You may be right Ardy, as to their motivation, but in my case, I was allowed to spend close to $10,000 when all treatments were tallied up, for worthless ineffective treatment, until I accidentally hit upon the Winstrol, with a cost of something like 50 cents per pill. Of course they were telling me the whole time to let him go, and that I needed to consider his “quality of life” (ie – I was being selfish and immoral), and it was only my insistence that I intended to try every feasible option to save my cat, which compelled them to keep treating him. Therefore, while I agree with you that sometimes the intent is to (a) put down cats to prevent the spread and (b) save the owners a whole lot of money and grief, neither incentive explains what happened to us, and to Zander.
And frankly, my view now is that had I known about Winstrol at the start, and started treating him when he had his first crisis (from which he recovered, only to relapse big-time in a few months), I think he would have lived longer than the 7 short years I had him. He eventually died from dilated cardiomyopathy – a very serious case. It was very sudden and there was very little warning. One of the other Listserve members mentioned that her cat succumbed from something similar, and I now suspect that this was one of the hidden effects of the virus. I feel that had I been able to get the virus under control, without him having the very significant crisis from the viral attack three months after the first crisis, then it might have prevented some of the damage inflicted on his heart. It took months of care to bring Zander back to a strong state, and the whole time the virus would have been attacking his system. I am left to wonder if he had not been allowed to get so debilitated and close to death, and then had to struggle for months to recover, whether that took a toll on his system that might have been avoided. Amani From: Felvtalk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ardy Robertson Sent: October-22-15 10:50 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] FW: Stanozolol (Winstrol(R)) Thank you very much for this information Amani. Possibly another reason they don’t want to treat FeLV+ cats is that they somehow feel “getting rid” of them is helping to not spread the disease. My thought is that most spreading is probably done from mother cat to baby, and of course in those rare homes that have very large numbers of poorly-cared-for cats. They are not really trusting owners of FeLV+ cats to be responsible enough to not allow it to spread. I have also now read that cats that are over 11 months of age probably have enough of an immune system to not get the disease even if they are near positive cats. Although I would not take that chance and ever let them run outdoors or be around other cats. Thanks, Ardy From: Felvtalk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Amani Oakley Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 11:03 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [Felvtalk] FW: Stanozolol (Winstrol(R)) Arty, again, this is an email I tried to post early this morning, but for some reason it didn’t go through to the Listserve, so I am reposting: From: Amani Oakley Sent: October-21-15 11:51 AM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [Felvtalk] Stanozolol (Winstrol(R)) Arty, the Winstrol is an anabolic steroid so it really just works by bulking up the body, repairing damaged tissue, and also has a strong ability to treat serious anemia by working directly on the red blood cell producing cells in the bone marrow and erythropoietin production in the kidneys. Erythropoietin is the substance that the body produces that tells it to make more red cells. It is NOT the same kind of steroid as prednisolone, etc., so it can be used with other types of steroids, with pain meds and with antibiotics, etc., without interfering with their activity. My frustration comes from the fact that this drug was basically pulled because it is associated with doping scandals in professional athletes (they use it to become stronger and faster and to heal and recover from workouts faster), so it became a drug whose name you can’t mention and is tough to get sometimes. Also, there was a scientific study suggesting liver damage with its use, but the rest of the scientific literature just doesn’t seem to have borne this out and it certainly isn’t my experience. So here we have this relatively inexpensive, fairly effective option, with little downside risk, and quick effects usually, and the vets would rather tell us there is no hope and to euthanize our cats, than suggest this medication. I just don’t get it, and I have some very good friends who are high up in the echelons of the vet community, so believe me when I tell you that I have had this discussion on many occasions! Amani
_______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
