-CatherineDear Catherine,It certainly sounds as if treatment for the anemia has been at least partly successful. A cat that energetic is likely to be improved, numbers wise. In my experience, when Epogen works, it is a lifesaver. I hope it will continue to work for Meowko for a very long time.I wouldn't see any point in seperating Meowko and Jaja. As in my case, what's done is done. My concern was introducing a "new" cat into possibly infectious situation. Probably he'll be vaccinated (with the Merial rFeLV) in case he has not yet been exposed (though it is very likely he has) but other than that, I'll just see how it goes.I just wish there was more we could do to treat our positive cats. It doesn't even seem anyone is researching the problem with an eye to treatment. It's all geared towards prevention, although I think that is very important. Kind of an Orphan disease. I've cobbled together what I have found while desperately wandering the internet and bugging any Vet that will talk or write to me, into a sort of treatment protocol, and so far, so good (knocking madly on wood).We'll do the best we can :)All the best to you and your familt, Furry and otherwise,MargoAnemia is still considerably treatable as far as I learned from mewoko's vet and our vet school friends, by using blood transfusions and blood generative hormone Epogen. (We are now using both of the methods on Meowko, we can't tell whether she is better on numbers until we see vet on our next appointment, but she seems feeling better, jumping, dashing over house today). I am very new to all these issues, but i am more than happy to share with friends on this list our recent medical experience on anemia.Re Margo (& Lee): Margo, I feel your worries, and I am in the same situation: we have two cats, Mewoko and Jaja. Jaja has been tested three times negative for now, but given we recently found Meowko is tested positive, I have been worried to death. I can't bear the possibility that I am going to lose my two babies in the same way... Upon Mewoko returned from hospital last Wednesday, we tried to separate Jaja from Meowko. But our apt is very small, which is almost impossible to fully separate two cats. And we could also see how much Jaja missed Meowko when she was not at home....so we at the end let them be with each other as they have always been. One of my vet friend told me I should stop worry: from a professional perspective, of course they should be separated; but it is also true that too little has been know about why some cats get FeLV with no exposure history, and why some never contract it. So either Jaja has already had it, but it just because he is still young and very healthy (9 yrs younger than Meowko) so that the virus is not actively presented in his system; or he would never get it, if he hasn't got it from living with Meowko for the past 7 years, sharing everything together. No matter which one is true, if we can have Meowko, a FeLV positive cat, lives up to 16 years, there is no reason Jaja can't reach this age. Thinking in this way makes me feel much better.
On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 3:58 PM, Margo <[email protected]> wrote:
I think I agree with you. This is just so new, and was quite a shock. When it comes to the cats he's been with, I do understand that, as my Vet put it, "that ship has sailed". It's the need to add a cat to them that has me flummoxed. The more I "learn" (as there are so many differing stances, opinions, and conflicting results when it comes to FeLV) the more confused i get.
You're right, I will find a way to live with it, I'm just not there yet. I've dealt with so many other issues (all the cats I kept were special needs of some kind or other, and considered un-adoptable) that I thought I had it all under control. Much of it is that I feel so helpless. There just isn't really anything with any kind of documented success rate, I can "DO" for him. My cabinet full of meds and very co-operatve Vet are just plain useless.
Anyway, thanks for the input. I can just do what I can do.
Margo
-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Evans
Sent: Apr 28, 2013 3:15 PM
To: "[email protected]"
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] For Chang......Cat dying at homeYou could drive yourself crazy worrying about all of that. I had two cats living in a group of 12 for over 13 years. When they were very old, they developed renal failure. I took them for sub-q therapy as I do all my renal compromised cats until I see that the situation has progressed beyond a good quality of life. However, Tigger and Twerp developed some other symptoms that were very odd. Twerp had been tested twice for FeLv, Tigger once in the past. The vet suggested another test. Both were positive and active in the virus. Both passed away several days after the test. The other 10 cats who had lived with them, groomed and been groomed by them, shared food, litter boxes and sleeping nests never tested positive. All are gone now, most living to age 14 and over, all from renal failure except one who had an ear tumor that progressed rapidly. He had to be euthanized because it was inoperable. I really feel that worrying and giving off negative feelings to the cats is going to do more harm than the exposure to the virus. You have to let go sometimes and leave it to the Universe to decide.
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