Help Pay for Patches' Thyroid Treatment
Donation protected
On Friday January 8th I took my cat, Patches, to her vet for bloodwork to see if she’s healthy enough to undergo radioactive iodine treatment to destroy her hyperactive thyroid and prolong her life years into the future.
The vet wanted to make sure she was healthy in all other ways before she undergoes radiation treatment, because it wouldn’t make much sense to spend $1200 to $1700 if she’s terminally ill, or a short-timer, for some other reason. Today he called to let me know that her bloodwork checked out and that she's a good candidate for the radioactive iodine treatment.
Patches is a senior citizen cat, but she acts young and the vet assures me she can live a lot longer if we get rid of the thyroid. She’s chatty, active (well, as active as cats are!), and bright-eyed. So again, she's fine except for the thyroid, which came very close to killing her last month just before Christmas.
Apparently, hyperthyroidism in older cats is pretty common. I wasn’t aware of that, as I’ve never had one (that I know of) with the condition.
Patches’ symptoms were horrendous. Over a period of a few weeks, she lost weight, became weirdly matted on her tummy, and finally began to mouth-breathe heavily, often drooling, and she was insatiable: I couldn’t keep enough food in a dish to keep her happy. I figured she had cancer.
I had to buy baby food because she couldn’t get cat food down (past her enlarged thyroid, I later learned). And she would only move to use the litterbox; otherwise she was plastered to the coolest surface she could find in my home: my quartz countertops or the stove top over the (cold, obviously) burners. She had a fever. Sometimes she’d go just outside the kitty door and lay on the cement sidewalk in freezing weather.
I was sure I was going to lose her, but I decided to call the vet anyway, to see if there was anything that could be done.
The vet diagnosed her instantly after feeling her thyroid (it's supposed to be less than pea-sized but it was at least four times larger). He put her on some thyroid pills and sent her home, not wanting to take blood at the time because he thought the added moments of stress would likely kill her. So he had me take her home, give her pills twice a day, and see if she got enough better so he could eventually take blood to determine her baseline health.
She recouped amazingly well. Within five days, she stopped mouth-breathing and was breathing less rapidly. She began to self-groom, chat and wander around again. I have been grooming her underbelly, off and on as long as she allows and enjoys it, to get rid of the matted fur, which isn’t dirty, it’s just clumpy for some reason. (This is typical in hyperthyroid cats, I’ve learned.)
I need to schedule Patches to have the radioactive iodine treatment done at another facility where that kind of thing happens regularly.
Patches will have to remain at the facility for three or four days until her radioactivity level is deemed low enough for me to bring her home. While there, she will be closely monitored by people in protective gear (and what? Geiger counters?).
When she comes home, I won’t be allowed to pet or interact with her for more than ten minutes every 24 hours, and her litter pan and food dishes will have to be handled with gloves so I don’t get any radioactive residue on me.
This protocol will happen for 80 days after she comes home. She is NOT going to be a happy camper because, although I probably don’t interact with her more than 10 minutes a day (I’m talking hands on, not including feeding her or chatting with her in the same room), she likes to sleep on my pillow next to me at night…and that cannot be allowed for almost three months after I bring her home. So, I’m going to have to put her in a kennel or isolate her in another room so she can’t come in to sleep with me.
The problem is MONEY. $1700 is a lot of money for a self-employed freelancer (bloodwork, multiple vet visits and overnight stays, and the thyroid treatment itself,) so it’s money crunch time. Patches’ need is a medical emergency. Hyperthyroidism, left untreated, can kill her, and less expensive alternatives to the radioactive iodine protocol end up costing far more over time because she would need frequent vet checks and blood draws to make sure the pills weren’t destroying her other organs. So, yeah… the radioactive thyroid treatment (once and done) is the best route.
If you can help, even a few dollars' worth per person, I'm sure there will be enough to help make this happen for her. If you met her, you would love her! She is a delightful companion and I want to give her every chance possible to lead a healthy normal life for years to come.
I hope you can help and that you will share this campaign with the pet lovers in your orbit. THANK YOU!
The vet wanted to make sure she was healthy in all other ways before she undergoes radiation treatment, because it wouldn’t make much sense to spend $1200 to $1700 if she’s terminally ill, or a short-timer, for some other reason. Today he called to let me know that her bloodwork checked out and that she's a good candidate for the radioactive iodine treatment.
Patches is a senior citizen cat, but she acts young and the vet assures me she can live a lot longer if we get rid of the thyroid. She’s chatty, active (well, as active as cats are!), and bright-eyed. So again, she's fine except for the thyroid, which came very close to killing her last month just before Christmas.
Apparently, hyperthyroidism in older cats is pretty common. I wasn’t aware of that, as I’ve never had one (that I know of) with the condition.
Patches’ symptoms were horrendous. Over a period of a few weeks, she lost weight, became weirdly matted on her tummy, and finally began to mouth-breathe heavily, often drooling, and she was insatiable: I couldn’t keep enough food in a dish to keep her happy. I figured she had cancer.
I had to buy baby food because she couldn’t get cat food down (past her enlarged thyroid, I later learned). And she would only move to use the litterbox; otherwise she was plastered to the coolest surface she could find in my home: my quartz countertops or the stove top over the (cold, obviously) burners. She had a fever. Sometimes she’d go just outside the kitty door and lay on the cement sidewalk in freezing weather.
I was sure I was going to lose her, but I decided to call the vet anyway, to see if there was anything that could be done.
The vet diagnosed her instantly after feeling her thyroid (it's supposed to be less than pea-sized but it was at least four times larger). He put her on some thyroid pills and sent her home, not wanting to take blood at the time because he thought the added moments of stress would likely kill her. So he had me take her home, give her pills twice a day, and see if she got enough better so he could eventually take blood to determine her baseline health.
She recouped amazingly well. Within five days, she stopped mouth-breathing and was breathing less rapidly. She began to self-groom, chat and wander around again. I have been grooming her underbelly, off and on as long as she allows and enjoys it, to get rid of the matted fur, which isn’t dirty, it’s just clumpy for some reason. (This is typical in hyperthyroid cats, I’ve learned.)
I need to schedule Patches to have the radioactive iodine treatment done at another facility where that kind of thing happens regularly.
Patches will have to remain at the facility for three or four days until her radioactivity level is deemed low enough for me to bring her home. While there, she will be closely monitored by people in protective gear (and what? Geiger counters?).
When she comes home, I won’t be allowed to pet or interact with her for more than ten minutes every 24 hours, and her litter pan and food dishes will have to be handled with gloves so I don’t get any radioactive residue on me.
This protocol will happen for 80 days after she comes home. She is NOT going to be a happy camper because, although I probably don’t interact with her more than 10 minutes a day (I’m talking hands on, not including feeding her or chatting with her in the same room), she likes to sleep on my pillow next to me at night…and that cannot be allowed for almost three months after I bring her home. So, I’m going to have to put her in a kennel or isolate her in another room so she can’t come in to sleep with me.
The problem is MONEY. $1700 is a lot of money for a self-employed freelancer (bloodwork, multiple vet visits and overnight stays, and the thyroid treatment itself,) so it’s money crunch time. Patches’ need is a medical emergency. Hyperthyroidism, left untreated, can kill her, and less expensive alternatives to the radioactive iodine protocol end up costing far more over time because she would need frequent vet checks and blood draws to make sure the pills weren’t destroying her other organs. So, yeah… the radioactive thyroid treatment (once and done) is the best route.
If you can help, even a few dollars' worth per person, I'm sure there will be enough to help make this happen for her. If you met her, you would love her! She is a delightful companion and I want to give her every chance possible to lead a healthy normal life for years to come.
I hope you can help and that you will share this campaign with the pet lovers in your orbit. THANK YOU!
Organizer
Kris M Smith
Organizer
Tacoma, WA
