hey guys,
i've been lurking around here for a little while, gleaning what info i can --
you all are such a great source of info about this disease and i'm so glad i
found this mailing list.
here's my story:
finley, a little gray tabby male, started showing up outside our loft window
last june. we lived right downtown, a block away from the freeway, so we were
very nervous for his safety. we fed him consistently until we moved in august.
we moved to a quiet neighborhood with TONS of feral cats, so we trapped him and
brought him along with us. he was as feral as feral can be ... so we kept him
separated from our cats in a back bedroom. at the end of september, he finally
fell for the trap again and we were able to get him in to be neutered + tested.
he tested negative at that time. we continued to keep him locked away and work
on domesticating him -- meanwhile, we let him play footsie with our 7 cats
under the door and we did let him outside a total of 3 more times, thinking he
could possibly fit in with the feral family living on our block. however, we
heard a few fights on nights when he was out and we really were attached to
him, so we decided to make him
indoor only. our vet suggested having him tested again before introductions.
he tested felv+ on 2 tests on valentine's day.
we tested 2 of our kittens that had had some small interactions with him, and
luckily they were negative.
we tested finley again, 8 weeks later, on thursday, april 9th. he is still
positive, although the vet showed me the test and i *thought* the positive dot
looked lighter than i would expect. i really am interested in trying LTCI
because it sounds so promising and i'd like to give finley every chance
possible.
he is totally and completely asymptomatic, and i'm guessing he contracted the
disease sometime in october or november. i mean, this cat has never even had a
crust in his eyes! he's had 2 small bouts of diarrhea, but i'm nearly positive
those were caused by a fishy flavor of food. the diarrhea cleared immediately
with some fiber + probiotic and we do not feed him those flavors anymore.
our vet looked into LTCI, interferon, and acemann and felt neither were proven
to help with anything. he also said that these drugs are meant for + cats with
symptoms of the disease already. he also says the virus can never be faught
off. he also has no experience treating felv, however.
someone please help me!
can you guys tell me that there is a chance finley could still fight this
virus? i'm going to start researching to find a vet that knows more about the
disease -- i live in the kansas city area, if anyone has any suggestions? what
else do you guys think i should try? lysine? vitamin c?
also, has anyone on this list successfully kicked the disease? i have a friend
of a friend that did nothing special for their cat, but he supposedly became
negative after 3 years ... does that happen often?
many many thanks in advance for your help.
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