> > > Hey Renee
Welcome to the US. Not a great start finding out you have a little bundle of joy with a deadly virus. You do have an advantage, however. You have a chance to fight this early. I would not let this window of opportunity close. Felv cats are susceptible to secondary infections as their immune system is not up to par. Not only because of the virus but also because of his age. I have a number of suggestions although I may be too late to interject. 1. Do not vaccinate your felv cat with conventional vaccinations. Vets may recommend it, but don't. (You could try the alternative vaccinations if you are concerned.) They don't have the proper immune system to fight it. You put them in jeopardy of lots of other problems. If you keep him inside away from the possibility of picking up the viruses the vaccinations protect against, you should be okay. 2. Start any treatment now. Whether that means LTCI (from imulan), interferon, Acemannan or alternative immune boosters like high dose vitamin C, wei qui booster etc. Please please please start now. Right now you are fighting the secondary infections (the upper respiratory infections, oral and eye infections). You need to be more concerned about what's happening underneath - the felv virus working it's way into all the cells of his bone marrow leading to severe anemia, neutropenia, leukemia or lymphoma - these things will kill him. Granted some cats can clear the virus or simply hold it at bay for life but some will die from it. It's not known how to predict who will do well and who won't so if you want to be on the safe side, treat now. If you start early enough sometimes you can reverse the viral status. It may be too late now, but it may be worth trying. 3. The acute issue of diarrhea may be secondary to antibiotic use (in which case try a probiotic like acidophilus, you can get it at any vitamin store or walgreens), may be a parasitic/bacterial/viral infection (bring stool sample to vet - you don't have to bring him in for that), may be stress or secondary to food change (change foods slowly by mixing foods, a raw diet or high protein diet is generally considered the best for these cats), may respresent something more serious but I would try the aforementioned first (if there is not an explanation or improvement with the above, I would follow with blood work (CBC - complete blood count, BMP - basic metabolic panel, viral panel - includes feline corona virus and multiple other causes of these types of symptoms) I would not be idle with a felv cat that displays symptoms of illness. With respect to the other cat, I am happy she is negative, I would probably retest in a few months as she also would have been exposed. Given that she has been vaccinated and exposed without acquiring the virus you are probably safe to mix them, but there is always a chance in this. Younger cats are more susceptible to acquiring and dying from the disease so it is a chance. The vaccine is pretty good but not 100% effective. That is decision only you can make. Good luck and may God bless you. Jenny _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
