Caring for your cat

When your cat comes home from our centre, there are certain precautions you will need to take. Some cats stay with us for the entire period they are radioactive, but the majority head home as soon as their radiation levels have fallen to within safe limits.

Up to 14 days after treatment it is important to do the following:

We give much more detailed guidance in our free booklet, Hyperthyroidism in Cats, but in summary, for the first 2 weeks:

• Keep young children away from your cat at all times. Keep your cat in a room on their own the whole time, to which only designated carers should have access.  Consider using door locks, if appropriate.  If contact does occur to someone other than the carer, thoroughly clean for example the child’s hands (or wherever contact occurred).  If a child and the cat are to be in adjacent rooms, please discuss with us what the wall is made of, and how far apart they will be.
• Anyone of child-bearing age should have no contact with your cat or with your cat’s litter tray.  This ensures that anyone who is or may be pregnant is kept away from radioactivity.
• Do not spend more than a few minutes at a time in close proximity to your cat. It is safe to handle your cat but avoid close contact such as hugs or sitting on your lap.  Your cat must not have access to your bedroom.
• Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling your cat, and especially before you eat or drink.
• Avoid face-to-face contact and don’t let your cat lick you.
• Prevent your cat from having access to kitchen surfaces or anywhere where food is stored or prepared.  If this does happen, clean the surface carefully before using it again.
• Contact between your cat and other pets at home is not problematic to them, so long as it doesn’t compromise your ability to control where your treated cat is.Read our detailed guidelines about how to handle soiled cat litter in our free booklet.

Between 15 and 28 days:

In most cases it is not necessary to keep your cat in a separate room.  If you have children at home or visiting, your cat should be kept in a separate room to which children have no access.  If children are inaccessible in your home (eg during school hours, or overnight), then your cat does not require to be kept in a separate room at these times.

• Your cat must not share bedrooms with people and should be kept off kitchen surfaces.
• Prevent your cat from having access to kitchen surfaces or anywhere where food is stored or prepared.  If this does happen, clean the surface carefully before using it again.
• Contact between your cat and other pets at home is not problematic to them, so long as it doesn’t compromise your ability to control where your treated cat is.
• As a guide, during days 15 – 21 your cat could spend an hour a day sitting on your lap, increasing to 2 hours a day during days 22 – 28.
• After 28 days no restrictions apply and your cat can be treated and handled as usual.

Ellie enjoys playing in the garden once more