How are Oliver's kidney values?
-----Original Message----- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Lorrie Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2012 9:58 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Need advice for our cat Oliver Don, It is amazing that Oliver has lived to be 15 with a FelV+ status. Most of my FelV+ cats either die of anemia or they lose the use of their back legs due to tumors on the spine. If Oliver has made it this long I'd just keep him happy and and give him plenty of TLC. 15 is about the end of life for most cats anyway, and the fact that he lived this long is proof you are taking excellent care of him. As for your other two cats. At 14 and 16, they are also reaching the end of their lives, and I think they will be fine if they haven't gotten the virus so far. Just keep all three of them happy and stress free. This really helps, and I have found heroic measures don't help, they only prolong the inevitable..... pain and stress for the time the cat has left as well as well as emotional and financial hell for youself. Lorrie On 09-08, Don wrote: > Hello. > Our boy Oliver, has been doing well since his brothers passing due to > CRF last Feb but in the past year or so we have seen some signs that we > had been reading as old age (less grooming, weight loss...he just > turned 15 this August). Thursday night he was acting lethargic and > seemed to be warm to the touch. I dropped him off at our vet who > suggest it might just be a virus (most of this blood panel was good, > except a low white blood cell count, now 2% below normal HCT values > since July, and a 105 F temperature). He suggested we might test him > for leukemia and FIV as he wanted to rule it out even though Oliver has > always been an indoor cat (he used a ELISA snap test...as far as we > know he has never been tested for feLV or FIV). The bad news came later > when he called to say he was positive for both. He said the FIV could > be false if Oliver was every given an FIV vaccination (he has), but the > other was likely true (and also explained the low white count and the > fever, and now in retrospect some of the other issues). The vet thinks > he may have had this all his life and is just now experiencing the > symptoms. So now he is home and although I have read up some and don't > see much hope, I wondered if anyone can offer any advice. We have sent > the blood off to get the more sophisticated test but won't hear back > until next week. > Our vet, who is the best I have had, suggested perhaps he will last a > few weeks or months, given that he is showing signs that his body might > be losing the battle (low white cells, anemia). I'm trying to be > optimistic, but with no treatments I know this is probably a battle we > cannot win. > Here are my questions: > 1. We have 2 other cats who we think have had the feLV booster recently > (they are 14 and 16 years old and got the immunization as kittens). > Are they in danger? If they got shots as kittens would they be still > safe? We have Oliver with his own litter box and am making sure they > use separate water and food bowls. There is not grooming among them. > 2. Is there anyway to know if Oliver can still fight off the virus and > become free of it? If he did have it for 14-15 years, then why does he > have symptoms now? If it was a recent exposure (we cannot think of any > way he would have gotten it) then could he still be fine? > 3. He seems fine now (no fever, eating, drinking, using the litter > box, etc.) so is this a good sign that perhaps he is able to fight it > off or is this just a false hope. > 4. If the other test is positive, would anyone suggest using the LTCI > treatment? I have not found good scientific info on it's effectiveness > although there appear to be no major side effects. > Thanks. > Don and Oliver _______________________________________________ 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
