I’m very sorry to hear about Yang’s passing and that Merlot has tested positive. Hopefully, Merlot has a lot more time ahead of him.
I used interferon alpha and Liquid DMG fairly regularly for my Ember. She also got Transfer Factor (human formula; not the one for cats), but I wasn’t consistent with that and was uncertain about its efficacy. I might have eventually looked into LTCI, but my vet did not like the lack of third-party data on the treatment. However, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. FeLV is scary, but don’t lose hope. Ember had minor illnesses here and there: sneezing (likely due to allergies) and an occasional day or two of diarrhea. For the latter condition, I would fast her for 12 hours (going much longer could cause liver damage), and I would feed her canned pumpkin (not pie filling but plain pumpkin) for a day to give her some fiber. These problems weren’t frequent for us, thankfully. Blood tests were moments of anxiety at times (Ember usually had low wbc). Ember lived for at least eight years from testing positive to her death two months ago. I would have liked to have had her longer (she was a little over 12 years old), but I feel very fortunate for all the time we had together. Lance On Jul 24, 2014, at 2:12 PM, Maya D'Alessio <mde...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > My cat Merlot, just tested positive for FeLV yesterday afternoon. We had him > tested, because my three year old cat Yang (female) started acting ill at the > end of June, the next morning I took her in to the vets and we discovered she > was anemic, jaundiced and had a high fever. They checked her blood levels > and found she was anemic (about 13, vs 26 in a healthy cat). She stayed at > the vet during the day and her blood levels didn't get any worse, and our > vet was optimistic. They transferred her over to the emergency clinic which > was open all evening and in to the weekend. They monitored her overnight and > her red blood cells decreased, her fever lowered but she went past normal to > too cold. That morning the blood tests came back and she was positive for > FeLV. We were shocked. Even worse was that her detailed blood work showed > no uptick in blood cell production, where she should have increased > production, she actually had almost no production. We then got to see her > before we had to put her down. That was the hardest day of my life. > > Now, with Merlot testing positive I am terrified of losing him so quickly, > and I am still grieving for Yang. I know the statistics are not great for > long term prognosis, but he is currently healthy (just a tiny bit of > gingivitis - we are going to start brushing his teeth). What can I do to > keep him healthy? How do I live with him everyday without starting to grieve > him already? I know we all are going to die someday, but this just feels > like it is going to hang over me. I am still doing reading on the disease > and newer treatments and such, but do these all start after the cat becomes > noticeably ill, or are there things I can be doing now to help keep him > healthy? Are probiotics helpful in this case? > > For those who have or have had a healthy FeLV cat, how long did they stay > healthy for? > > > -- > Maya D'Alessio > > _______________________________________________ > 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
