Megan
Let me complicate things a bit more but perhaps it will help too...
Anemia isn't just the cat feeling sleepy... It is all the organs dyeing
because the blood can't feed them without the red blood cells...
If you are going to try and save Olive you have to stick a stake in the
ground and go with it now....
I think the odds are that Olive won't make a full recovery no matter
how much you spend and if you only keep her alive to live in a hospital
cage away from you... is that what you want ???
Now this is my personal decision...
There are so many really wonderful kittens that test positive every day
and are still healthy and enjoying life as much as any cat does and they
get put to sleep on the spot just because of the test....
I know you have formed a bond with Olive but I bet she would forgive
you for letting her go if she knew that you were saving the life of another
kitty that still has time left to enjoy life...
In five years I have had 31 FeLV+ cats and have buried 21 of them...
And I have cried 21 times but there have been 31 times that I have felt
a great joy in knowing I have saved a life very often the same day that
I picked the cat up....
I have spent a lot on vet bills in that time but I think the $3000 estimate
would cover my 5 years time with my FeLV kitties....
Just something to think about
Tad
Megan Heikkinen wrote:
Dilemma, dilemma...
Last night, I was pretty much resigned to letting Olive pass. Not happily
resigned, now, for I cried for hours and then couldn't sleep. I had actually
typed up a huge email about my reasoning a few minutes ago, but I just got off
the phone with my vet, and now I'm once again lost as to what to do.
First off, I want to mention that my vet does actually seem to want to help,
he just doesn't think much will come of it and doesn't want to give me false
hope. Apparently, he wrote down my number wrong last night, which is why I
never got a return call.
I asked about the reticulocyte count. She had some last week, but it was so
low that they considered it nonregenerative anemia. Apparently, she had also
received two shots of steroids along with the transfusion. This worries me,
because the transfusion started wearing off only after 5 days, when it usually
lasts around 10 days. The shots seemed to help within the first couple of
days, but then wore off. I also asked if haemobartonella was still a
possibility, and he thought it might be. He is going to find out the price of
getting a combo of doxy with something else that can be given in a form other
than pills. He said he'd be willing to try epogen, but warned me that it
usually only works a couple times because an immunity develops.
I called the vet school about the price, but had to leave a message. I asked
my vet about it, and he reassured me that their given price was indeed
$2000-3000. He isn't sure what it entails, though I'm assuming it's everything
under the sun, and that kind of scares me. I don't want to subject Olive to a
million tests...
So, I'm facing this huge problem now. While I would of course love to save
Olive, I don't know if it's really going to do any good. And yeah, trying to
do something may be better than doing nothing at all. But I'm not sure. I
don't want to put her through this stage of slowly dying again, for the third
time. I don't know if she'll even be helped unless she can get another blood
transfusion, and if I do that at my vet, I'll have to use Juniper as a donor.
That scares me. I don't really have time to look elsewhere, though.
I wish someone could just give me the answer, but I know that ultimately it is
up to me. I wish I was stronger, and not the most indecisive fool on the
planet. One of my biggest concerns is that if I do manage to keep Olive alive,
my other two babies will continue to be susceptible to this godforsaken virus.
===== Original Message From Belinda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> =====
I do not all animals or people suffer when they are dying and I can tell
you for a fact unless any of my furkids are in a great deal of pain and
I clearly get from them they want help passing I will let all of them
pass on their own, I personally believe most prefer it. It may not be
pretty for me but I don't think they suffer as we think they do, once
the process gets to a certain point the body goes into shock and I don't
think you feel much of anything. Of course I have never died, that is
just my sense of the process and I could be as right as anyone who
insists helping an animal pass is the best and kindest thing you can do
for them, I don't think that is always the case. I personally would
never want to be euthanized if that was an option humans had.
You will regret seeing it and much worse, allowing it to get that far for
her sake. You will see her suffer.
--
Belinda
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