This is a reply to all the messages. The blood was sent to the lab, not checked in-office, and was double-checked--came up positive twice. So there's not much chance it was a false positive. But from what I've read it is not unusual for an infected cat that's only three months old to test negative. He should have been retested around the time he was neutered, but my vet at the time did not mention that possibility.
Mao has actually seen three vets now (total of seven visits). One vet did the initial checkup, vaccinations, treatment for a fever, and neutering. I had moved so when the respiratory problems got bad I rushed him to a vet that was closer and open on Saturday. He took the X-ray, blood sample that came back FeLV+, and gave him steroids and mite treatment. The third vet I went to the next day was for the acute eye infection, and he got eye drugs and antibiotics added to his regime. The eye treatments seem to be helping, and he seems to be adapting to his breathing a little better. I don't think it has actually gotten any better, it's just a matter of being more used to his new environment since I moved house again. It hasn't gotten much worse in the last two days, although that's not saying much as I can't see how it could get much worse without killing him. Any exertion or scare throws him into a length fit of open-mouthed gasping--if it is particularly bad, his gums do in fact get blue. The worst is when I put the mite medication in his ears or the ointment in his eyes, to the extent that I am considering stopping those two particular medications if they're doing more harm than good, and hoping that the pills, antibiotics and eyedrops will do it. The vet hasn't mentioned euthanasia although he has said that the prognosis is very bad. He has offered to see him again and give him something to help his immune system a bit. I think he is doing all he can. Even if I could get interferon, it would be contraindicated because he is on steroids for his breathing. Surgery would require a specialist and hospitalization and in his state there is no way I would put him through that. He doesn't have a hypoplastic trachea, it is being squeezed or constricted in one spot, either due to a growing tumor or inflammation from his infection. In any event, I'm continuing to give him all his drugs and watching him closely. I hope he can pull through it but I can't let it get much worse. It gives me just a little hope that he's still happy to see me and rub my face, and still has an appetite, even though he is suffering. Last night he even managed to get onto his scratching post again. -Nathan > I'm sorry that Mao is ill. At least if he is still showing his happy > personality, you know that he's not giving up on himself yet. > > Praying for Mao that he pulls through this and stays with you for quite > awhile longer. > > Cassandra > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Nathan Kennedy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> > Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:59 AM > Subject: Late FeLV diagnosis > > >> Yesterday I got the bad news that my boy Mao was FeLV+. This was the >> worst-case scenario and one that I had dismissed because he tested >> negative when I rescued him from the street as a baby in October, as had >> the only other cat he had contact with. >> >> He saw the vet on his first visit, the next day for vaccinations and a >> checkup, a few weeks later for boosters, again for a nasty fever in >> December that cleared up shortly afterwards, and in January for >> neutering. >> Other than the fever, the only problems he had were recurring diarrhea >> that I tried to manage by modifying his diet and an occasional fit of >> whooping that the vet had dismissed as hairballs. Those worried me a >> bit, >> but the vet's clean bill of health, his big appetite, energy, and growth >> all reassured me. >> >> Until recently. Mao seemed to dull a bit, and started snoring during >> his >> naps. Over the past week, Mao developed a nasty case of earmites and >> increased trouble breathing, progressing into fits of gasping for air. >> Since he had no runny nose and his temperature was normal, I thought it >> might be asthma. I took him to the vet on Saturday, and he took a blood >> sample and X-rayed him, finding a constriction in his trachea. He >> prescribed prednisone to try to make it easier for him to breathe as >> well >> as treatment for the mites. Then Sunday night, Mao almost instantly >> developed a horrible eye infection. The third eyelid of his right eye >> closed over and swelled up, blinding him in that eye and making it >> impossible for him to close it--meanwhile, his breathing deteriorated. >> He >> went back to another vet in the morning, and got eyedrops and ointment >> as >> well as antibiotics. It wasn't until later in the afternoon I got the >> call that he had tested FeLV+. >> >> Mao's breathing is not improving. The slightest exertion is enough to >> send him into a loud fit of labored gasping, and when he is not napping >> every breath is strained--he can't climb his scratching post anymore, >> which used to be his favorite perch. Despite all that, he still wakes >> me >> up in the morning purring and rubbing my face. He still likes to eat >> and >> pauses between bites of his favorite food to give me his happy look >> through his squinting, red eyes. He has always been such a happy cat, >> and >> it still shows through all his suffering. >> >> But if his condition doesn't get any better I don't think he can last >> much >> longer. It's hard to see this happen to Mao at such a young age (not >> even >> 8 months yet). The vet who diagnosed him told me that he could have >> gotten FeLV shortly before I found him and tested negative. I didn't >> think I would lose him so soon. >> >> >> >> >> -- >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >> Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.25/744 - Release Date: >> 4/3/2007 >> 5:32 AM >> >> > > >
