Hi Quentin, Yes, $105 if normal if it included an office exam. My vet charges $35 for an office exam and just about anything else he does is $20-30 each, including tests and meds. Blood work is about $75. It's not cheap. Part of the reason is that the meds come from the same pharmaceutical companies that make human meds, so you know they are expensive. My vet will price match so if I can find it cheaper somewhere else, even online, like at Petmeds.com, he will match it. Yes, I think it is expensive, but the cost all depends on a vet's overhead costs and if they are greedy. lol. I would imagine you were charged for an office visit as well.
One thing we always say here is if you are not comfortable with your vet, find one you are comfortable with. You can also shop around for ones that are less expensive, but be careful not to find someone who is a quack. I always like to talk to the vets on the phone, specifically asking them their philosophy on treating FeLV, before I will bring my kitty in. If they won't talk to me for a few minutes on the phone, I am not going to take my cat there. It is normal for FeLV+ mothers to pass the antibodies (correct term???) on to their offspring. The good thing is if this is how your kitty got it, he has a decent chance of seroconverting. Just make sure you are keeping his environment stress free. When you said 'college senior', I started seeing visions of "Revenge of the Nerds" and your poor kitty in my head...lololol. I don't know anything about anti-oxidants. If I were you, I'd repost with that as the subject line so you can get specific answers on that. Just don't give your kitty anything your vet doesn't ok. As you probably know, cat bodies are much different from human bodies and they can't always take the same things we can. Imagine poor dogs...they can't eat chocolate!!! lol. The lysine hopefully will help the eye. Elizabeth, one of the former members here and a good friend of mine, had a kitty whose third eyelid kept showing. I want to say she gave her kitty Acemmanan for it, but not sure. I'll ask her and get back to you. Best of luck to you and your furbaby. Please keep us posted. :) Wendy "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ ----- Original Message ---- From: Quentin Sonnier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 3:11:43 AM Subject: Re: Valtrex toxic for cats or effective FeLV treatment To be completly honest I have no idea what test it was. I feel like I was overcharged $105 for felt/fiv test deworming and nasal flu vaccine. Is this normal. I'm a college senior and my income is moddest to say the least but was this a far price? I know the test kit was a small white plastic bowl that had a faint positive for the felv antigen but not antibody? Being bio major I thought that was weird. The vet mentioned that would indicate it got the antibody from its mother but not the virus. This kitten has an abnormal eye that is receeded so I'm thinking its mother tranmited it. I'll look into the lysine diet sup. Also are anti oxidants a good bet? I was thinking about giving her low doses of xango. Quentin Sonnier On Jul 29, 2007, at 1:14 PM, "Pat Kachur" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: We "think" Mandy has only had the virus for about 5 months--but only because the vision problem began at that time so it is really just a guess. The vet said that the virus may attack most any part of the cat and he has seen other cases where it did attack the vision. Thanks for the advice re dosage of lysine. I am starting her on it today. Also purchased some PetPromise food at Whole Foods this morning. I see there is advice in one of these threads from a veterinarian regarding cats getting enough protein and enough water in their diet--the list mentioned two others Whole Foods sells so I am going to get some of those, too. So far, she'll wolf down just about anything. I did not see my "regular" vet who is also my friend as he is on vacation until Thursday. When he returns, I am going to discuss Mandy with him--as I think he is the world's best!! (Possibly a little biased.) Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "wendy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 2:06 PM Subject: Re: Valtrex toxic for cats or effective FeLV treatment Hey Pat, When we started Smookie on the lysine (no additives; can cause problems), we gave her 500 mg. capsules that we opened and mixed in with her wet food twice a day. So she was getting 1000 mg per day. Lysine is an amino acid, and it interferes with the virus's ability to replicate. Since your furbaby is only 5 lbs., you might consider sticking with 250 mg. 2x per day. Also, even though your kitty is almost 5 years old, she still can throw the virus, depending on when she was exposed. Some even throw the virus a long time after exposure, but that's more rare. Since your kitty has the vision/hearing issues, have you done blood work on her? Hypertension can cause overeating and vision problems. You might have to ask specifically for a high blood pressure test. Does the vet know why she has loss of vision? :) Wendy "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ ----- Original Message ---- From: Pat Kachur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 12:44:15 PM Subject: Re: Valtrex toxic for cats or effective FeLV treatment Wendy - I adopted just 3 days ago an almost five-year old cat who is FeLv positive. (Didn't know it until I took her for testing the next day.) She has no outward symptoms except partial loss of vision (and possibly some hearing loss). Other than that, she is lively, playful and eats like a small horse. Could you tell me how much lysine I should give her? I have bought some at the Whole Foods store but, of course, it only gives human dosage. She is very small--less than 5 lbs. Thank you. Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "wendy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 11:16 AM Subject: Re: Valtrex toxic for cats or effective FeLV treatment Hi Quentin, Welcome to the group. Bad idea on the Valtrex. Don't give your kitty any medication that your vet has not recommended. I have never heard of Valtrex being used on cats. Asparin and Ibuprofen are also no-no's, FYI. I have a cat that was diagnosed with feline herpes and had a bad corneal ulcer that we could not get rid of with the meds the vet gave us, including antivirals. She only had one eye to begin with and we almost lost the other one! We finally started giving her 500 mg 2x per day of lysine with no additives (especially propynol glycol, which can cause blood issues) into her wet food and the ulcer went away! It was wonderful! So I definitely recommend lysine for any kitties with viruses. Your kitty has about a 40% chance to fight off this virus and seroconvert. Give her about 3 months before you retest her again with an IFA test. Which test did the vet do on her? Elisa or IFA? Elisa can give a false positive and is what most vets use in-house. You might ask your vet about this. Also, feeding her a high quality diet with supplements like lysine, and keeping her environment stress-free and the two most important factors in helping kitty to seroconvert and keeping the virus at bay if she doesn't. Even if your kitty does not seroconvert, there are some kitties who live long lives, especially if these two factors are taken care of. There is a kitty at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that is FeLV+ and 22 yrs. old! :) Wendy Dallas, TX "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ ----- Original Message ---- From: Quentin Sonnier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 1:42:17 AM Subject: Valtrex toxic for cats or effective FeLV treatment I have a sweet little black with white tip girl and I took her to the vet to get treated and wormed. We had her tested and she had a very faint positive for FeLV. I've been reading up on treatments and anti virals and I was wondering if it would be a good/ bad idea to give her low dose of valtrex? Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. The kitten is about 4 months old and VERY energetic. Quentin Sonnier ____________________________________________________________________________________Ready for the edge of your seat? Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get the Yahoo! toolbar and be alerted to new email wherever you're surfing. http://new.toolbar.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/index.php ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/222 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. 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