Andy, What a wonderful story and a very lucky kitty (both of them). Sure wish there were more folks like y'all in the world. I have a Feluk positive kitty with a neurological disorder ( feline cerebellar hyposplasia - he wobbles a bit) that we just rescued and I need to find a home for him. Soooooooo, if anyone knows someone in Texas who might want to adopt, let me know :)
Edna > From: oxjake...@hotmail.com > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 18:02:07 +0000 > Subject: [Felvtalk] Aggie Introduction Part 2 > > > > > Our story continues with Aggie introduction, part 2.. > > At this point, I would have chalked the seizure up to the mirtaziprine if it > wasn't for the fact that the day before we gave her the drug, Aggie was > meowing very loudly and had thrown up a bit of a clear liquid. While my wife > didn't see it, she wasn't covered in drool and wasn't disoriented like after > the two known seizures. So, we really don't know what happened, but suspect > it was a milder seizure type incident, and the mirtaziprine made everything > worse. My vet, nor the vet I consulted with at UC Davis, thinks the > mirtaziprine was the major cause, though they did admit that it might be what > triggered the grand mal, and the later, smaller seizure. So, to be on the > safe side, she has been on phenobarbitol for about a month now, with no > further seizures (my wife is home with our 3 month old baby, so she would > know). The first three weeks on it were rough--sluggish, lots of sleeping, > and incoordinated with weakness in her hind legs. (Cat, not the wife, for > those of you still reading!) As of now, she is pretty much back to normal, > with just a little residual weakness. Nowhere near where it was, though. > > At present, still getting interferon every day, reloaded her with LTCI weekly > for three weeks, and now moving back to what had become the sweet spot of > every 2 weeks (next shot is this Saturday) and hoping for the best. When we > next test her blood in a few weeks, we might see if we can screen for > toxoplasmosis and cryptococcus (I know I misspelled this!) but didn’t have > the cash to do it the first time around. Another possibility is that she > might have been exposed to insecticide, as we had the outside of our home > sprayed for wasps a month or so ago. The day of the first "incident" it had > rained, and she was sitting for most of the day at the screen door looking > out into the yard. She was sitting over the door jam (but still behind the > screen, mere inches from an area that had been heavily sprayed, as it was a > problem area, and the recent rain could have easily washed some of the toxins > through the screen for her to breathe or even lick. > > Could have gotten to her paws, and she could have licked them--I don't know. > Other possibilities are of course, a brain tumor, the FELV crossing the blood > brain barrier, lymphoma of the gut that had metastatized (probably misspelled > this one too) into her brain but avoided the lungs and hasn’t swelled up her > lymph nodes enough that the vet can feel, or the aforementioned poisoning, > crypto, and toxoplasmosis. Our other cat, who has lived with us for five > years (and is FELV negative but vaccinated) was a cat that settled on the > front porch of the house we had just moved into. So, it is possible he > brought it in, but her immune system was strong enough to deal with it for 5 > years. > > At this point, Aggie seems happy, weight is alright, appetite is good, and > her zest for life is apparent. She doesn't mind being around the baby at all, > and we are trying to make every day a party for as long as we have her. She > is the protypical cat, in that she is alternatingly spunky, sweet, and > antisocial and loves to chase my wife's hair clips all over the house. She'll > ignore almost every other toy, but not those hair bands. > > Our FELV negative boy--Crookshanks, is the sweetest animal known to humanity. > He loves the baby, and (supervised of course) will sit with her and > occasionally nuzzle her feet. He will sit on the couch above me as I hold the > baby, and groom my head with his tongue. He does the same to my wife, if he > isn’t in her lap. He would love to groom the baby too, but that is a bit > much! > > So—that is one long introduction! In all likelihood, we are on the downhill > slope of our time together, but who knows—she is a spunky girl and we’ve been > lucky to have her for so long. I’ll keep you posted as we go through the rest > of our journey together. Even though we never met, all of you have given me > so much hope and inspiration. To those of you who have lost cats, my deepest > condolences--and know that I will continue to send good thoughts and > purrayers, as Alice likes to say, your way. > > Peace, > Andy > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
