After pondering the excellent advice of Alice, Sharyl and Natalie, and scouring
the FeLV archives, I think I've come up with a reasonable treatment plan to
propose to my wonderful, open & supportive vet. Any comments would be much
appreciated.
Recap: Avis is an approx 21 month old neutered male, rescued from an Avis
parking lot when he was about 9 months, bounced around for about 8 months,
living with us the last 4 months. A 9/27 CBC prior to a minor eye procedure
requiring general anesthesia revealed non-regenerative anemia: HCT at 21%, RBC
at 4.37, Retic < 1%. The subsequent 9/28 FeLV/FIV test was positive. Beyond
somewhat pale gums and a little lower energy compared to other young cats (no
wild acrobatics for Avis!) he is physically fine right now. 11 lbs & eats like
a champ, uses litterbox regularly, keeps his glossy soft coat perfectly
groomed,
chases Max the Dog all over the house, spends hours twitching his tail at the
squirrels on the other side of the window.
Treatment Plan:
1. Diet - continue with daily 5.5 oz can of Wellness Wet Food and a 1/3 cup of
California Naturals Chicken & Brown Rice dry food. After 4 months of trying to
wean Avis off his dry food addiction, this is the balance we've mutually agreed
to! He eats it all up and hits the water bowl pretty good once or twice a day.
2. Treats - about 8 pieces of Greenies baked dry cat treats each day, he LOVES
them and they do seem to have some vitamins added.
3. Supplements - either Pet-tinic or NutriVed. Still researching.
4. Immediately start LTCI injections. Given that results from only a few formal
studies are currently available, I view the LTCI regime as sort of an
unofficial
phase II clinical trial. But given Avis' prognosis, it is definitely worth
trying.
5. Immediately start on 2x daily Interferon Alpha (unless there is some way I
can get Interferon Omega from Europe). Anecdotally, this seems to help some
cats, and has been safely given to FeLV+ cats for several years. Again, well
worth trying.
6. Keep the big guns like Epogen & Prednilosone in reserve for when the HCT
goes
below 20% or he starts to feel weak and lose appetite.
7. Stable, stress free environment and lots of love.
That's it! Thoughts from the FeLV community?
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