For anyone interested, my cat Linus was diagnosed with lymphoma in the spring of 2008 and given 4-6 weeks to live. I asked my vet to start him on intravenous sodium ascorbate in sodium chloride and titrate to the rate of 1g per pound of body weight. Linus received the drips via catheters in his front leg (alternating legs) 3 days per week (the catheter remains in for 3 days) for three months, then off for three months, then repeated for 3 more months. He is still with me today, some two years after his terminal diagnosis and his last infusion was back in April of 2009. He is still happy and healthy as a horse, and this is a cat with FeLV.
Sally Jewell > -----Original Message----- > From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk- > boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Beth > Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 2:48 PM > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Bernie - Uveitis > > I'm so sorry, sounds like you have a lot of decisions to make. I > agree on not putting them through too much. > > Beth > Dont Litter, Fix Your Critter! www.Furkids.org > > --- On Fri, 2/19/10, Maria <mian...@gmail.com> wrote: > > From: Maria <mian...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Bernie - Uveitis > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Date: Friday, February 19, 2010, 1:28 PM > > Beth - > > The eye vet ophthalmologist briefly discussed that there is a > small chance > the lymphoma could just be in the eye and we could remove the > eye. However, > he thinks that if it is already in the eye, it is most likely > somewhere else > in the body. He would want me to do a full body scan to look for > lymphoma > somewhere else before doing the biopsy on the eye. Maybe I > should go for a > second opinion? > > When they do a full body scan, they look for thick areas of > tissue. These > areas are not necessarily lymphoma...esp in FelV+ cats, it could > just be > irritation in the intestine or stomach. They have to do a biopsy to > make > sure. So, potentially, if they find thick tissue, they could do a > biopsy, > it could be nothing, then i would still have to do a biopsy on the > eye to > find out if it is really lymphoma. Then remove the eye. I don't > know if I > want to put him through all of that. > > No real improvement today. Although he was very interested in > the birdies > outside this morning which really made me smile. Just trying to > enjoy each > day I have with him. > > Thanks, > > Maria > > > Maria - > > Can they just remove the eye? Not sure if he is healthy > enough, but I am > > taking in an FeLV cat next week that has what they think are > cancerous > > polyps around his eye - not to mention he was severely abused > & he cannot > > see out of the eye anyway. They are removing the eye. > > > > Beth > > Dont Litter, Fix Your Critter!?www.Furkids.org > <http://www.furkids.org/> ? > > > > --- On Thu, 2/18/10, Maria <mian...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > From: Maria <mian...@gmail.com> > > Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Bernie - Uveitis > > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > > Date: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 12:37 PM > > > > I had a conversation with my primary vet this morning about > Bernie and his > > Uveitis/possible lymphoma.? I'm not sure what to do. I'm > frustrated, sad, > > angry and I feel like I'm running into walls everywhere.? It > seems like > > there are never answers for these cats. It could be one thing, > but that is > > a > > symptom of something else, we could do this test, but that > might not tell > > us > > for sure what is wrong.? I keep going in circles and the bottom > line still > > is my baby doesn't feel well, and I'm emotionally and financially > spent. I > > want to do something to help him but I don't know what or what > will work. > > > > His activity appears to be declining each day.? Still eating, but > this > > morning he didn't eat his whole bowl of food.? To find out if it is > > lymphoma, we could do a biopsy on the eye, but its risky, and > its a hard > > area to get a good sample.? We could go to an internist and > have a scan > > done > > to see if there are any masses somewhere else in the body.? > Even if there > > are, we would still have to do a biopsy to find out if it is > lymphoma. His > > blood work 2 weeks ago was completely normal. I am > continuing w/ steroid > > drops 3x a day. > > > > Apparently with Uveitis there isn't usually any pain associated > with the > > eye... so she didn't recommend pain medication at this point.? I > don't > > think > > he is in pain (cats can probably cover this up well though.....), > he > > doesn't > > wince or anything, but he is just not acting like himself. > > > > I guess we just take it day by day at this point but I feel helpless > like > > I'm just letting him go.???Sorry for the rant, just needed to type > to get > > my > > thoughts out.? Thanks. > > > > Maria > > _______________________________________________ > > Felvtalk mailing list > > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > > > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felinele ukemia.o > rg > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 6 > > Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:33:24 -0800 (PST) > > From: Amy <awilkin...@yahoo.com> > > Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Bernie - Uveitis > > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > > Message-ID: > <535811.88786...@web36107.mail.mud.yahoo.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > > > Maria, > > > > Nothing really funny looking about Luigi's eye. It's almost kind > of cool > > looking. He just has a ring around about 1/2 of his eye. It's > down one > > side and down the other side and just looks like a coppery > tone. My vet > > didn't recall noticing it before and called a specialist just to see > if she > > should refer me. He started talking about how it could be all > these > > horrible things and how we could remove the eye, etc. This cat > has been > > with me for several years with no illness or odd behavior of any > type so I'm > > definitely not considering anything like that. What if it's > nothing? He > > runs around like a wild man and is certainly not in any > discomfort that I > > can see. So anyway, I'm kind of worried, yet hopeful that it > might be > > nothing. You would never think anything was strange about his > eye looking > > at him but we all just wonder why this color would appear out of > nowhere. > > > > I did get the toxo results back and they are negative. I was > also kind of > > hoping it would be positive but I guess anything these cats > don't have is a > > plus. > > > > Please let me know how things go with Bernie and how you > choose to proceed. > > I've lost several positives over the years and I think I might go > back and > > look at the bloodwork for the couple I lost to lymphoma just to > see if it > > was odd or normal. > > > > Keep us posted! > > Amy > > > > > Amy - > > > > > > Thanks for the kind words.? I re-read your post about > > > your kitty and and the > > > gold colored ring around his eye.? When you look at > > > his eye in light, does > > > it look funny like how animals eyes sometimes show up in > > > pictures taken with > > > a flash?? That's how we first noticed Bernie's eye > > > issue.? He was looking at > > > me and one eye was reflecting really funny while the other > > > was not.? He > > > doesn't have a gold colored ring... but there looks like > > > there is a mass up > > > in the corner of the eye.? The iris is swollen as > > > well. His eye also had > > > a cloudy film all over the eye, but the steroid eye drops > > > cleared that up. > > > > > > We also tested Bernie for toxo.. it came back negative... > > > and we ran a > > > mycoplasma test as well.. also negative.? Did you get > > > your kitty's toxo test > > > back yet?? I was almost hoping it was toxo... there is > > > at least an > > > antibiotic for that. > > > > > > I learned this morning from the vet that cat's with > > > lymphoma sometimes have > > > normal blood work.? I never knew that. I assumed that > > > the white blood cells > > > would go up.? She said depending on the type of > > > lymphoma, the white blood > > > cells may drop, stay the same, or rise. > > > > > > Please keep me up to date on your kitty!? I hope he is > > > ok and doing better > > > soon. > > > > > > Maria > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Felvtalk mailing list > > > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > > > > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felinele ukemia.o > rg > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Felvtalk mailing list > > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > > > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felinele ukemia.o > rg > > > > > > End of Felvtalk Digest, Vol 20, Issue 15 > > **************************************** > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felinele ukemia.o > rg > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felinele ukemia.o > rg _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
