Hi Everyone I definitely agree with Ardy. I think that often, valuable time is lost while we are either given no options at all by the vets, or options that are not proven to succeed. Also, there is often an initial “crisis” of some kind, that heralds the start of the virus getting an upper hand in the body. My experience and what I’ve heard from others is that, generally what happens, is that we then heave a sigh of relief and think we have dodged a bullet. We take our babies home and everything goes back to normal (normal appetite, normal playing, normal behaviour, etc.).
However, I think our complacency and our desire to believe that everything is now all right, is dangerous and the fact that the vets DON’T tell us that this is usually just a deceiving lull, is really problematic. Ardy is right – the virus is usually doing its dirty work quietly, without us noticing until it is sometimes critical, and I agree with Ardy, that a stressful situation can allow the virus to dominate. With my Zander, he had a “mini” crisis in July where his blood results were very bad, and then he recovered. The vet mentioned it might be FeLV, but we didn’t know what that was. When it “went away”, we figured we Zander was okay, and since our vet didn’t recommend any more treatment, we didn’t think any more about it. Then, in September, he crashed BADLY. The ER clinic showed me his blood in a vial and I know what blood in a vial is supposed to look like, and Zander’s looked like water with some red dye in it. His haematocrit was FIVE! (Normal is something like 25 to 45). He was put into an oxygen tent because he didn’t have enough red blood cells to transport sufficient oxygen to his cells. In my view, in hindsight, I should never have let up in assuming that the FeLV virus was there and needed to be treated. I believe I should have started Zander on Winstrol and Doxycycline immediately. I shouldn’t have allowed the virus to keep reproducing (Doxycyline would have interfered with its reproduction) and the Winstrol would have encouraged progenitor cells to be produced in the bone marrow and would have pushed back against the effect of the FeLV virus on the bone marrow. Frankly, I also think that the Winstrol/Doxycycline combo is compatible with many of the other treatments people are using, and I see no reason why Winstrol/Doxycycline can’t be added to the other regimens. For example, Margot, you mentioned you are using Interferon and a very low carb diet. If you are running blood work at all, Margot, you might want to consider putting your cat on the Winstrol and seeing if you get an improvement in his blood work. I realize you may not want to, if things are looking okay right now, but again, the Winstrol will either won’t and you’ll be able to see in a four weeks at most. Again, if we had a website, we could keep track of what people try and what results they get. Amani From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Ardy Robertson Sent: May-15-16 1:31 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org<mailto:felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Amani thoughts for Winstrol Hello, If I can jump in on the website idea, I believe that would help people, especially people like me who had no experience with FeLV. Suddenly you are told one of your kitties has FeLV virus, and you are being told there are no options other than euthanasia. My vets even wanted me to go home and get my other two cats and bring them in that day for euthanizing! I said “no”! If there was a website that sort of listed a protocol for treating the FeLV crises, that would be great! One of our vets then offered Interferon and while I was placing my hopes on that treatment, believing that the vets wanted Tigger to live and pull out of the crisis he was in, valuable time was slipping away and Tigg’s blood counts were taking a dive. They didn’t really explain anything about the blood test results. I basically had to learn everything from reading online. For instance I did not know that stress can bring on a crisis. We had brought a stray into our house, and she was running up behind Tigger and biting him hard. His stress from that was high. I also learned from reading online that while the FeLV virus spreads to other cats, it is hardly ever spread to a cat over 11 months of age because their immune system can usually defend them from it. That is also how I found this group online. It was when Amani explained that Winstrol has been shown to turn the bone marrow back on to producing blood cells, that I decided to take a chance on it. Then much more time was lost trying to find a way to get Winstrol, also known as Stanozolol. I found a source in Canada, but they were not able to ship into the US. I live in Wisconsin, so I had to find a source in the US. Again, as a novice, I did not have the information I needed to make any meaningful decisions. I happen to be computer-literate so I was able to do the searching for ways to get Winstrol etc., I shudder to think what a loving cat owner who just doesn’t happen to be able to find things online easily, would do! So the need for information is critical……both for cat owners, and eventually to change the minds of the veterinary community! I hope one day, they will actually SUGGEST it to cat parents. If a website could ever become a reality, I would gladly share Tigger’s treatment details, along with his blood test results. Even though we eventually lost him, I feel I was given some additional time with him – and it was good quality time with him feeling very good, and playful most of the time. I also feel he may have pulled through this particular crisis if I had started this treatment regime as soon as I knew he was FeLV positive. I could be wrong, but I think the FeLV virus sometimes sits dormant in the cat, waiting for some period of stress in the cat’s life, and then it pops up and attacks in varying ways. If the owner is able to get the cat through that particular crisis, then I think it sometimes backs off again, possibly for very long periods, especially if the cat’s stress levels can be kept low. Thank you, Ardy From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Rachel Dagner Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2016 10:34 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org<mailto:felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Amani thoughts for Winstrol I have googled you, you are the only one on here that I can put a face to a name! Can we post pictures when we send messages? Yes, not all lawyers are bad. Lol I am glad you do something you believe in and that is fulfilling and helps people. Probably makes all of the hours worth it. That and you love kitties and help people on here with theirs when you have so little time tells me you are a wonderful person with a huge heart and a beautiful soul. A web site would be awesome, somewhere to send people for information instead of having to start over completely with a new person. I know there are places where you can do free websites. I have no idea how to do one. But I am good at researching and figuring things out, so it's something we could look at. Sent from my iPhone
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