Radiocat

Grateful to have this facility available in the Bay Area. They handled my dragon-​cat without any issues to get her the treatment she needed. Thanks to everyone, especially Valencia for tolerating a very unappreciative patient and her grateful owner!

My experience at RadioCat was fantastic. Valencia was amazing with my cat Timmy. I found them to be professional and compassionate. If I could give Valencia more stars I would. She called me daily with updates and my cat was ready to go when they said he would be ready. It’s not an easy decision to make to have this procedure done, but I’m glad I did. Thanks Valencia!!!

Did the months blood work to see if the injection worked and guess what IT DID NO MORE TUMOR! Happy clients!

As awful as it is, my poor 13 year cat had a tumor on his thryoid. My vet suggested hewas a good candidate for radiation. Radiation? Geez, who wants that.
However, LInda, RadioCat on top of things. alot to coordinate with the vet ie tests, results, emailing, faxing, etc. for prep work. She handled all of it 100% well done.
Valencia, tech who as been there 2 years took care of my Sami. She played cat videos for him (?) talked to him, called me daily for update. He might be liking her more than me now, and happy for it!
If your cat is a candidate, and you take this approach, they are worth 5 stars. The location is a less than a 5 star, but, I am very greatful to them.

Our biggest kitty Cranky (14 lbs and tummy swooshing on the floor) turned into our smallest (7 lbs) after developing a hyper-​thyroid condition. At first we thought the extra space in our new house was letting her stretch her legs a bit more, but then she started feeling a little boney…
Her T-​4 (thyroid) level was pretty high and at the dosage of pills to keep it under control, we were looking at $ 600 /​year so thought the $ 1,150 cost of the radioactive iodine seemed like a reasonable long-​term treatment. Be forewarned, the $ 1,150 cost from Radiocat turns into a total cost of ~$ 1,500 when you add in the pre/​post x-​rays/​testing that is done by your regular vet.
And then we found that we’re part of the 5%!!
We were warned that ~5% of cats with thyroid levels as high as Cranky’s will need a 2^nd treatment and it happened to us. First treatment helped, but T-​4 levels still way above normal (14).
They do give you 50% off, if a 2^nd treatment is needed :(
Pam, the nurse /​tech who does the intake and discharge was very friendly and called every day Cranky was there with updates.

Our beautiful baby girl had her followup blood test and her thyroid is now 1.27, which is ideal! Yay!!! Thanks, Radiocat!
On a sad note, however, I heard that Pam is no longer with Radiocat. We got in under the wire, and didn’t know it. Our baby was in Pam’s last group of cats and now she has moved on. We’re incredibly fortunate that our elegant gorgeous bundle of fluff got Pam-​care, but it now means that subsequent cats won’t have her: (. I’m sorry to get anyone’s hopes up with my original review, as it was mostly about Pam. I hope that her replacement will provide that level of care as Pam was truly special.
Read more details about my experience at
and see this kitty’s advice blog at
enjoy!

In summary, live cat in, live cat out. A good experience from an efficient organization.
We’ve broken up this review into 3 sections, the first and last just extra information, and the middle section is the actual review of Radiocat.
BEFORE RADIOACTIVE IODINE TREATMENT
After our cat was diagnosed as hyperthyroid, our vet suggested we put her on Methimazole (Tapazole) for about a month, to help reveal any hidden kidney ailments (apparently a hyperactive thyroid is actually helpful for feline kidneys — but bad for heart and liver — and some cats actually do better balancing the two conditions with careful, vet-​supervised administration of Methimazole). In our case, our 11-​year-​old cat Sasha had a severe (rare) reaction to the Methimazole, leaving us with no choice but to go the radioactive iodine route. (Technically there is a third option, surgery, but it wasn’t sounding right for us.) And while radioactive iodine treatment isn’t cheap ($ 1,150 in October 2011), it supposedly gives the best long term results if your kitty is hyperthyroid (search the web for studies).
RADIOCAT «SPA WEEK»
Once we were ready to do it, our vet contacted Radiocat to determine if our cat was qualified for admission. Linda from Radiocat called us ahead of time and went over all of the warnings and information, and answered all of our questions. She also warned us that some cats who have T4 results 15 or over *may* have to come back for a second treatment at half price. Linda tries to call people back promptly, and for the most part does pretty well but it may take til the next day. Fortunately our vet knew we were aiming to admit Sasha for this type of treatment, and along the way they had already administered the various required tests (see
for a list), so our hurried schedule (due to reaction to Methimazole) was not delayed. We were also lucky that Radiocat was doing treatments in the week we needed, and she was admitted to the program. We had to bring her x-​rays with us, but all the other information was faxed over from our vet’s office.
Radiocat shares offices with VMS (Veterinary Medical Specialists). It’s on a frontage road right by a major freeway, but the office inside is nicely appointed and there were lots of other pets going in and out.
Pam was our contact person at Radiocat. She made sure we knew that any toys or blankets we sent in with our feline would not be returned, and went over all the after-​care rules with us. Pam is a cat owner herself, and very cheerful and caring; she accepted our long list of «what Queen Sasha requires» without a blink of an eye, and seemed to appreciate knowing how to make life easier for Sasha. Only 2 other cats were in treatment with our girl (full house is 12 cats), and Pam was happy to inform us that she had rearranged all the cages into double spaces, with a shelf to jump on and extra width.
The treatment is painless: one simple injection. Pam called us right afterward to report how Sasha behaved, and we had a chance to exchange more information about personality traits that would make our kitty’s stay less stressful.
Pam called us every day with an update on how our kitty was doing (not happy, but not the most grumpy of residents). (How about webcams in the future?) While she was still one upset kitty when we picked her up, she was so happy to get home.
AFTER THE TREATMENT
After-​care, just to let you know, is not so easy, at least emotionally. You pick up your kitty, who doesn’t know what she did to deserve incarceration without trial and probably is needing some extra love and cuddling, just when you are required to keep her at arm’s length! Because of the radiation, contact should be limited to ½ an hour a day at one foot, and 2 hours at 3 feet (and no sleeping with you, you’ll have to keep her out of your bedroom for 2 weeks). You also need to wash your hands after petting, and use special flushable litter (if you put the litter in the garbage, radiation detectors at the landfills may be tripped, and financial penalties could result. Who knew?) All this goes on for two weeks and all the while kitty is wondering why the cold shoulder? We have a feeling the RadioCat people are erring on the side of caution, per state regulations, but hey, why mess around with radiation; look what it did to Bruce Banner — turned him into «The Hulk». Our cat has not developed any super-​powers yet, but we are keeping a wary eye.
Still, it’s not so bad, and you can do a lot of petting in 30 minutes if you mete it out over the whole day. We are looking forward to the end of the «quarantine» period, when we can let her walk all over us, as usual.
UPDATE: Jan.20,2012. T4 levels 2.3, low normal. Kitty doing fine. Her appetite is fine and she is less hyper, which is OK with me; she used to wear me out, but now she naps a lot more.

All of the employees who helped us were very caring and fantastic. Marianne who helped us set up the appointment and went over the procedure and aftercare, and Pam, the nurse who took care of our cat everyday he was at Radiocat. The whole procedure went smoothly and the restrictions we had to follow for the two weeks after the procedure were not as difficult as expected.
When we signed up for the treatment, we were told that 5−7% of cats will end up with an underactive thyroid as a result of the procedure. There was actually some concern that our cat would need a second treatment since his thyroid levels were so high going in. Much to our surprise, his follow-​up blood tests have revealed that his thyroid levels now are virtually zero, meaning his overactive thyroid is now underactive. Follow-​up consultations with Radiocat have revealed that actually 50% of cats end up with an underactive thyroid as a result of this treatment! While he doesn’t have any problems that need treatment as a result of his new condition (most cats do not we’ve been told), he has gained 2 pounds because of his new ultra-​slow metabolism despite the fact that we feed him considerably less food each day. The weight has aggravated his arthritis and made it difficult for him to get around like he used to.
He is 15 years old and overweight, and while we are happy to not be dealing with his overactive thyroid anymore (pills twice a day, pet sitters twice a day when we traveled, $$$), we do feel we weren’t given accurate information up front and may not have made the best decision for our cat as a result. Instead, we probably would have waited until he had lost some weight before having the procedure done.

Our Earl got the treatment at this facility in December 2009 and it got rid of the hyperthyroidism completely. Staff was very friendly and called every day he stayed there to report on how he was doing. Everything was explained very carefully in advance. He is still with us and doing well in spite of having renal failure now (and responding well to fluid therapy).

Our 12 year old cat, Tommy, developed an overactive thyroid last year and it wasn’t fun. He was obviously unhappy, crying for hours at a time, and we knew we needed to do something. Our vet suggested treating his condition with radiation, and luckily Radiocat is just a few miles from our home.
I had a lot of concerns and reservations about going to Radiocat. Injecting your cat with radioactive liquid to cure his thyroid seemed excessive and a little scary. But our vet assured us it was the best option given Tommy’s age and overall general condition, so we did it.
I give Radiocat 4 not 5 stars, because it was a little difficult and annoying to get an appointment to have Tommy treated. The 800-​number which we were told to call rolled over to an answering machine more often than not. It took several tries to get through to a human who could make the appointment. Once that hurdle was overcome, though, things changed for the better.
The nurse who did Tommy’s intake couldn’t have been nicer or more reassuring. She called us every day with updates on how Tommy was doing and gave us a thorough rundown of everything we needed to do once Tommy came home.
It was somewhat ironic that Tommy was in his 2 week period of confinement during the tragedy in Japan. Watching reports of nuclear reactors going awry on CNN with a radioactive cat in in the house was a little surreal, and a good reminder to take the warnings about proper care and handling of your radioactive cat very seriously indeed.
Today marks one month since Tommy had his treatment and I am very happy to say that we have our old Tommy back. He did not have any bad after effects from the treatment and has recovered completely. He is calm and happy, has regained some weight, and is back to his normal routine.
I have no regrets about sending Tommy to Radiocat. It seemed extreme and scary before we did it, but the result was worth it.

Good treatment, slow customer service at times which can be frustrating.

I freaked out when I learned my cat had an overactive thyroid, but my vet referred me to Radiocat. It’s an expensive procedure, but the Radiocat people were absolutely top-​notch, cordial, and professional. I called them and left my name and they called me back that day with detailed instructions for getting my cat X-​rayed. They worked with my vet and had my cat’s lab reports sent over. They told me the total cost and the final cost was exactly that amount with no surprises. They called me a week before the procedure to review the whole thing, and they mailed me a information packet with very detailed instructions for how to get to their office in San Mateo, what time to arrive, what to bring, and what to expect. The lady at Radiocat (I think her title was veterinary nurse) was absolutely wonderful… it was obvious she loved animals and would take care of my cat. She called me every day with a status of my cat and made a lot of comments that proved she was really concerned about his health and well-​being. I was really stressed out over my cat (I had lost another cat just 8 weeks ago) but Radiocat was ultra-​competent and took away all the stress. My cat is back home and is doing great and I am looking forward to having him around for many more years without the horror of forcing two pills down his throat every day for his thyroid. Excellent work, Radiocat.

As I write this, our sweet, beloved cat lies dead just a few weeks after the operation.
I’ll try to be fair, although this will be hard as I write this with a very heavy heart. Veterinary science, is inexact to be sure, but I truly regret having done the Radiocat operation to our poor cat. Wherever she, I hope she forgives us, as we were only trying to make her life better because of the hyper-​thyroid condition.
We knew our cat had a heart murmur, so she was not in the best of shape. Nevertheless, according to RadioCat that she was in good candidate for the operation, but there was a danger that the underlying Hyperthyroidism might mask other conditions.
What I’m guessing what happened was the stress of the post operation put an undue burden on her circulatory system because she had to be off her anti-​thyroid meds prior to and after the operation and without them, her heart would race. I’m sure staying in a strange cage without us didn’t help (no visits allowed after the operation.) After she came home, she never quite regained her appetite and quite ill at times. We spent additional hundreds of dollars with our regular vet trying to save her. There were heart wrenching days when she was just terrible and other days where we had hope that she might hang on as she basked in the sun as she did today, though our vet warned us that she might go suddenly at any moment, which is exactly what happened tonight.
It’s hard to believe she’s gone.
Our regular vet charitably suggests that the cat was in poor shape to begin with, so it could be very well that the operation had nothing to do with our cat’s death, she may have died anyway at anytime. There’s no way of knowing for sure.
We loved our cat, but now she is just a data point for you, dear reader, to consider: Do you want to take a perhaps small risk of your cat’s life on this operation to gain an improved quality of life, not to mention the operation’s cost and hassle of dealing with a radioactive cat? I believe the vast majority of the operations are successful, but perhaps not in our case.
What’s done is done, but most sadly, I won’t have a chance to hold our dear cat in my arms ever again.

If you have an elderly cat, chances are that it will develop one of two problems in it’s lifetime, that is; diabetes or hyperthyroidism. If you have a cat that is over 10 years old, you have about a 2% developing hyperthyroidism.
It’s not a cheap disease to treat, as the laboratory test for T3 & T4 levels run about $ 50 or so. The only approved drug to treat this condition, tapazole, is a pill (also a cream, but not as effective in this form) and most animals develop side effects such as itching (especially around the face which can lead to scabbing) and a host of gastrointestinal symptoms, like vomiting and diarrhea. Tapazole itself is a cheap medication, but you have to dose your cat daily for life in order to suppress the excess thyroid hormone.
Such was the case with my poor kitty, she had very bad side effects, including a 3-​day bout of near constant vomiting (not fun). So that left surgery or radioactive iodide (I-​131) therapy. My cat is 12.5 years old, and that’s generally not a good age for surgery (it’s the equivalent of 70 human years) and surgery is not always successful.
There are only two places in the Peninsula which administer the I-​131 therapy, and Radio-​cat is one of them.
The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. This is a company which has 16 franchises nationally, started by a couple of vets. Three of those locations are in California and this review is about their San Mateo location. The only gripe I had was that they required my cat have a chest x-​ray prior to therapy. Because my cat was not cooperative with this, she required anesthesia, and subsequent monitoring. The end result was that this x-​ray cost me about $ 375 dollars (much more than one pays for a human x-​ray). The cost of the I-​131 therapy at the time I had it done (April 08) was $ 1050, this included the radioactive iodide, and boarding of my kitty for 4 days to a week (depending on how quickly her post therapy radiation levels dropped), and a special kitty litter.
Because your pet is radioactive after therapy, you receive special instructions on handling her waste and on personal contact. Your risk of radiation exposure is quite low once the cat is released, as a former oncology nurse, I did some calculations and discovered that it would take continuous exposure to about 60 cats to equal the exposure of one chest x-​ray. Since the half-​life of I-​131 is about 8 days, your risks decrease dramatically over time, so this is a safe, effective treatment even if you have kids at home. After two weeks post treatment, your kitty is no longer a ‘radiocat’ and has normalized radiation levels.
The hospital is located on the frontage road that parallels 101, in a group of buildings that has other veterinary services. It can be easy to miss, as the rest of the area looks quite industrial.
If the first I-​131 therapy should happen to be ineffective (rare occurrence) Radio-​cat only charges you half price for the second treatment (isn’t that nice?)
The staff called me daily while I was boarding my kitty, and gave me updates on her condition and mental status (she is not a good patient). They measure her radioactivity levels until they reach a specified level, and then your cat is discharged home to your care. Any blankets or soft bedding you bring to Radio-​cat is destroyed at their facility, at it can be contaminated with urine and other body fluids which are radioactive after treatment. Your cat carrier is stored in a separate room. Their facilities can hold and treat about 8 cats at a time. Overall their services were excellent, but pricey. So make sure you buy that pet insurance before your cat turns 10 (which is the usual cut off age).