Re: [Felvtalk] treatment before symptoms

[Margo]

              Oh, my poor Vet. Thank you so much for that link, I will print it for her toay. I don't use AZT, but I use another anti-viral (famciclovir) with my FeLV cats when they have (what is probably) a herpes outbreak. One of the drugs, gemcitabine was planned for a cat I had with cancer. Sadly, he didn't live long enough to try it, so I can't comment. I will look into the others. I doubt I'd ask to use them, but I still want to know.

 

Thanks!

 

Margo

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lance
Sent: Jun 6, 2013 10:14 PM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] treatment before symptoms

I agree. I had no intention of using these drugs. I doubt my vet would even have access to the newer drugs the paper mentions, and AZT is definitely out, unfortunately. It would be a sad irony if an exposed cat was FeLV- (or otherwise threw the virus without the help of AZT) but ended up with non-regenerative anemia after getting slightly too high a dose of AZT.

I have seen references to using AZT right after exposure, but if that were a good idea, I would think people would be trying it regularly.

I did write to the point person for that paper (Dr. Mansky) to ask what he thought could be done to forward research and use of the drugs (other than AZT) that were mentioned. He's not a vet (I think he's a virologist), but he probably has some thoughts on the issue. 

It saddens me that there are potential treatments out there, but it seems that no money and little impetus exist to push them along.

Also, Lee, you definitely understood more of the paper than I did. :-)

On Jun 6, 2013, at 9:00 PM, Lee Evans <moonsiste...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Ugh! I hate terminology although I do understand some of it from being a medical transcriber in human medical practice. The gist of the paper is that using AZT and other human drugs on a cat can be risky and should not be done except under the control of a veterinary specialist. Your cat could become jaundiced because most of these drugs have bad side effects on liver and kidneys if given in too large a dose and no effect in the disease if given in too small a dose. Why not just wait and see what happens and not subject your cat to something experimental and possibly dangerous?

 

Spay and Neuter your cats and dogs and your weird relatives and nasty neighbors too!

---

From: Lance <lini...@fastmail.fm>
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2013 8:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] treatment before symptoms

Along those lines, I found this article, "Discovery of drugs that possess activity against feline leukemia virus".

http://vir.sgmjournals.org/content/93/Pt_4/900.full.pdf

Almost all of the terminology in the paper is beyond me, but what I do understand makes me think that we could have potential treatment options for FeLV at some point in the near future. These drugs are available now; we just need someone to fund (the sticking point, I'm guessing) trials.

This is my last post for tonight. Probably.

On Jun 5, 2013, at 8:20 PM, Lance <lini...@fastmail.fm> wrote:

> I'm wondering if anyone has ever attempted treatment of a potentially infected cat before the cat showed symptoms or tested positive. Would immune boosters help, or would  we be playing with fire and possibly making things worse? It seems like a vet who has done a lot of work with FeLV cats might have done this.
>
> Along those lines, has anyone actually had a cat on Mega-C who then appeared to suppress or eradicate the virus?
>
> I'm kind of thinking out loud here, and hopefully not bugging anyone. It seems to me that the progress of research into FeLV is woefully glacial.
> _______________________________________________
> 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

_______________________________________________
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