Margo The Interferon wouldn’t have caused red cell or hematocrit changes directly. The idea of the interferon is to boost the cat’s immune system to fight the FeLV virus. If successful, this would result in an improvement in the haematology results, since the poor results are being caused by the virus attacking and destroying the cells and bone marrow.
I never saw an improvement at all in the haematology results while Zander was on Interferon, though I left him on it for months, and tested his blood work weekly. I think that, as we have learned from other participants on this chatline, there seems to be more than one strain of FeLV virus, so that may well be why some people have a good response to Interferon and others have seen none. I just wouldn’t wait, when a cat is doing poorly. If the Interferon doesn’t seem to be working, it is time to quickly get to something which might help. The interferon doesn’t need to be discontinued – other treatments can be tried while the Interferon continues on to hopefully help in the background. Amani From: Felvtalk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Margo Sent: September-25-16 6:59 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Hodor Declining I never had expected the Interferon to cause red cell or hematocrit changes. Where can I find information about that? Thanks, Margo -----Original Message----- From: Amani Oakley Sent: Sep 25, 2016 12:25 AM To: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Hodor Declining Elizabeth My experience was that the interferon did absolutely nothing for my Zander. I checked his blood work weekly to track what was happening, and even though I left him on it for several months (with blood transfusions, to ensure there was a chance for it to work), there was no effect at all on the red blood cells or haematocrit. Do not wait if you don’t see improvement. My strong suggestion is to put him back on the doxycycline and try again for some Winstrol. Amani From: Felvtalk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Liz McCarty Sent: September-25-16 12:20 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [Felvtalk] Hodor Declining Hey... Hodor was pretty steady and eating well, good energy... Until Wednesday. Since then be seems to not have enough energy to move very far. Not eating well, or drinking well. One of his eyes started tearing occasionally. He still gets excited about treats and a water bottle we freeze for him that he likes to lick. He has been on interferon for 2 weeks... This past week was his 7 days off. He started back last night. Has anyone had interferon experience and seen their cats drop on the week off? Any suggestions? I don't want to lose him. We are also giving him prednisone, Pet Tinic and Dmg. I don't think the URI cleared before they stopped his doxycycline... Even though I expressed concern they said stop for now... I want to start him again....any thoughts? I don't think his immune system needs this extra stress! He was doing so well when he had the doxycycline. Thank you. Elizabeth McCarty, ASW #36438
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