P.S. Prayers going out for an increase in your finances. We know here all too well how our checkbook can limit how we care for our animals. It's horrible!
--- wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hey Caroline, > > I'm glad to hear that your vet is using Epogen. > That's probably one of the most, if not the most, > effective drugs in treating anemia. I am surprised > that she didn't just remove the leg itself instead > of > just the tumor (I know that sounds callous, but > considering the alternative, I'd vote to remove the > leg). I don't know what the stats are on tumors > coming back after surgery in felines, but I am > guessing it's fairly high. The yahoo lymphoma group > might have a better knowledge of this, and actual > scenarios similar to Monkee's if you want to check > them out. Does your vet say what type of cancer > Monkee had, based on a biopsy after the surgery? > That's important to know also. In fact, that > probably > should have been known before the chemo was given, > because the type of chemo is based on the type of > cancer, but I'm not sure how I know that, so it > might > not be right. Also, we don't see a lot of cancer in > the limbs from FeLV, at least not here. It's more > in > the lungs, and stomach, so I was surprised when you > mentioned Monkee's leg. It makes me wonder if > Monkee > didn't have Injection Site Sarcoma or Vaccine > Associated Sarcoma (VAS). Has Monkee received > vaccines where the cancer was located? Sarcoma > (fibrosarcoma) is a different form of cancer from > lymphoma, if I'm not mistaken. > > If your vet feels there is time for the Epogen to > work, then the HCT count is probably not too low. > That's a good thing. It's when the HCT is around > 7-9 > or lower when we see a lot of our furbabies often > lose > their battles to the anemia. And if Monkee is > FeLV+, > then it's entirely possible that the cancer is > unrelated based on where it was, and that the stress > of the surgery is what is causing the FeLV to kick > in, > surpressing the immune system, thus the anemia. The > two most important things in caring for FeLV+ > furbabies are a good diet with supplements, and a > stress free environment. You might consider > starting > Monkee on lysine, which is an immune system > supplement. If you do, post here so you can get the > specifics, because there are just a few guidelines > to > follow. There are other supplements too. > > You are right about the veterinary world not knowing > much about FeLV. It's kind of like AIDS in that > it's > a fairly 'new' disease, or newly diagnosed. There > are > still so many, too many, unanswered questions about > FeLV. The scary thing is I feel strongly that WE > here > are figuring out some things through trial and error > before the veterinary community is!!! Or at least > making it known. For instance, a lot of vets have > no > idea what ImmunoRegulin (IR) is, but a lot of people > use it to combat feline fevers and to fight FeLV. > Even the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary gives sub-M > injections of the IR once a month to their furbabies > in Casa de Calmar, the FeLV sanctuary. It's really > scary how little the general veterinary population > knows about new developments. Which makes me wonder > about human doctors! lol. My own vet was > overdosing > my hyperthyroid cat, even after I told him the > information I had learned from the hyperT group, > which > was to start at a certain dose, but he insisted that > this other dose was the standard. And guess what, > my > cat had really bad side effects. When we restarted > her on the meds at the lower dose, lo and behold, > she > fared just fine on the meds, even with an increase > at > a later date. I even wrote a letter to one of the > professors at Texas A&M University about the > Tapazole > overdosing world wide (learned from all the members > who've experienced it on the hyper T site). He > called > me and assured me that they do teach the lower > dosing. > So I think in general there is a lack of > communication between the universities (those that > do > the research) and the vets who are already > practicing. > That is why one of the most important thing anyone > can do for their pets is to do their own research in > a > very discerning way, and see what options they have, > rather than lean only on the knowledge their vet > has, > which can never be omniscient. I'm glad you are > doing > that for Monkee. Sadly, so many do not. I will say > we probably are the best source of info. on FeLV you > will find. A lot of people here have already done a > lot of research on the net and brought it here and > it's archived if you ever want to go through the > archives and search using various keywords. Here is > the link to the most recent posts: > http://www.mail-archive.com/felvtalk%40felineleukemia.org/. > You will muddle through a lot of posts, but will > find > valuable info. I have a sick kitty manual that I've > been working on also that I have not updated in a > year, and I need to update that and get it out to > the > members soon. I may work on that today and get it > out > to you asap. > > Please post after you've visited your vet. I hope > the > Epogen is working. Anemia can be horrible (I lost > my > Cricket to it), but it's wonderful when it's > reversed, > which we have seen happen here!!! > > Best wishes for a lucrative vet visit today! > :) > Wendy > > "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful > committed citizens can change the world - indeed it > is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret > Meade ~~~ > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________Ready > for the edge of your seat? > Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV. > http://tv.yahoo.com/ > > "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097
