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>>>>Whatever my Purrki's true FeLV status may be, he is
determined to live life
to the fullest and won't have it any other way. I do
hope he will be with me
for years to come. He is a risk taker who likes
living on the edge and it may
very well be that some other hazard in life
will claim him and not FeLV. He
is sort of like Evel Knieval in a cat's
body.<<<<
I'm sitting here with a smile on my face...thanks for that
wonderful portrait of Purrki, Sally! (I think I would do well to take a leaf out
of the little treasure's book!) Kerry
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 1:00
AM
Subject: Re: Felv+ but white blood cell
count normal...and beyond
Dear Sally,
Your stories about your cats are
very entertaining! I honestly have not had much experience with cats
before I had Killian. Killian was my husband's cat and when we got
married she became our cat. She is a wonderful cat and has made me love
cats so much! I don't know whether you know this or not but she is 11
years old! Still full of energy! But it sounds like you have had
much more experience with cats than I have!
I am VERY protective of
Killian. She has always been an indoor cat. On nice days she begs
to go out so we let her out on the enclosed front porch and she loves
it! She is an only cat and for her sake I plan on keeping it that
way. If she was not felv+ and a senior cat I probably would have LOTS of
cats but I am looking out for her best interest. She has always been an
"only" cat and it's probably best to keep it that way. I will do all I
can to make sure that she remains healthy and happy!
Thanks for all of your
information!
Kathy
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Dear
Kathy:
All stable, nonsymptomatic FeLV+ cats can be assumed to be
infected with the
FeLV-A subgroup that causes immunosupression but not
much else. As such they
are at increased risk due to whatever pathogens
may be in the environment or
carried by other cats. The optimum
situation for an FeLV+ cat is to be kept
indoors and away from other
cats who may go outdoors and bring in unknown
contaminants that could
represent an assault to their compromised immune system.
Keeping any
kind of stress (including vaccinations) in their lives to a minimum
is
also very beneficial as a lot of stress can also have a negative effect on
the immune system. Until researchers are motivated to try and discover
what
causes the relatiavely benign FeLV-A subgroup to recombine with a
cat's DNA and
mutate into one of the more virulent subgroups B, C or B+C
(that cause the
most serious manifestations of FeLV (lymphoma/other
cancers;
severe/non-regenerative anemia), all we can do is assume that
such preventive measures may help
in that regard. That, and a healthy
diet with supplementation/immune support
are all that is currently
available to us in trying to keep an FeLV+ cat
stable. One the virus
mutates and a cat crashes with serious symptoms, there isn't
much we can
do.
So, I would rejoice that Killian's bloodwork, for now, is normal
and she is
non symptomatic. But do not become complacent or less
vigilant in providing
the safest, most stress-free environment,
healthiest diet and immune support
that you can afford to provide and be
ever watchful for even minor changes in
behavior or appetite that could
be the first indication your cat's status may be
altering. All that
said, we also have to struggle with the concept of
"quality of life" and
for some cats keeping them within a protective bubble-type
existence is
just not on their agenda.
I rescued a kitten last July who had tested
postive at 6 weeks and would have
been PTS that day if I had not brought
him home with me. I did my very best
to keep him isolated and safe
during the weeks that followed until he would be
old enough to re-test.
Purrki, however, had his own agenda and thwarted my
best efforts on his
behalf at every turn so that I eventually gave in to his
plaintive pleas
and allowed him supervised time out of his isolation pen with
the other
positives in the room. Then he figured out when I opened the door to
the
room he could jump over the barrier and between my feet to get out into
the rest of the house with the non-positive cats and he could have a lot
of fun
before I was able to chase him down and return him to the FeLV+
ward. From
there he graduated to listening for the sound of the back
door opening and
shooting out the door like a furry rocket to launch
himself at the chickens in the
back yard and send them squawking. This
little guy is a bonafide feline free
spirit who is determined to live
large regardless of what his FeLV status
might be. With him, I came to
the conclusion I was fighting a losing battle to
protect him from his
own enthusiasm for life and it was useless to do so...that
he had his
own agenda for whatever time he was going to have in his svelte
mini-panther body and he would rather be doing a cheetah imitation
chasing the
chickens or rabbit, or a leopard imitation in the trees than
lounging indoors,
safe and protected.
Fortunately for Purrki,
when he was neutered in December at 6 months, he
re-tested NEGATIVE for
FeLV! He has either beaten some very long odds and
seroconverted, or his
FeLV infection has become a latent one...the only way I can
know for
sure would be to do a bone marrow test which would require anesthesia
and $$. For now, I am keeping him on the same immune support as my other
FeLV+
cats and keeping him indoors as much as possible, but I do now
allow him to
mix with my other cats and allow him to go outside in the
morings when I am
doing my chores and able to supervise his activity. He
was microchipped when he
got neutered so I feel a tiny bit less worried
in that regard. Now that going
outside is not such forbidden fruit,
Purrki is less apt to toss his head, flip
his tail and give me a merry
chase when it is time to come in and will now
usually come in when I
call him after he's been outside for a while. Luckily, I
have a huge
fenced yard and with a Boxer/Pit Bull in the yard on one side and
a
Mastiff on the other I don't get strange cats wandering through my yard who
might leave unwanted infectious material behind. So for now, at least,
Mr.
Purrki T. (for Trouble) Pantera is living life on his terms and
loving it.
One of his ways to amuse himself indoors was to pounce on
my two geriatric
girls who are early CRF or ambush them as they walked
by. He was harrassing
them so badly I was prompted to rescue a kitten
about his age from death row at
the local shelter, hoping she would be a
more enticing diversion for his
youthful antics.
Unfortunately, the
reason she was on the E-list is that she had a minor URI
and despite my
best efforts, Purrki and also most of my adult indoor cats ended
up
sneezing and coughing though only two of the older ones needed to be
medicated to get through it. But URI's are very easily spread not only
by contact
but through the air and even the FeLV+ kittys isolated in a
back bedroom were
affected and more seriously than the rest. Everyone is
now well again and it
was not life-threatening, but you always have to
keep in mind that even minor
things like a URI can have more serious
consequences for cats who are FeLV+.
The new little one was
christened Purrla la Douce and has certainly filled
the need of a young
and energetic playmate for Purrki. My two old girls are
purring with
relief that harrassing them is no longer the indoor game of choice
for
Purrki. But he is still single-pawedly dedicated to making sure my life is
not boring. Indoor plants are a thing of the past and whatever is up
must
come down off the walls or shelves or wherever. He has learned how
to open
cupboards in the kitchen and roll canned goods across the floor.
He likes to pick
things up in his mouth (like sink strainers, hair
clips, whatever) and carry
them around the house. He has learned that if
he runs across the computer
printer at night, it will turn on and the
green light will flash and it will beep
and entertain him. He likes to
pull papers out of files and shred the
edges. So far he has not
discovered how much fun it is to unroll toilet paper and
I am hoping he
doesn't. And now he has a partner in crime, though Purrla is
much more
self-restrained, thankfully.
After tragically losing my first two
FeLV+ kittens, one at 8 mos. to
non-regenerative anemia and the other at
16 mos. to what was probably lymphoma in the
lungs, Purrki's apparent
seroconversion was a much-welcomed reprieve. I still
have two others I
know are FeLV+, now 18-19 mos. and stable with only mild
gingivitis.
They were feral born and are still semi-feral and all they have
ever
known is their bedroom with a view to the world outdoors...they seem very
content to stay in that quiet and safe world I have provided for them.
They
seem to be doing very well on a raw-based diet with Vit. C, CoQ10
and Transfer
Factor supplementation. But we all know how quickly being
FeLV+ and
non-symptomatic can and does change for the worse. We do the
best we can and love them
one day at a time.
Whatever my Purrki's
true FeLV status may be, he is determined to live life
to the fullest
and won't have it any other way. I do hope he will be with me
for years
to come. He is a risk taker who likes living on the edge and it may
very
well be that some other hazard in life will claim him and not FeLV. He
is sort of like Evel Knieval in a cat's body.
I guess I rather
got off the subject, didn't I? Here's hoping Killian will
remain stable
with normal blood values. The fact that she had enough immune
function
to fight off whatever it was that had elevated her WBC is encouraging.
Here's hoping she will be one of the lucky ones who can live with the
virus
long term.
I did e-mail Rosemary on Holisticat and
forwarded your query but she
responded and said she did not feel
confident making any conclusions about bloodwork
for an FeLV+ cat. I
asked her was it really so different than for a
non-positive cat and she
said she thought it was. She did give me some websites to go
to for more
info about interpreting blood panel results and I will forward them
to
you. I'm hoping I can become more enlightened about that, as
well.
Sally in San Jose
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