posted 02-03-2004 06:40 PM         

1) Long term anti-thyroid medication. This would be given 2X a day for the rest of his life, but it only treats the symptoms, it does not get rid of the problem. Also regular blood tests would have to been done, if this option were chosen.

2)The second option would be surgical thyroidectomy (surgical removal of all the affected thyroid gland tissue). However, there are so many problems that can go wrong with this surgery that if my cat had this condition I wouldn't risk it with this particular surgery. You would really have to have a super vet to do this. Not to mention that your cat has to be under general anesthetic, which always has risks involved.

7-10 days is not long when you consider that there is a %95 chance of curing the problem. If your cat happens to fall into the %5 that is not cured, they will just give him one more injection. The reason they have to keep him for that amount of time (some vets will keep them for 3-5 weeks!) is that the radiation level has to fall to within acceptable limits for your own safety (not your cat). Basically, people should not be handling a cat with high levels of radiation.