Complete Care for Your Aging Cat - Amy Shojai [108]
Blanche quickly became accustomed to the house and loved her life. She got along well with Stella, and remained healthy and retained her portly figure and outgoing personality. Blanche was a bit upset when another feline interloper, Stanley, joined the family. Now at the mature age of 12 years old, Blanche is best friends with Stanley.
Last year, Karen noticed that the blue cat was drinking more water. Although there was no increase in urination, Blanche had also lost weight. “That concerned me, and I thought it must be time for the first geriatric blood screen anyway,” says Karen. She took the cat to see Dr. Cindy Bressler at Symphony Veterinary Center in the upper west side of New York City, and had a blood test run. “The vet got back to me and said yes, something’s wrong. She’s hyperthyroid.
Karen was concerned, but immediately knew what was involved. She’d learned about hyperthyroidism by reading an account of the condition, diagnosis and treatment on the CompuServe CatsForum. “I knew she would have radioactive iodine treatment.”
She began looking for a facility to have Blanche treated. The facility Dr. Bressler recommended was moving, though, and Karen was also making plans to relocate to Las Vegas. The timing just wasn’t right.
Until a facility could be found, Blanche was given the drug Tapazol to suppress the action of her overactive thyroid gland. “She’s not that hard to pill, but I hate to inflict that on a cat every day, so I asked if it could be compounded.” Karen, who expected a flavored oral medicine, was surprised and pleased at the form of application. “You put it in the ear for transdermal absorption,” she says. The medicine is the texture of Vaseline and is measured onto a finger, then placed in the ear. “For Blanche it was something that irritated her ear for a second. For me it was easy as pie.”
Karen searched the Internet to locate a veterinarian and facility for Blanche’s treatment. “Dr. Hager was surprised beyond measure that I found him, because he’s a California doctor who comes in once a month to do procedures in Las Vegas,” she says. “He sat with me the better part of half an hour, going through the procedure with me, telling what would happen, what to expect, telling me about the disease, what the findings were on Blanche. Dr. Hager has a great bedside manner—and all the time he was holding and petting Blanche.”
Blanche had more blood tests done before the procedure and Karen was told to stop treating with the Tapazole a week before the radioactive iodine treatment. Then the cat was checked into the hospital. “The vet was just wonderful with her,” says Karen. After the dosage was figured out, based on Blanche’s history, the beneath-the-skin injection was given. “They kept her for five days, which is the government minimum [for quarantine],” says Karen. Radioactive emissions have to be under a certain level before treated cats are released.
The cat’s body is radioactive for a period of time following treatment even once she comes home from the hospital. “I was told to think about her as a little flashlight, radiating this radioactivity,” says Karen. Although Blanche posed no risk to other pets, Karen was cautioned to avoid close contact for another week because the emissions could damage her own thyroid gland.
Karen had just moved to Las Vegas, so when Blanche came home from the hospital, both Stanley and Blanche started life in the new house in the guest bedroom suite. They stayed there until Blanche was no longer radioactive.
“I was under instructions to take away her feces every day, and not have her on my lap. They said don’t touch her too much and don’t let her touch her face to yours,” says Karen. “Blanche is a big lap cat, and she loves head bumps. That was a week I didn’t like very much, but she got through it okay,” says Karen. “Stanley certainly wasn’t under orders to stay away from her, so she had some companionship.