Complications after I-131 treatment?

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Wendy and Boo (GA)

Wendy and Boo (GA)

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Help!

My civie had I-131 treatment for hyper-t last Monday. He refused to eat that Monday after the injection, but ate ok Tues. and Wed. I took him home Thurs. afternoon, and he has not eaten since then.

I took him to my vet Fri. afternoon, and she did blood work and checked his blood pressure. Everything is within normal range (including kidney values), except she noted he was unusually subdued. She prescribed mirtazapine, but I can't get it filled until tomorrow as pharmacies in my small town are out of stock.

Yesterday, he became nauseous even though he hadn't eaten anything (meatloafing in corner licking his lips) and he vomited this incredibly vile brown substance so I ran him in to the E-vet, who gave him Cerenia. Did not help. But it really seems like nausea to me and not inappetence, as he comes running when he hears a can of food being opened, but then walks away. :sad: He won't even eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. He is drinking water and is not dehydrated. Gums are pink, and skin snaps back ok.

Anybody had this problem before, or have any ideas for my vet? Note: we did not check his urine.

Thanks, Wendy
 
Did you contact the place that did the I131?

My cat had this done two weeks ago, his paperwork says he may experience a short period of readjustment as thyroid levels return to normal, however my guy's been fine. Notes he may need an appetite stimulant.

The paperwork goes on to say that if you notice a sharp decrease in appetite or any other problem, please call us immediately so we may assist you or at the very least monitor your cat's condition over the phone.
 
I have had two cats so treated. Neither had problems with eating either during the treatment stay or after they went home. I would not be concerned with the not eating the first day since frequently cats do not eat immediately in a new environment. The not eating when home is not good and you were good to bring him in. The brown stuff was probably bile and was from not eating. Have you tried assit feeding him with a syringe?
 
just saw this, wendy. good luck with this. hoping this is just a temporary thing but that the mirtz helps.
i find it really helps kitties with depression, too, which is a wonderful way to start them eating again.
 
I am with Jenn...have you contacted anyone from the radio-iodine clinic? Phoebe did not eat much while at the facility but was okay when we got home. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
I think the board ate one of my posts-sorry :sad:

Yes, I was in contact with the vet who did the treatment. He thought there might be a problem with (a) his kidneys or (b) his blood pressure, but both of those have been ruled out.

I took him back to my vet this morning after he vomited more bile. She gave him fluids and more Cerenia. I tried to syringe feed a few hours later, but did not have much luck ( a lot of growling and spitting of food). Neither vet has any idea what could be causing his nausea, but both are now worried about h.lipidosis.

Can cats get radiation sickness? from WiKipedia: Radiation sickness is generally associated with acute (a single large) exposure.[4][5] Nausea and vomiting are usually the main symptoms.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_poisoning

I haven't read anything that says I-131 can cause radiation sickness though... :cry:

Thanks everyone for your input-I really appreciate it.
 
I would definitely do the ultrasound. They can see things even on the pancreas, I remember Tucker's US showed white spots on his pancreas before we did the biopsy.

Gett's xray was done weeks before his treatment, I assume your cat's was too. If that's the case, your kitty still could have swallowed something or a hairball could be blocking things.

I really hope this turns out to be nothing but a really major adjustment period and that your kitty starts to eat on his own.

Just curious, will they run another T4 to see if the drop in thyroid levels was too great? I'm really not familiar with how this all works, like I said earlier, this was my first time too. Hopefully others can help you.
 
would fortiflora help? how about crushing temptations over wet food?
i give cleo a few licks of chicken baby food, wait half an hour, give a few more licks, wait another half an hour, etc til the jar is gone. that can jump start her appy sometimes.

as you know, cleo has terrible problems with nausea for her lymphoma.
seems the two big guns for us have been Cerenia and Ondansetron (zofran). cerenia is supposed to stop the vomiting, and zofran helps with nausea.
mirtz has some anti-nausea properties but not to the level zofran does. i put the zofran in her subQ fluids, as it burns going in. i like mirtz mainly because it's an antidepressant and appy stimulant.
otherwise plain injectable famotadine (pepcid) helps with stomach gas.

how are rusty's kidney values (affected sometimes once hyper-T is addressed)? wondering whether phosphorus can be an issue. that can cause nausea.
 
I tried everything to get the boy to eat :) baby food, Temptations (never saw him turn down a Temptation) food w/Fortiflora, Carolyn and Spot's recommendation of Fancy Feast Gold, KFC-nothing worked. He just sat and licked his lips like he was going to barf and then would walk away.

BUT-last night, he finally ate a few Temptations! So every hour or so, I gave him 4 or 5, and he held them down. This morning he ate about 10 kibbles of FF Gold dry (wouldn't touch any canned food yet). The nausea seems to be abating! :-D I left some dry out for him to eat and I'll see how much he ate when I get home from work and will see if he was able to hold it down.

His kidney values and phosphorous levels were ok in the blood work-so those don't seem to be the cause of the nausea, although having checked it only 4 days after the treatment, it may have been too soon to tell. If he continues to throw up/not eat, we'll do the ultrasound.

Thanks everyone-I really appreciate all the suggestions!

-Wendy
 
Wendy and Boo said:
Help!


Yesterday, he became nauseous even though he hadn't eaten anything (meatloafing in corner licking his lips) and he vomited this incredibly vile brown substance so I ran him in to the E-vet, who gave him Cerenia. Did not help. But it really seems like nausea to me and not inappetence, as he comes running when he hears a can of food being opened, but then walks away.
Anybody had this problem before, or have any ideas for my vet?
Thanks, Wendy
Click to expand...

Hi Wendy, hopw he's eating better by now. I had a similar experience with Sweety and Tapazole. The part about running when food is opened but then turning away and the licking of the lips. Those are symptoms of an acid stomach, I've read. I gave Sweety Pepcid (1/8 tsp) for it and fed her anything she would eat - Human tuna worked to get her starting to eat again. I've also read that a late night snack before bedtime helps lessen stomach acid.
Poor baby - I hope he's feeling better.
 
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