so.
Hopefully in mid-July I’ll be able to report a successfully cured Alley.
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