Hi Amy,
Sick for 30 weeks! Ugh! Poor thing. I hope you're feeling better now,
you're going to be at your, um, largest, during the hot summer months.
I hope this kid appreciates all this :) .
I used to use an oral rinse prescribed by my vet for my felv kitties'
gums. I would water it down and use a Q-tip to very gently swab a
quarter of their mouth at a time along the gum line. It doesn't taste
bad and I'm not sure how much it helped, but it did keep their mouths
cleaner at least. The swabbing probably helped with tarter build up
too. I was always concerned that actual brushing might be too harsh on
their sensitive gums.
I have no idea why one of your cats should have higher calcium levels.
When you say, slightly elevated, was it still within the normal
range? Do they all eat the same diet? I've heard of high calcium in
CRF kitties, but if there are no other indications, I wouldn't be too
concerned. I would suspect that this was a one time only thing, if
you're concerned you might talk to your vet about a diet change and then
retest later. That's very cute that this kitty is your labor coach. It
sounds like you have such a wonderful relationship with your furkids.
Lastly, I'd tell whoever is flipping out about your babies being
around your baby, to please leave you alone. They are upsetting the
mother-to-be! Felv is not contagious to humans, period. The fear of
parasites is also ridiculous. It sounds like your cats are better cared
for than most human children. Why don't you ask these concerned people
to check their kids for lice? It sounds like your cats are doing
wonderfully well, they aren't sick, they are immune compromised, there
is a difference. Even if they were to become symptomatic, the only
problem that would pose to you is the added work of caring for them and
the baby at the same time. All those of us that cherish our furkids
know that is a labor of love and not a burden at all. Give those folks
a raspberry from me and your kitties a head butt.
You're going to be such a great mom!
Hugs to you,
Nina
Amy Wilkins wrote:
I haven't been on the list much in the past 7 months
so I'll reintroduce myself. I live in NY and I have 4
cats with leukemia and one with FIV. I got started
when I rescued a mom and kittens that were all
positive and the vet wanted to put them to sleep. I
kept them myself (despite my boyfriend, now husband,
being deathly allergic) and have had leuk pos kitties
ever since. I used to live on this list but then I
got pregnant in December and have been sick for the
past 30 weeks so I've sort of disappeared. I've been
reading and following the posts for the past week and
miss hearing about all the other cats out there.
Yesterday I took 2 of my cats to the vet for their 6
month check-up and just have a couple questions.
First of all, my leuk positives always have bad gums
and/or teeth. I keep them all on Clindamycin and they
get dosed about every 6 weeks. This helps but doesn't
keep the gums looking normal. They always have a red
line on their gums indicating infection. Is there
anything else that people have had luck with to help
keep the gums and teeth in better shape? I know it is
always an issue with positive kitties but would like
to do whatever I can. I asked my vet about dentals
and whether that would help the teeth at least. She
had an emergency (dog hit by a car) and we didn't
finish our conversation in which I was going to ask
about other medications as well. She will call me
this weekend to discuss options but I'm just curious
what other people do.
Second, I'm curious if anybody has ever had a problem
with high calcium levels? I do full blood work-ups on
all my cats every 6 months to monitor how the leukemia
is progressing. Everything was fine for both cats,
except my one had a slightly elevated calcium level.
The vet said most likely it is nothing to be worried
about, however, high calcium can be indicative of some
serious health problems at times. She said everything
about the cat leads her to believe he is healthy.
I've had him 2 years and he seems fine. She did say I
could re-draw the blood and do further analysis if I'm
really concerned but otherwise she would just wait and
look at it again in 6 months. I'm leaning towards
doing nothing but I'm having a baby in 2 months and
this kitty is my labor coach so he has to be around.
He adores the baby on the way and hasn't left my side
since getting pregnant. The bond is amazing. I want
to be sure I'm not overlooking something and just
wondered if anybody has had any experience with high
calcium in bloodwork.
Lastly, everybody is flipping out about me having a
newborn and 5 sick kitties. I'm not concerned at
all but obviously want to be responsible. My cats
lick me, cuddle with me, drink out of my glass, etc.
I have never worried about them passing the disease
even though I work with a vet tech that swears she
knows people that got
