Re: Introduction

[Lernermichelle]

Marissa,     Hi and welcome, and BLESS YOU for adopting a cat with FeLV!  My suggestion is this: if he is still on Baytril, take him off it. Cats are not meant to be on Baytril that long-- it is a very strong drug. My Lucy was on it for a month for bladder infection when she had a stone two months ago, and she is still having diarrhea from it even though she has been off it for weeks-- she never had diarrhea before, but it really screwed up her system.  So take him off it and give him acidophilus, which is good bacteria for the gut to replace all the good bacteria that has been killed off by the Baytril.  Also, take  him off the Vitamin C, which can also cause diarrhea.        There are other ways to make URI's better. Give him Lysine, which you can get in health food stores, which supports the immune system and is anti-viral. Also 6 drops of echinacea tincture each day (get the kind without alcohol).  And read the archived posts and the articles on this group's web page about Immuno-Regulin, which has really helped a few of our cats kick hard-to-beat URI's. And if he really does need antibiotics, try Clavamox or, less traditional for URI's but very effective we have found, Doxicycline.        Also, at this point he probably has an upset stomach, so I would give him 1/4 of a Pepcid (the kind that is all famotidine with no other ingredients)  once or twice a day.       If his symptoms are from URI and too much antibiotics, this course should help.  You should realize though that there are other things that cats with FeLV are vulnerable to that could cause the GI symptoms, like intestinal lymphoma.  That can be controlled with steroids and chemo, but has to be diagnosed.  For now, though, I think I would assume that the problems are from the exceedingly long course of Baytril and the Vitamin C, because that could definitely do this, I think.      Good luck and please keep us updated.   Michelle   In a message dated 12/2/2005 7:54:03 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Hello!    I am so happy to have found this mailing list.  My name is Marissa and I wanted to introduce my little guy, Jake.  I adopted Jake only a couple months ago from a rescue group that I had been fostering for.  I was moving to a new city and decided I wanted to take a cat with me, and since FeLV cats are so hard to adopt out, and little Jake was just too cute for words, I decided he deserved to not be in a cage for the rest of his life so I adopted him.    He is such a great cat.  So playful, affectionate, silly, sweet.  Just a good little guy.  Soon after I adopted him he started coughing and sneezing and had a fever.  Probably something he caught when he was surrounded by other cats in the rescue shelter.  He was on Baytril and the vet kept him on it because he seemed to get better with it, and every time I would take him off of it he would start sneezing or coughing.  The vet also put him on Interferon and gave me vitamin C to give to him as a supplement.  Then about a week ago he started to have diarrhea.  Vet put him on Metronidazale.  Then a couple days ago he stopped having an appetite.  The vet thinks it may be the vitamin C upsetting his stomach, so I stopped that, and have been force feeding him baby food and water.  He still has no appetite (only stopped the C about 36 hours ago) and isn't quite himself, although he isn't totally lethargic either.     I just hope that this isn't the "beginning of the end."  Jake is about 2.5 years old and I don't know much about his history other than his previous owner surrendered him at the beginning of the year.  I would appreciate any advice from others experienced with FeLV cats as well as any tips on force feeding.  I hate to do it but I don't see any other option.  The vet says if hes not better he wants to run a bunch of tests on him, which I hope I don't have to do.   Thanks for reading and for all of your help!   Marissa