I am so grateful to find this group. Please help me with your collective
experience & wisdom on this horrible disease.
I don't have many specifics about Avis' history, but I gather that he was a
stray in bad shape when he was rescued, then bounced around before settling in
a dorm room with a college student friend of my daughter. Avis is currently
about 21 months old.
In May, I agreed to keep him for the summer. The original plan was that he
would live in my good-sized, many-windowed basement safely separated from Max,
my 9 year old border terrier who has never shared his home with another
animal.
Avis would return to his college student when school started after labor day.
I absolutely did not expect the silly dog & cat to become best friends in a
week, playing together all over the house. Max wasn't the only one who quickly
became fond of Avis, so I offered to keep him through the school year to avoid
cooping him up in a dorm room.
Avis came to us with a diagnosis of Feline Herpes & a third eyelid permanently
raised about halfway on one eye. A few days ago, I took him to a vet
ophthalmologist for a minor procedure to improve his vision. A complete blood
workup was done as prep to general anesthesia. It showed anemia,
nonregenerative. WBC, Neutrophils & LYM were also very low normal.
The eye procedure was postponed. I rushed Avis to my vet for a FeLV/FIV test.
Positive for FeLV, which was heartbreaking, but not really a surprise.
Avis feels just fine right now. But because he already has blood
abnormalities
there is obviously no way to predict how long he will continue to feel good. My
vet says she is willing to try any reasonable option to give him a chance at
as
much good quality life as possible.
So I am now researching LTCI, Interferon, ImmunoRegulin, Staph Protein A --
all the treatments I'm sure have been thoroughly discussed on this forum
before. Any consensus about what is most safe & effective? Because there do
not
seem to be any definitive clinical trials or studies to go by.
I will likely take care of Avis for the time he has left -- this is too much
for a busy, stressed out college student to handle. Any suggestions to keep
Avis as strong and comfortable and happy as possible for as long as possible
will be very, very much appreciated.
Thank you!
Kris B.
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