I think the injections are the expensive feline interferon OMEGA, not
the cheaper human interferon ALPHA.
Gloria
On Aug 28, 2007, at 8:32 PM, Susan Dubose wrote:
Sorry, I have never heard of interferon "injections", ONLY oral.
Have I missed something all these years.......?
Susan J. DuBose >^..^<
www.PetGirlsPetsitting.com
www.Tx.SiameseRescue.org
www.shadowcats.net
"As Cleopatra lay in state,
Faithful Bast at her side did wait,
Purring welcomes of soft applause,
Ever guarding with sharpened
claws."
Trajan Tennent
----- Original Message -----
From: Marylyn
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: To Megan: Re: My cat was tested positive yesterday,and
I don't know what to do.
Just so you know, some vets carry the oral interferon. The vets I
have in Louisville keep it on hand. If you decide on this you may
want to call around. A month's supply runs about $10.
If you have men
who will exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter
of compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise
with their fellow man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: Caroline Kaufmann
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 8:13 PM
Subject: RE: To Megan: Re: My cat was tested positive yesterday,and
I don't know what to do.
Having just gone through this recently and losing Monkee to anemia/
FelV, I can provide this:
Blood transfusion: wears off in 10 days, if not less.
Signs of it wearing off are pretty clear: lack of energy, less
moving around, white gums/nose (Monkee's nose was "perfect pink"
and when his transfusion wore off, it was white-white), not eating/
eating less. You need to enjoy the time you have with her now that
she's had a transfusion, but PREPARE in advance for it to wear
off. You need to consider now whether you will do another one.
There may not be time to think about that when the time comes.
The only thing I regret about Monkee's situation and passing is
that the transfusion wore off and I thought maybe his body would
make red blood cells on it's own and it didn't, so he went downhill
very rapidly. You need to know that if the cat's body is not
making it's own RBCs and the transfusion wears off, the cat
experiences dizziness, vertigo, shortness of breath and maybe
trouble breathing. I am not trying to be harsh here, just telling
you what a cat will feel so that you can try to put yourself in
that position to truly understand. The slightest movement may
cause them dizziness and distress. In Monkee's final days/hours,
all he wanted to do was lay in my closest (which he had never done
before) on top of all my shoes; he didn't sleep, his eyes were
always open and dilated and he would stare into space (which he had
never done before until the anemia set in). Only in the final
hours did he occasionally cry out like he had never done before (my
mom and I believe it was because he felt like he wanted to do
something, like go out on his porch, and he'd tried to move to do
it, but wouldn't get far because of the shortness of breath/
dizziness and he would get frustrated and angry and would emit the
"cry." It broke my heart). He only had about 30 secs of
respiratory distress while I held him and then he passed in my
arms. I do indeed hope this is not the path you and your sweet cat
take.
From my own experience in July, I provide you these "words of wisdom":
Watch for signs of a worsening of her symptoms; prepare for them;
and admit to yourself when you see them (fight off the denial)--
those are the only things you can do so as to try to do what is
best for your cat and that is what we all want. Anemia is a
horrible way for them to suffer.
Interferon: Injections? I was able to give Monkee oral interferon
that had been ordered through a pharmacy via the telephone- I think
it was Wedgwood Pharmacy? Your Vet calls in the prescription, then
you call to order and pay for it. It's delivered in the mail- has
to be refrigerated. And yes, this is only an immune booster that I
believe Monkee was taking more for his Lymphosarcoma (cancer
brought on by FelV); but once the anemia took over and became his
most pressing problem, we stopped the interferon.
Best of luck to you.
-Caroline
From: wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: To Megan: Re: My cat was tested positive yesterday,and I
don't know what to do.
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:19:08 -0700 (PDT)
>Megan,
>
>Hi and welcome to the group. I'm sorry you had to find us but
you've come to the best place there is for info. short of a
Veterinary Internist. I hope this evening finds you better off
than last night. Michael is right...going to the website and
clicking into Archives and searching through the most current
archives is a very good idea. There is so much to learn and lot of
good, intelligent people here to help you.
>
>Retesting with the IFA after a positive ELISA (in-house) test is
important. ELISA can give false positives/negatives. However,
since Olive already is dealing with anemia, the test is probably
correct. However, all of your kitties who are positive can still
seroconvert and 'throw' the virus, so don't give up hope that one
day they will be negative. I would retest every 3-6 months
(probably 6, since it's less stressful on them to travel and test
less often). About 30-40% of cats who are exposed will throw off
the virus, which means that if all three were exposed as kittens,
which is the most likely scenario for exposure, then the other two
may be negative. I'm betting at least one of them is, considering
the numbers.
>
>I will not sugar-coat things...anemia is bad for FeLV+ kitties.
It's fatal a lot of the time, BUT we have seen kitties here who got
through the anemia with things like transfusions and meds to help
stimulate red blood cell production (mainly prednisolone). The
transfusion will wear off. I think it lasts about 10 days, give or
take. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Did the vet give you any
meds to give Olive? She needs help in getting her RBC's going
again. Did the vet say she has regenerative or non-regenerative
anemia? Do you happen to have a copy of the bloodwork results done
on Olive? If not, can you get them to send you one electronically
or pick one up to post here? The BIG thing you need to know about
is Hemobartonella. Did your vet mention putting Olive on a three
week dose of Doxycycline. Hemobart is very difficult to see on a
slide, so difficult to diagnose. One minute the blood parasite is
there, the next it's not. So the majority
> of vets usually dose with doxy when they see anemia in an felv+
cat. Hemobart has a much higher presence in FeLV+ kitties. If it
is hemobart, that's a good thing Megan. It means you have a much
better chance of saving Olive. But you have to get her the meds
asap. And be firm with your vet about the doxy. If your vet has
not touched on any of these things I'm telling you, find another
vet asap. You need someone who is willing to work with you to save
Olive. Not make money off of you and not immediately suggest pts
at the first sign of a positive FeLV test. Michael's suggestion of
getting a referral to UT is a great idea. I'm concerned that the
vet did not tell you that the transfusion was just a temporary
fix. It treats the symptom, not the problem. Some people do treat
with Interferon. I would post a question with that in the subject
line and you will get more specific responses regarding that
specific treatment. Interferon will not treat
> anemia though. It helps the immune system stay strong so the
virus doesn't kick in.
>
>The two most important things you can do to keep your kitties
healthy and the virus from 'kicking in' or activating is to feed
them a high quality diet, one with no grains, like Innova Evo or
the like. Add immune boosting supplements like lysine to the
food. Lysine must not have the additive Propylene Glycol in the
ingredients as it causes Heinz body anemia in cats. The other
thing is to keep your kitties as stress-free as possible. New
additions to the family, long vacations and especially boarding,
moving, environmental factors like heat, a lot of company, and loud
noises are all some things that can stress kitties out. Also, your
kitties have already been exposed, so separating them at this point
is only going to stress them out further, something you don't
want. I would not separate. I did not separate mine (I had four,
one positive; the other three never became positive after four
years sharing the same food/water bowls and litter boxes).
>
>Try not to stress out too much Megan, so Olive will not pick up on
it. Do as well as you can in your studies even though you are
dealing with this, and enjoy every minute you have with Olive.
Take photos of her so in case the worst happens, you have a visual
memory of her. I am not trying to scare you; just trying to give
realistic advice. You can't know what's in store for Olive in the
near future. Prepare for the worst, but hope and PRAY for the
best. And please keep us posted and ask anymore questions you may
have.
>
>:)
>Wendy
>
>
>
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