Re: [Felvtalk] Best Wishes for 2019 (was: Batman Felv Positive
Thank you Sandy. May this year be our best one yet! Or at the very least, better & better. Kat (Mew Jersey) Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2019 at 11:15 AM From: "Sandra Wachtstetter" To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org, "Amani Oakley" Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Batman Felv Positive Happy New Year 2019!! Nothing has been posted since - well looks like October sometime. Guessing all is okay - Be safe and hope 2019 gets off to a great start! Sandy W On October 18, 2018 at 12:54 PM Amani Oakley wrote: I actually had a few similar experiences. Once it involved two very young kittens. Once it involved a cat about a year old. In my opinion, the two different experiences had two different causative agents, and at the risk of boring you silly, I will try to explain both. Neither, by the way, was well understood by the vets, leading me again to the inevitable conclusion that cat health is very poorly studied (no where near dog health) and because cats respond different to disease and medication, (whereas dogs respond very much like people), then science and medicine is way behind in understanding cats. With respect to the kittens, it was my view that they actually had (and one of them still has) Lyme disease. The area I picked them up was one very well-known to be endemic for Lyme disease. They had an alternating lameness – once picking up one paw which seemed very swollen and sore – and then next day, picking up the other paw. I looked this up and saw that this alternating lameness was described in dogs with Lyme disease. However, my vet believed that it might be calici virus. I didn’t agree with her, but let her treat for calici virus (including vaccination). The acute phase of the response seemed to be limited in time, and both kittens seemed to get better on their own. However, their brother lapsed into a coma – was literally unresponsive for hours while I sat up with him. I didn’t know what to do, and my view was that either there was inflammation of the meninges (sac surrounding the brain) or an inflammation of the brain itself, causing increased intracranial pressure which might also result in loss of consciousness. I superdosed him with transdermal prednisone, took him to bed with me and kept checking him for hours. Then, suddenly, at about 4 in the morning, he just bounded awake, and began playing and galavanting all over the bed. Meanwhile, though, one of his two sisters has never been the same. She lost HUGE amounts of weight, and even now, as a 2+ year old cat, she weighs less than many kittens and she is all bones. I have been treating her with a combination of Winstrol, Doxycycline, high prednisone doses and magnesium (her muscles don’t work right – like they are constantly spastic, and she walks in a funny tip toe way, and has poor coordination jumping on things and going up stairs, etc.) Anyhow, she is starting to get better, starting to put on weight and starting to walk better. I am convinced this was and is Lyme disease, though scientists and vets say that cats don’t get it. I don’t know how they know this, because they DO NOT TEST cats for it. Story number two involves a kitten I got who was described as a “wobbly” kitten and it was assumed that his mom had suffered a viral infection when he was in utero, which can result in this type of neurological damage (and it can be much worse). However, when he was very little, he suddenly and without warning, decided to squat and pee right in the middle of our bed, and he had never done this before. He was looking straight at me and I felt that he didn’t know why he was doing what he was doing. Not too long after (a few weeks or maybe a month), he started showing some very alarming neurological symptoms, including a loss of muscle control in the back end. His rectum seemed not tight but loose and stool just “fell out” rather than being pushed out. His back legs in particular also became very very weak, and he developed a “tripod stance” – both back legs together – his back end would sway and he would fall down. My knowledge with humans is that this occurs when there is damage to nerves in the spinal column, or pressure on them from a herniated disc, or something like that (cauda equina syndrome). I took him to the emergency clinic, but I had already started him on Winstrol and Prednisolone, assuming that the Prednisolone would help with reduction of swelling in the spinal canal and thus take pressure off the affected nerves, and the Winstrol might help in healing whatever injury there was in the spinal column. By the time they could do an MRI on him, he was regaining all function and his gait had become normal. The MRI was inconclusive, with the vets thinking that they could possible see the remains of a lesion, right in the area where one would expect it to be to affect rectal control and muscle function of the back legs, but the lesion appeared to be healed over so they couldn’t tell if that was the cause or if the lesion
Re: [Felvtalk] Batman Felv Positive
Happy New Year 2019!! Nothing has been posted since - well looks like October sometime. Guessing all is okay - Be safe and hope 2019 gets off to a great start! Sandy W > On October 18, 2018 at 12:54 PM Amani Oakley wrote: > > > I actually had a few similar experiences. Once it involved two very young > kittens. Once it involved a cat about a year old. In my opinion, the two > different experiences had two different causative agents, and at the risk of > boring you silly, I will try to explain both. Neither, by the way, was well > understood by the vets, leading me again to the inevitable conclusion that > cat health is very poorly studied (no where near dog health) and because cats > respond different to disease and medication, (whereas dogs respond very much > like people), then science and medicine is way behind in understanding cats. > > > > With respect to the kittens, it was my view that they actually had (and > one of them still has) Lyme disease. The area I picked them up was one very > well-known to be endemic for Lyme disease. They had an alternating lameness – > once picking up one paw which seemed very swollen and sore – and then next > day, picking up the other paw. I looked this up and saw that this alternating > lameness was described in dogs with Lyme disease. However, my vet believed > that it might be calici virus. I didn’t agree with her, but let her treat for > calici virus (including vaccination). The acute phase of the response seemed > to be limited in time, and both kittens seemed to get better on their own. > However, their brother lapsed into a coma – was literally unresponsive for > hours while I sat up with him. I didn’t know what to do, and my view was that > either there was inflammation of the meninges (sac surrounding the brain) or > an inflammation of the brain itself, causing increased intracranial pressure > which might also result in loss of consciousness. I superdosed him with > transdermal prednisone, took him to bed with me and kept checking him for > hours. Then, suddenly, at about 4 in the morning, he just bounded awake, and > began playing and galavanting all over the bed. Meanwhile, though, one of his > two sisters has never been the same. She lost HUGE amounts of weight, and > even now, as a 2+ year old cat, she weighs less than many kittens and she is > all bones. I have been treating her with a combination of Winstrol, > Doxycycline, high prednisone doses and magnesium (her muscles don’t work > right – like they are constantly spastic, and she walks in a funny tip toe > way, and has poor coordination jumping on things and going up stairs, etc.) > Anyhow, she is starting to get better, starting to put on weight and starting > to walk better. I am convinced this was and is Lyme disease, though > scientists and vets say that cats don’t get it. I don’t know how they know > this, because they DO NOT TEST cats for it. > > > > Story number two involves a kitten I got who was described as a “wobbly” > kitten and it was assumed that his mom had suffered a viral infection when he > was in utero, which can result in this type of neurological damage (and it > can be much worse). However, when he was very little, he suddenly and without > warning, decided to squat and pee right in the middle of our bed, and he had > never done this before. He was looking straight at me and I felt that he > didn’t know why he was doing what he was doing. Not too long after (a few > weeks or maybe a month), he started showing some very alarming neurological > symptoms, including a loss of muscle control in the back end. His rectum > seemed not tight but loose and stool just “fell out” rather than being pushed > out. His back legs in particular also became very very weak, and he developed > a “tripod stance” – both back legs together – his back end would sway and he > would fall down. My knowledge with humans is that this occurs when there is > damage to nerves in the spinal column, or pressure on them from a herniated > disc, or something like that (cauda equina syndrome). I took him to the > emergency clinic, but I had already started him on Winstrol and Prednisolone, > assuming that the Prednisolone would help with reduction of swelling in the > spinal canal and thus take pressure off the affected nerves, and the Winstrol > might help in healing whatever injury there was in the spinal column. By the > time they could do an MRI on him, he was regaining all function and his gait > had become normal. The MRI was inconclusive, with the vets thinking that they > could possible see the remains of a lesion, right in the area where one would > expect it to be to affect rectal control and muscle function of the back > legs, but the lesion appeared to be healed over so they couldn’t tell if that > was the cause or if the lesion was old or new. > > > > It sounds to me like the prednisone you
