Nortina, My heart goes out to you. This is very possibly a manifestation of the disease. If you've been following this group you know what the results can be and that there isn't any 100% effective treatment out there. There's a lot of ideas in my head so I'm going to try to be as exact as I can.
1. Cheap things that can be done - bring in a stool sample without your cat and just ask them to do a fecal on it should be about 20 to 25 dollars. If there is a parasite you can treat it. 2. He still has an appetite that's good. If this is felv and it's end stages you may be fighting a losing battle, but you could try asking your vet for interferon - ask if you can get it without bringing him in. Call the vet that has seen him before and is aware of his felv status. Interferon is relatively inexpensive and may help. 3. You could try supplements that do not require vet prescription. This would include Vitamin C - mega C, Vitamin E, and N-acetyl cysteine. I recently have communicated with a man who did studies on felv cats and did this protocol with good success (he included prednisone, which I would not do as long term outcomes are not good with it). If you want to try this, be aware that it could cause GI upset so I would leary about it, but on a shoestring budget it may help. These things can be bought at a health store or ordered online. I can be more specific if you would like to try it. 4. Do a small exam on him. Obviously he has lost weight, I would also be concerned about dehydration. Pull the skin on the back of his neck up and let it go. If it snaps back quickly (you can use your other cat to compare) he is well hydrated, if it stays tented up and slowly drops down, he is dehydrated. You could give him pedialyte or plain gatorade to help if he is dehydrated. Look into his mouth at his gums and teeth. Look for any big bumps or sores that could be causing problems. Look at the color of his gums. If they are white (again compare with your other cat) he is probably anemic and this is likely felv. If they are pink, he is less likely anemic. Feel his abdomen and check for any big hard masses. This could be a lymphoma or other tumor - then this would likely be felv sequelae or an obstruction - obstruction would be quickly life threatening and they usually have no bowel movements or gas. 5. You could try changing the diet to something bland like boiled chicken and rice or sweet potatoe. or lamb and rice. This may or may not help. Well, hope this helps and if you interested in trying the high dose vitamins let me know and I'll send the specifics. I have no guarantee it will help, but it may. Jenny On 4/27/10, Nortina Bell <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, > > I've been a member here for awhile now (I've posted my original intro > below), but haven't really participated. My cat, McFluffins, hasn't really > appeared to be ill at all and I am not knowledgeable enough on the topic to > have anything to share. I was actually hoping to not have participate again, > as awful as that sounds, since I was hoping that my kitty would be fine. > > I am now no longer sure that he will be. McFluffins has always been a very > energetic and cuddly cat. A few weeks ago he started to seem less cuddly and > now he's a bit on the lethargic side. He's started to vomit this past week > and has lost so much weight that his collar just hangs off of him. When he > eats now he always sounds like he's going to vomit, but doesn't every time. > > Our family really cannot afford the treatment options that I read about on > this list. Originally I thought that we would be comfortable in just giving > McFluffins a comfy home for as long as he could stay with us. It was selfish > perhaps because I knew we couldn't afford large vet bills, but I thought > that it would be better than nothing. In addition to that, I was never able > to find a placement for him that wouldn't just put him down. Now I am > finding that it hurts to see him like this, but that doesn't make money > magically appear, sadly. > > I suppose I am looking for any advice and support on how to care for > McFluffins now at home. I am sorry for not having been more vocal in the > group even though I have tried to keep up with reading all messages and my > heart broke a little each time I read about another kitty who has passed on, > even though I didn't share that. > > Thanks for listening. > > Nortina > > > -------- > (April 27, 2009)Hello, > > I have been a member of this list for a few days now since I found out that > our new kitty tested postive for feline leukemia. > > We already have one cat, Jasper, who is about 7-8 years old. The animal > shelter was unsure of his age when I got him, so we aren't quite sure now > either. Jasper, as a rule, really dislikes other animals. Cats, dogs, he > shows them all who is boss. However, since we have moved to our new house in > mid-January, we've had a stray hanging around. Jasper, who gets out every > now and then even though we try not to let him, actually didn't seem to hate > this other cat. I saw them actually playing together which was a surprise to > me. This other cat kept trying to sneak IN the house and was so loving > anyway that we just decided to adopt him once we realized we might actually > be able to have another cat in the same house as Jasper (we have tried twice > previous with very bad results). > > We kept this new cat (my kids are bent on calling him McFluffins) in the > bathroom overnight while waiting for his first vet appointment to see if he > would even use a litter box. I was glad to see that he did, but noticed we > had an issue with worms. > > While at the vet they tested for FIV and feline leukemia. This is when we > found that he tested positive for feline leukemia. The vet that I spoke to > that day didn't really try to encourage me in making any decision, but I > have to admit that I thought about having him put down. I was not really > willing to though because I have already found that he is a very loving and > wonderful cat and is perfectly healthy at the moment. After asking some > questions about how it can progress and the implications for Jasper, I > decided that we would keep him. > > We had another vet visit the day after for Jasper and the vet that we spoke > to that day was firm that there will be issues with the stray that we took > in, it is just a matter of how long until they surface. She was much less > hopeful than the previous vet, but nice and informative all the same. > > Currently Jasper and the new cat are seperated as Jasper was behind on his > vaccinations and was never vaccinated again feline leuk. I was told that, > based on Jasper's age, he wasn't likely to catch it anyway, but it would be > worth giving anyhow. It was suggested that they be kept apart until his > second booster shot in a month after this one. Does anyone else have an > experience like this? Is it really necessary to keep them seperated? > > I have been reading all of the posts so far but feel a little lost since I > am not very knowledgable on the subject, so hopefully I will catch up soon. > > Nortina > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
