--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> HI EVERYONE. I AM NEW TO THE LIST AND HAVE ALWAYS
> BEEN A CAT OWNER, BUT NEVER
> A FELV + CAT. SO I REALLY AM NOT SURE ABOUT ALOT OF
> THINGS. I SPOKE TO MY
> VET TODAY AND SHE IS GOING TO CHECK IF SHE CAN GET
> IT AND PRICES. I DON'T
> KNOW IF I SHOULD GET IT FOR TIKI, BECAUSE SHE IS A
> HEALTHY KITTEN. I MEAN IF
> I NEVER GOT A BLOOD TEST..YOU'D NEVER KNOW SHE WAS
> FELV+. SO SHOULD I BE
> GIVING HER THIS MEDICATION IF SHE ISN'T SHOWING ANY
> SIGNS? I'D HATE TO
> TORTURE HER WITH MEDICINE IF I DON'T HAVE TO. BUT IN
> THE SAME RESPECT, I WANT
> TO DO ALL I CAN FOR HER!!! I AM SO CONFUSED ABOUT
> THIS WHOLE THING. MY VET
> DOESN'T THINK I SHOULD GIVE IT TO HER WHEN SHE IS
> HEALTHY??!! I DON'T KNOW
> WHAT TO DO. PLEASE HELP ME.
> JENNIFER & TIKI
>
Jennifer,
The problem with waiting to give interferon until they
are sick is that the immune system is pretty well
knocked down by that time and they don't seem to be
able to come back.
What's happening to Tiki is that the virus over time
will keep knocking at the immune system until it can't
fight back anymore. Think of it like HIV. A person who
is HIV positive doesn't have any outward symptoms for
a long time but there a virus there and the whole time
it's knocking down the immune system. When it knocks
it down to the point where symptoms show, they have
full blown AIDS. At that point they get things like
certain cancers, etc that a person doesn't get who has
a healthy immune system. Same with these cats.
The point of the interferon is to stimulate the immune
system to keep it fighting the virus back and
supplements are to help keep the immune system as
strong as possible. It's the best we've got right now.
Medicating with interferon is the easiest actually.
It's just a little bit of liquid in a syringe. They
seem to like it. Even my feisty fireball doesn't run
when she sees me with the syringe. She seems to like
the taste of it. This I don't have to fight.
She was put on it at 4 months. She was sick though.
She was spiking high fevers, had mouth ulcers and
enlarged lymph nodes. She lost these symptoms on
interferon. She is now asymptomatic and just turned 1
this past month.
It's really your choice though. I'll be honest with
you. Some on the list haven't noticed any side effects
but I have. She does shed towards the end of the week
on it, ears get warm, and gets cranky. But without it,
I don't think she'd be here now. There's only so many
107.5 fevers a cat can take.
btw, at 4 months she took the usual dosage that an
adult cat takes and did fine with it.
Kim
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