Sweet Buzz
Hello to All... I recently took a cat my brother had rescued from some neighborhood kids who were abusing and kicking him. He had fleas, worms and ear mites and was near death. My brother and his wife nursed him back to physical health, but he was terrified of people. They had been calling him Buzz Saw because of the way he behaved when anyone tried to touch him. When I visited my brother, my sister in law threw a blanket over him to catch him and handed him to me. I cuddled him in and after a while he began to purr. He was terrified of people reaching for him, so when we reached for him we did so with treats in our hands. His whole personality began to change and Buzz and I really began to bond. When I took him home I had fortunately kept him away from my other 5 cats. I took him to our vet to be checked over and neutered. I found out he is 8 - 10 months old and the heartbreaking news - he is FeLV positive. I have read as much as I could and tried to find a way I could safely keep him with my other cats, but that does not seem to be possible. Even if I vaccinated my other cats the risk is too great. A couple of them have their own issues, and if they got feline leukemia, too, it would probably be the end of them. Buzz is now living in one room of my home and I am trying to find a good home for him. I would almost like to be selfish and keep him anyway because he has turned into one of the most loving, entertaining wonderful cats I have ever had, and I have had many. It would not be fair to keep him in one room for the rest of his life, though. Oh, by the way, his name is still Buzz, but now it stands for Buzz Light Year - To Infinity and Beyond! If anyone knows of a home where he will be well taken care of and happy, please let me know. Thanks, Sue
Please add to the Bridge List
I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria
Re: Please add to the Bridge List
Prayers for your and your angels. I hope the necropsy gives you some answers... Laurie - Original Message - From: Gloria Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:10 AM Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria
RE: Please add to the Bridge List
I;m so sorry, Gloria. Gentle Bridge vibes to both your girls. I hope you find out what happened to Miss Hendrix. Hugs. Diane R. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gloria Lane Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:10 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria
Re: Sweet Buzz
Hi Sue, I think it's great that you've given Buzz a new lease on life. It amazes and disgusts me that anyone would abuse an animal. Thanks to you and your brother's family for taking care of him. I will say that, as someone who has to isolate a wonderful, sweet FeLV+ girl, I don't think it's cruel to keep an animal in one room, as long as their needs are met, they are given love and affection, and they get some time to play, even if it's in the one room. If you love Buzz, I think you should consider keeping him. If he does not have direct contact with your other cats, and as long as you keep his dishes and litterbox away from them when you're taking them out to be cleaned, the risk of them catching the virus AND actually becoming persistently infected would seem to be incredibly low, if not zero. The virus is fragile, and can't live outside of a cat for more than a few minutes. I'm definitely not trying to make you feel guilty or bad. It's just that you obviously love the little guy, and you might be the person he needs for the rest of his life. My Ember is almost six years old, and other than what seems like a yearly, intestinal bacterial overgrowth that's been easily treated thusfar, she's really doing well. Whatever you decide, thanks again for looking out for Buzz. Lance On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:35:19 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Hello to All... I recently took a cat my brother had rescued from some neighborhood kids who were abusing and kicking him. He had fleas, worms and ear mites and was near death. My brother and his wife nursed him back to physical health, but he was terrified of people. They had been calling him Buzz Saw because of the way he behaved when anyone tried to touch him. When I visited my brother, my sister in law threw a blanket over him to catch him and handed him to me. I cuddled him in and after a while he began to purr. He was terrified of people reaching for him, so when we reached for him we did so with treats in our hands. His whole personality began to change and Buzz and I really began to bond. When I took him home I had fortunately kept him away from my other 5 cats. I took him to our vet to be checked over and neutered. I found out he is 8 - 10 months old and the heartbreaking news - he is FeLV positive. I have read as much as I could and tried to find a way I could safely keep him with my other cats, but that does not seem to be possible. Even if I vaccinated my other cats the risk is too great. A couple of them have their own issues, and if they got feline leukemia, too, it would probably be the end of them. Buzz is now living in one room of my home and I am trying to find a good home for him. I would almost like to be selfish and keep him anyway because he has turned into one of the most loving, entertaining wonderful cats I have ever had, and I have had many. It would not be fair to keep him in one room for the rest of his life, though. Oh, by the way, his name is still Buzz, but now it stands for Buzz Light Year - To Infinity and Beyond! If anyone knows of a home where he will be well taken care of and happy, please let me know. Thanks, Sue -- Lance Linimon [EMAIL PROTECTED]
for Gloria
Oh Gloria, heartbreaking enough to lose Angel Moon so recently, but now to find Miss Hendrix has passed, and so suddenly and shockingly. I really am so sorry. Each of them sounds such an adorable sweetie in her own way. It's just so difficult when they endear themselves to us--and then they're just not there any more. At least the little souls knew they were much-loved and cared for. If you go ahead with the necrospy please do let us know the outcome when you have time. Much love and big hugs, Kerry M. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gloria Lane Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:10 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria _ Effective September 1, 2007, we have changed our name to Mayer Brown LLP. IRS CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE. Any advice expressed above as to tax matters was neither written nor intended by the sender or Mayer Brown LLP to be used and cannot be used by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed under U.S. tax law. If any person uses or refers to any such tax advice in promoting, marketing or recommending a partnership or other entity, investment plan or arrangement to any taxpayer, then (i) the advice was written to support the promotion or marketing (by a person other than Mayer Brown LLP) of that transaction or matter, and (ii) such taxpayers should seek advice based on the taxpayers particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor. This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail.
RE: Sweet Buzz
I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment (which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months and it's fine. A lot of people on this list- or more so formerly on this list- have FELV+ rooms. Many people even mix them because the transmission rate is very low- much lower than you would think- and vets have differing opinions on this (so do owners of FELV cats). I had an FELV cat and he was my only cat for the 4 years I had him but I made that choice because he hated other cats (and that is probably why he had FELV to begin with- he was a fighter!) and I was so obsessed with him that I didn't want to expose him to any run-of-the-mill diseases that another cat could have that he maybe wouldn't be able to fight off as well b/c of his FELV. But I have a vet who mixes Felv cats with non-Felv and she says there's never been any transmission- that the critical time period is when they are very young kittens and if they don't pick up Felv then, it's very unlikely they will get it as they get olde because their immune system matures and their body develops antibodies and a system for fighting off these feline retroviruses. It's when they are kittens and have an immature immune system that they are most susceptible to transmission. So she will mix adult non-Felv cats with Felv+s and has never had a transmission issue. I'm not telling you what to do- it's a personal decision- but I do think it's one that has to be made with as much info at hand as possible and one single vet is not going to provide you that. Sadly, in this day and age, there are STILL vets who recommend putting to sleep an ASYMPTOMATIC Felv cat (which frankly, I think is malpractice). So you need to consult a lot of different resources to make a fully informed decision. You also need to have Buzz retested in approximately 6 months. There can be a lot of false positive tests in kittens for FELV. My Felv cat was already about 2 years old when I found him and I had him retested 3 times (positive every time) b/c I was in such denial! He was so strong and never had anything wrong with him until the end. But retesting is a must with this disease, but you need to wait at least 6 mths. There's lots of good info in the archives about mingling Felv and non-Felv cats, retesting, and if you should decide to keep him- all the things you can do to boost his immune system and hopefully keep him asymptomatic for as long as possible-- diet is HUGE-- very important. So definitely take a look at those and look for subject lines that will indicate what the discussion was about. Good luck. Caroline From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: Sweet Buzz Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 09:56:10 -0600 Hi Sue, I think it's great that you've given Buzz a new lease on life. It amazes and disgusts me that anyone would abuse an animal. Thanks to you and your brother's family for taking care of him. I will say that, as someone who has to isolate a wonderful, sweet FeLV+ girl, I don't think it's cruel to keep an animal in one room, as long as their needs are met, they are given love and affection, and they get some time to play, even if it's in the one room. If you love Buzz, I think you should consider keeping him. If he does not have direct contact with your other cats, and as long as you keep his dishes and litterbox away from them when you're taking them out to be cleaned, the risk of them catching the virus AND actually becoming persistently infected would seem to be incredibly low, if not zero. The virus is fragile, and can't live outside of a cat for more than a few minutes. I'm definitely not trying to make you feel guilty or bad. It's just that you obviously love the little guy, and you might be the person he needs for the rest of his life. My Ember is almost six years old, and other than what seems like a yearly, intestinal bacterial overgrowth that's been easily treated thusfar, she's really doing well. Whatever you decide, thanks again for looking out for Buzz. LanceOn Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:35:19 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Hello to All... I recently took a cat my brother had rescued from some neighborhood kids who were abusing and kicking him. He had fleas, worms and ear mites and was near death. My brother and his wife nursed him back to physical health, but he was terrified of people. They had been calling him Buzz Saw because of the way he behaved when anyone tried to touch him. When I visited my brother, my sister in law threw a
RE: new cat
Hi Lynne. Thanks for taking in this baby and doing all that you have for him. I think that's great. Definitely keep him if he is asymptomatic right now. Any vet that recommends a cat that has tested positive for Felv ONE TIME and is asymptomatic is a quack (in my opinion). The veterinary profession has come a long way in extending the lives of these cats and any vet that does not recognize that is not up on his/her research. There can be false positives with these tests, so it is recommended he be retested again in 6 months. Please see my other recent post regarding Buzz b/c it has a lot of the same information about retesting. In addition, if you are going to keep him, you should look for a vet that is committed to proactively treating asymptomatic Felv cats. Do your research. Vet hop if you have to, but it is worth it to screen and to find the right vet who regularly treats Felv+ cats, is up on the research and will work with you to extend the cat's life. There are many immune boosting things you can do yourself now to help your cat. Also, a high quality diet is key. There is an online group that is devoted to the discussion of a high quality diet for cats (especially cats with immune disorders) and I recommend you join it. I am somewhat up on the research of the importance of diet, but not near as much as these people. I will get the website address and post it here in a few. Keep in mind that no one can tell you how long your cat will live. There are so many variables and because of that, it is ALWAYS worth trying- especially when they are asymptomatic. Please read thru the archives b/c many people have asked this very same question and the answers are always the same-- we don't know, but it's worth a try. Especially if you start proactively working to make him comfortable, reduce his stress (very key) and boost his immune system, there really is no limit to where he can go. One of my vets had an Felv cat live to be 12 and then she died of something completely unrelated- she never even became symptomatic and never even suffered from the Felv. So there are success stories out there like that. And remember, all cats will die. It sucks. They will almost always leave us before we are ready and no cat will ever live to be 30 yo! So from the minute we take them in and start to love them, their time with us is limited and all we can do in the meantime is shower them with love and affection and give them the best life possible. caroline From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: new catDate: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 18:54:13 -0500 Hi all. I just joined this list after doing all the reading I possibly could find on feline leukemia. I recently acquired a Himalayan male cat around 5 to 6 years of age from a rather unscrupulous family. I was familiar with the cat because all summer he would come over to our house and hang around, mostly wanting attention and something to eat. Recently I discovered he was on a buy and sell site and immediately called the owners desparate to purchase him. Knowing who I am the price went from 150 to 300 within a couple minutes. Anyway, my husband and I had grown to love this little guy and just wanted him to have a good home. Yesterday we took him to the vet where he was groomed, shaved of all the horrible matting under his chest and legs, deflead and treated for a terrible case of earmites. We no sooner got home than the vet called to tell us he had tested positive for feline leukemia and wanted to know how much we had bonded with him and our options. After what seemed like hours of crying I decided we were going to keep him as long as he stayed healthy which he is now. This weekend he is going to be neutered, strongly advised by the vet. This will be strictly a housecat. He's adjusted very well and is adorable. I'm just curious. Does he have a chance at a longer life than I've been lead to believe he has. I'm hearing a couple of years and I just cannot accept this as fact. Lynne _ Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your fix. http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx
Re: for Gloria
Thanks so much, Kerry - They were both adorable in their own ways, and Hendrix had a possibility for adoption - someone wanted an FIV cat and Hendrix was FIV and really easy and friendly. Sigh. I appreciate your kind words so much. Gloria On Feb 6, 2008, at 10:14 AM, MacKenzie, Kerry N. wrote: Oh Gloria, heartbreaking enough to lose Angel Moon so recently, but now to find Miss Hendrix has passed, and so suddenly and shockingly. I really am so sorry. Each of them sounds such an adorable sweetie in her own way. It's just so difficult when they endear themselves to us--and then they're just not there any more. At least the little souls knew they were much-loved and cared for. If you go ahead with the necrospy please do let us know the outcome when you have time. Much love and big hugs, Kerry M. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gloria Lane Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:10 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria _ Effective September 1, 2007, we have changed our name to Mayer Brown LLP. IRS CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE. Any advice expressed above as to tax matters was neither written nor intended by the sender or Mayer Brown LLP to be used and cannot be used by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed under U.S. tax law. If any person uses or refers to any such tax advice in promoting, marketing or recommending a partnership or other entity, investment plan or arrangement to any taxpayer, then (i) the advice was written to support the promotion or marketing (by a person other than Mayer Brown LLP) of that transaction or matter, and (ii) such taxpayers should seek advice based on the taxpayers particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor. This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail.
Re: Please add to the Bridge List
Thanks so much, Laurie - I'll let the group know about the necropsy. Hendrix was FIV, which I forgot to mention. But my FIV cats just go on and on and on, so... very sad. Gloria On Feb 6, 2008, at 8:39 AM, laurieskatz wrote: Prayers for your and your angels. I hope the necropsy gives you some answers... Laurie - Original Message - From: Gloria Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:10 AM Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow- Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria
Re: Please add to the Bridge List
Thanks, Diane - I appreciate the kind words; Hendrix was a wonderful kitty, very near to getting adopted too, which is unusual for an FIV kitty. Gloria On Feb 6, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Diane Rosenfeldt wrote: I;m so sorry, Gloria. Gentle Bridge vibes to both your girls. I hope you find out what happened to Miss Hendrix. Hugs. Diane R. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gloria Lane Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:10 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria
Brumley is gone
Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him b/c he really liked this cat. The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my 2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye), his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done. It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went to the heart, Brumley left this world very quickly. The vet gave me a hug and told me I did a good job. Honestly, I am exhausted. I have been doing very intensive care on Brumley and it has taken up all of my mornings and my entire evening. I would get up, take care of Brum, go to work, come home, take care of Brum, go to bed, and it would start again the next day. So mentally and physically, I am just worn out. But I know that- especially being a foster cat- Brumley got more care and better care than he ever would have if I had not intervened. In his short, sad little life, he never got frustrated, he never got mad and I don't really think he knew he was sick, but he
Re: Brumley is gone
Caroline, I am so very sorry for your loss. What a wonderful guardian you have been for your Brumley. This disease is new to me and my new Himalayan and I'm learning so much from this group already. Again my heartfelt condolences. Lynne - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 1:05 PM Subject: Brumley is gone Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him b/c he really liked this cat. The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my 2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye), his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done. It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went to the heart, Brumley left this world very quickly. The vet gave me a hug and told me I did a good job. Honestly, I am exhausted. I have been doing very intensive care on Brumley and it has taken up all of my mornings and my entire evening. I would
Re: new cat
Thank you Caroline. You make a very good point. I do intend to have him retested in a few months. I work in the medical field and am somewhat familiar with false positives and inadequate testing. I'm not gonna let one simple test decide that he has this disease. However, even if he does have it, it matters not one bit. He's here to stay. We absolutely love him to pieces, even the 19 year old is accepting him which I was worried about because Lennie has never had another cat in the house. We've only ever had 2 feline pets and both have reached 19 so the thought of BooBoo not making it to a ripe old age came as a bit of a blow to me. I know it shouldn't but we treat our cats like little gods. I'm going to keep on reading and educating myself about this and do the best I can with the situation. Lynne - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:13 PM Subject: RE: new cat Hi Lynne. Thanks for taking in this baby and doing all that you have for him. I think that's great. Definitely keep him if he is asymptomatic right now. Any vet that recommends a cat that has tested positive for Felv ONE TIME and is asymptomatic is a quack (in my opinion). The veterinary profession has come a long way in extending the lives of these cats and any vet that does not recognize that is not up on his/her research. There can be false positives with these tests, so it is recommended he be retested again in 6 months. Please see my other recent post regarding Buzz b/c it has a lot of the same information about retesting. In addition, if you are going to keep him, you should look for a vet that is committed to proactively treating asymptomatic Felv cats. Do your research. Vet hop if you have to, but it is worth it to screen and to find the right vet who regularly treats Felv+ cats, is up on the research and will work with you to extend the cat's life. There are many immune boosting things you can do yourself now to help your cat. Also, a high quality diet is key. There is an online group that is devoted to the discussion of a high quality diet for cats (especially cats with immune disorders) and I recommend you join it. I am somewhat up on the research of the importance of diet, but not near as much as these people. I will get the website address and post it here in a few. Keep in mind that no one can tell you how long your cat will live. There are so many variables and because of that, it is ALWAYS worth trying- especially when they are asymptomatic. Please read thru the archives b/c many people have asked this very same question and the answers are always the same-- we don't know, but it's worth a try. Especially if you start proactively working to make him comfortable, reduce his stress (very key) and boost his immune system, there really is no limit to where he can go. One of my vets had an Felv cat live to be 12 and then she died of something completely unrelated- she never even became symptomatic and never even suffered from the Felv. So there are success stories out there like that. And remember, all cats will die. It sucks. They will almost always leave us before we are ready and no cat will ever live to be 30 yo! So from the minute we take them in and start to love them, their time with us is limited and all we can do in the meantime is shower them with love and affection and give them the best life possible. caroline From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: new cat Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 18:54:13 -0500 Hi all. I just joined this list after doing all the reading I possibly could find on feline leukemia. I recently acquired a Himalayan male cat around 5 to 6 years of age from a rather unscrupulous family. I was familiar with the cat because all summer he would come over to our house and hang around, mostly wanting attention and something to eat. Recently I discovered he was on a buy and sell site and immediately called the owners desparate to purchase him. Knowing who I am the price went from 150 to 300 within a couple minutes. Anyway, my husband and I had grown to love this little guy and just wanted him to have a good home. Yesterday we took him to the vet where he was groomed, shaved of all the horrible matting under his chest and legs, deflead and treated for a terrible case of earmites. We no sooner got home than the vet called to tell us he had tested positive for feline leukemia and wanted to know how much we had bonded with him and our options. After what seemed like hours of crying I decided we were going to keep him as long as he stayed healthy which he is now. This weekend he is going to be neutered, strongly advised by the vet. This will be strictly a housecat. He's
RE: Brumley is gone
Thank you Lynne. I want to make sure you understand though that Brumley was not an FELV cat. Altho some of the vets that saw him thought he was presenting with FELV typical symptoms (the eye), he was tested twice- once at 2 lbs by the shelter- and once by me at 6 mths of age, so if he had initially been a false negative, it should have shown up at the 6 mths test when he was undeniably symptomatic with some kind of infection/possible virus. If he had been Felv+, he would have been viremic at that point and shedding the virus and the test would have caught it. We suspect he had dry FIP- which if you are not familiar with it- sheesh- it's a whole other can of worms and practically impossible to diagnose- a very complicated and ugly disease. I thought Felv was the worst thing I'd ever see, but I hadn't met FIP yet. At this point, I'd pray for a kitten to be FELV positive in lieu of facing dry FIP again- if we had choices in these matters. But I just wanted to make sure that Brumley's death didn't make you despair, as he was not FELV+. But I have been on this list almost a year and the people here helped me so much with my FELV cat Monkee that they are my first go to contacts when I have a foster doing something--anything- FELV or not- as I build my cat-care learning curve. It's these people who led me to the FIP support group that has given me tons of support, advice and help with Brumley. But I wanted to let the people on this group know what happened because they learned of Brumley when I first took him in and came to this group for initial advice. caroline From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: Brumley is goneDate: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 15:05:23 -0500 Caroline, I am so very sorry for your loss. What a wonderful guardian you have been for your Brumley. This disease is new to me and my new Himalayan and I'm learning so much from this group already. Again my heartfelt condolences. Lynne - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 1:05 PM Subject: Brumley is gone Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I
RE: Brumley is gone
Oh Caroline, I am so, so sorry. Brumley was such a special, brave little fellow, such a trooper. And you were surely his guardian angel. You really did him proud. No one could have done more for Brumley than you did---no one. It's really amazing and wonderful that he was so content and loving of life right up till almost the last moment. He obviously knew how loved he was. What an inspiration his example is. And yours, too, Caroline--thanks for everything you did for your little sweetie foster kitten. Wish there were more in the world like you. much love and big hugs, Kerry _ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Caroline Kaufmann Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:06 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Brumley is gone Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him b/c he really liked this cat. The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my 2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye), his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done. It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so
RE: new cat
That's great! Your medical training will come in very handy then because this virus is such a virus in the true sense of the term. That's how my Monkee could present as absolutely healthy for 4 years (not even a UTI or upper respiratory infection!- nothing) and then suddenly be struck down with symptoms when the virus became active. We've only had one cat (no felv or anything) make it to 19 and we thought we were really something special! But 2, wow! Yes, I was the same way when I took Monkee in at the end of law school-- my mom still had the 3 kittens from a litter from a stray that were born when I was ten years old living at home with her at the time. They were of course all geriatric and driving my mom crazy because she thought it was time about every other day! So I was used to cats living to be 17, 18 and 19! The good thing is that after 2 of them finally passed relatively close together and we were left with admittedly, my favorite of the litter- Rambo- alone for the first time in his life at age 17, I rescued an unspayed 1 yo white cat and dumped her on my mom (b/c I had Monkee and couldn't take her in). At first, it was a little weird between them- the 1 yo and the old man- but eventually they came to love each other in their own odd little way and my mom and I swear up and down that we got two more quality years out of Rambo b/c we brought him this kitten! So there is something to be said for a younger cat infusing life into an older one, even if it's accomplished begrudgingly! caroline From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: new catDate: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 15:14:25 -0500 Thank you Caroline. You make a very good point. I do intend to have him retested in a few months. I work in the medical field and am somewhat familiar with false positives and inadequate testing. I'm not gonna let one simple test decide that he has this disease. However, even if he does have it, it matters not one bit. He's here to stay. We absolutely love him to pieces, even the 19 year old is accepting him which I was worried about because Lennie has never had another cat in the house. We've only ever had 2 feline pets and both have reached 19 so the thought of BooBoo not making it to a ripe old age came as a bit of a blow to me. I know it shouldn't but we treat our cats like little gods. I'm going to keep on reading and educating myself about this and do the best I can with the situation. Lynne - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:13 PM Subject: RE: new cat Hi Lynne. Thanks for taking in this baby and doing all that you have for him. I think that's great. Definitely keep him if he is asymptomatic right now. Any vet that recommends a cat that has tested positive for Felv ONE TIME and is asymptomatic is a quack (in my opinion). The veterinary profession has come a long way in extending the lives of these cats and any vet that does not recognize that is not up on his/her research. There can be false positives with these tests, so it is recommended he be retested again in 6 months. Please see my other recent post regarding Buzz b/c it has a lot of the same information about retesting. In addition, if you are going to keep him, you should look for a vet that is committed to proactively treating asymptomatic Felv cats. Do your research. Vet hop if you have to, but it is worth it to screen and to find the right vet who regularly treats Felv+ cats, is up on the research and will work with you to extend the cat's life. There are many immune boosting things you can do yourself now to help your cat. Also, a high quality diet is key. There is an online group that is devoted to the discussion of a high quality diet for cats (especially cats with immune disorders) and I recommend you join it. I am somewhat up on the research of the importance of diet, but not near as much as these people. I will get the website address and post it here in a few. Keep in mind that no one can tell you how long your cat will live. There are so many variables and because of that, it is ALWAYS worth trying- especially when they are asymptomatic. Please read thru the archives b/c many people have asked this very same question and the answers are always the same-- we don't know, but it's worth a try. Especially if you start proactively working to make him comfortable, reduce his stress (very key) and boost his immune system, there really is no limit to where he can go. One of my vets had an Felv cat live to be 12 and then she died of something completely unrelated- she never even became symptomatic and never even suffered from the Felv. So there are success stories out there like that. And remember, all cats will die. It sucks. They will almost always leave us before we are ready and no cat will ever live to be 30 yo! So from the minute we take them in
RE: new cat
Your comment I know it shouldn't but we treat our cats like little gods. made me smile Lynne. I'm completely shameless about treating mine like little gods and goddesses. As long as they're not too mean to each other, and don't run the risk of harming themselves, I pretty well let em get away with murder. The way I see it, they don't ever have to go out in the world and get on with other people so it's ok to spoil em rotten! Thank you for giving BooBoo the wonderful forever home he deserves. These people are unscrupulous indeed--and worse. (I don't normally approve of capital punishment but when I hear stories like this) Wishing you and BooBoo many happy years together! Kerry _ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lynne Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 2:14 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: new cat Thank you Caroline. You make a very good point. I do intend to have him retested in a few months. I work in the medical field and am somewhat familiar with false positives and inadequate testing. I'm not gonna let one simple test decide that he has this disease. However, even if he does have it, it matters not one bit. He's here to stay. We absolutely love him to pieces, even the 19 year old is accepting him which I was worried about because Lennie has never had another cat in the house. We've only ever had 2 feline pets and both have reached 19 so the thought of BooBoo not making it to a ripe old age came as a bit of a blow to me. I know it shouldn't but we treat our cats like little gods. I'm going to keep on reading and educating myself about this and do the best I can with the situation. Lynne - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:13 PM Subject: RE: new cat Hi Lynne. Thanks for taking in this baby and doing all that you have for him. I think that's great. Definitely keep him if he is asymptomatic right now. Any vet that recommends a cat that has tested positive for Felv ONE TIME and is asymptomatic is a quack (in my opinion). The veterinary profession has come a long way in extending the lives of these cats and any vet that does not recognize that is not up on his/her research. There can be false positives with these tests, so it is recommended he be retested again in 6 months. Please see my other recent post regarding Buzz b/c it has a lot of the same information about retesting. In addition, if you are going to keep him, you should look for a vet that is committed to proactively treating asymptomatic Felv cats. Do your research. Vet hop if you have to, but it is worth it to screen and to find the right vet who regularly treats Felv+ cats, is up on the research and will work with you to extend the cat's life. There are many immune boosting things you can do yourself now to help your cat. Also, a high quality diet is key. There is an online group that is devoted to the discussion of a high quality diet for cats (especially cats with immune disorders) and I recommend you join it. I am somewhat up on the research of the importance of diet, but not near as much as these people. I will get the website address and post it here in a few. Keep in mind that no one can tell you how long your cat will live. There are so many variables and because of that, it is ALWAYS worth trying- especially when they are asymptomatic. Please read thru the archives b/c many people have asked this very same question and the answers are always the same-- we don't know, but it's worth a try. Especially if you start proactively working to make him comfortable, reduce his stress (very key) and boost his immune system, there really is no limit to where he can go. One of my vets had an Felv cat live to be 12 and then she died of something completely unrelated- she never even became symptomatic and never even suffered from the Felv. So there are success stories out there like that. And remember, all cats will die. It sucks. They will almost always leave us before we are ready and no cat will ever live to be 30 yo! So from the minute we take them in and start to love them, their time with us is limited and all we can do in the meantime is shower them with love and affection and give them the best life possible. caroline _ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: new cat Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 18:54:13 -0500 Hi all. I just joined this list after doing all the reading I possibly could find on feline leukemia. I recently acquired a Himalayan male cat around 5 to 6 years of age from a rather unscrupulous family. I was familiar
Re: Brumley is gone
Caroline,I am so sorry about sweet little Brumley.He was so lucky to have you
here for him.and it is good to hear that Monkee was there to greet him.Hugs to
you!!
Sherry
Caroline Kaufmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
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Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is
gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his
very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at
the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he
was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds
and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue
forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom
and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who
was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain
his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased
and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the
18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped
interacting with his environment and doing the small
little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he
fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved,
sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat
soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end.
I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet
even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this
one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was
such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet
drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering?
But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was
perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after
somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing
in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have
done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was
concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good
or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was
my typical evening of treating, medicating,
feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in
his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning
routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His
little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was
obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my
arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He
was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid.
So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same
one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in
until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I
think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of
being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him
b/c he really liked this cat.
The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my
2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were
next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye),
his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She
said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she
doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of
it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done.
It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out
there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a
vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot
to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with
him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard
in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went
to the heart, Brumley left this world very quickly. The vet gave me a hug and
told me I did a good job.
Honestly, I am exhausted. I have been doing very intensive care on Brumley and
it has taken up all of my mornings and my entire evening. I would get up, take
care of Brum, go to work, come home, take care of Brum, go to bed, and it would
start again
Re: Please add to the Bridge List
Gloria I am so sorry to hear of your Angel Moon and Miss Hendrix passing.They sound like they were wonderful babies and were very lucky to have you.Hugs to you. Sherry Gloria Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria - Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: Please add to the Bridge List
Gloria, that's a lot of grief to shoulder. I'm so sorry for your losses. Lynne - Original Message - From: Sherry DeHaan To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 5:32 PM Subject: Re: Please add to the Bridge List Gloria I am so sorry to hear of your Angel Moon and Miss Hendrix passing.They sound like they were wonderful babies and were very lucky to have you.Hugs to you. Sherry Gloria Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 yea r old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria -- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: Brumley is gone
Caroline, I am so sorry. I think losing one we've nursed intently is especially hard. I am sure you are exhausted. I find Monkee's visit a comfort and assurance that he was waiting for Brumley. I had a visit from Teddy around the time Keisha died. Be gentle with yourself and know that you gave the little guy a chance. Kudos for keeping on looking until you found a vet with compassion and willingess to try to help this little earth angel. Laurie - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 12:05 PM Subject: Brumley is gone Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him b/c he really liked this cat. The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my 2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye), his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done. It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went to the heart, Brumley left this world very quickly.
Re: Brumley is gone
I'm so sorry. He died loved and cared for. That may not be much comfort to you right now but it was to Brumley. On Feb 6, 2008, at 4:21 PM, Sherry DeHaan wrote: Caroline,I am so sorry about sweet little Brumley.He was so lucky to have you here for him.and it is good to hear that Monkee was there to greet him.Hugs to you!! Sherry Caroline Kaufmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him b/c he really liked this cat. The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my 2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye), his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done. It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went to the heart, Brumley left this world very quickly. The vet gave me a hug and told me I did a good job. Honestly, I am exhausted. I have been doing very intensive care on Brumley and it has taken up all of my mornings and my entire
Re: Please add to the Bridge List
I am so sorry. Losing one is bad enough. Losing two??? On Feb 6, 2008, at 8:10 AM, Gloria Lane wrote: I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria
Diet and Nutrition links
Hey guys. Below is a message from one of the members of the FIP support group I recently joined on behalf of Brumley. I asked her again for her referral to the sites devoted to better diet and nutrition for cats. I planned to join once things calmed down with Brumley because keeping up with the FIP group and the assisted feeding support group got to be too much! But I did want to pass this onto the new FELV members as something to consider for the care of your babies. Diet is unbelievably important and there has been nothing short of a revolution as of late regarding what we should be feeding our companion animals- and in particular, felines, who are all descendants of the big cats in Africa and when we snuggle them and kiss their noses, etc., I think we tend to forget that! I am not saying everyone has to go the raw food route- altho Monkee did when his anemia from Felv kicked in and he loved it! urgh, too little too late...but I know better now and I just want other people to maybe benefit from that). So add investigating and researching the diet issue onto your to-do list. And keep in mind that you don't have to commit to the raw diet-- if you do the research, you will find the particular premium canned foods that are as close as you can get to the benefits of raw. I hope this helps! caroline Absolutely. The more cats we get off commercial diets the less death we'll see. Cats are carnivores. They eat meat ... fresh meat ... not rotted, old, diseased garbage, left over meat from rendering plants. And not grains. They can't even digest grains and vegetables. Here ya go. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/WholeCatHealth/ http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawcat/ God Bless Cats ... the most beautiful and perfect carnivores on the planet. How lucky we are that they like us and they're not the size of dinosaurs. Happy Tail and Biscuits on the Back, Bonnie _ Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your fix. http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx
Re: Diet and Nutrition links
Check out, also, www.catinfo.org and www.catnutrition.org for info on raw diets and even some reviews on various commercial canned foods. I figure we wouldn't live long or be healthy if we ate potato chips all the time. Laurie - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 5:03 PM Subject: Diet and Nutrition links Hey guys. Below is a message from one of the members of the FIP support group I recently joined on behalf of Brumley. I asked her again for her referral to the sites devoted to better diet and nutrition for cats. I planned to join once things calmed down with Brumley because keeping up with the FIP group and the assisted feeding support group got to be too much! But I did want to pass this onto the new FELV members as something to consider for the care of your babies. Diet is unbelievably important and there has been nothing short of a revolution as of late regarding what we should be feeding our companion animals- and in particular, felines, who are all descendants of the big cats in Africa and when we snuggle them and kiss their noses, etc., I think we tend to forget that! I am not saying everyone has to go the raw food route- altho Monkee did when his anemia from Felv kicked in and he loved it! urgh, too little too late...but I know better now and I just want other people to maybe benefit from that). So add investigating and researching the diet issue onto your to-do list. And keep in mind that you don't have to commit to the raw diet-- if you do the research, you will find the particular premium canned foods that are as close as you can get to the benefits of raw. I hope this helps! caroline Absolutely. The more cats we get off commercial diets the less death we'll see. Cats are carnivores. They eat meat ... fresh meat ... not rotted, old, diseased garbage, left over meat from rendering plants. And not grains. They can't even digest grains and vegetables. Here ya go. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/WholeCatHealth/ http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawcat/ God Bless Cats ... the most beautiful and perfect carnivores on the planet. How lucky we are that they like us and they're not the size of dinosaurs. Happy Tail and Biscuits on the Back, Bonnie -- Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your fix. Check it out.
Re: Sweet Buzz
Thank you for your advise about Buzz, and I am so very sorry about your Brumley. What an aching empty place they leave in your heart when they are gone! It sounds like he couldn't have been in a better place for his last months, though. I just joined this group and I think the first thing I have learned is not to read these e-mails at work. I sat at my desk this afternoon with tears rolling down my face when I read about Brumley. Buzz is here with me in my computer room right now. He enjoys laying on my arm while I am trying to type. I have set the room up like a cat playground with loads of toys, a chair by the window, a place to scratch and of coarse his food tray and litter box. Even so he cries when he is left in here and it breaks my heart. I bring him out and hold him often in the rest of the house and I can see that he wants to get down and play with the other cats. I am afraid to let him mingle with the others even if they are older cats. Charlie is my big dumb dark grey boy. He loves everyone that comes near him, human and cat. He loves to lick the other cats. If a cat could bounce along going doit de doy de doy with a huge smile on his face, that would be Charlie. He has asthma and for several months last year he had a lot of trouble with the feline herpes virus in his eyes. Tucker is about the same age as Charlie (7). He recently had to have all his teeth removed because his immune system was attacking the bacteria on his teeth. He also gets spells where he acts drunk (the vet calls it a vestibular episode). They only last for about a half hour and the vet has said to give him vitamin B1. Because of these problems I am afraid that they might have problems fighting off the FeLV virus. Thank you for the advise about food, I will look into feeding Buzz something that is better. Right now he gets IAMS dry food for indoor cats, and I heard that spring water is good for FeLV + cats, so he gets that also. I still think he would be happiest in a home where he could roam the whole house and maybe be with other cats, but in the meantime I intend to do everything for him that I can. I am not the best at computers, so if I am doing this incorrectly, I apologize and please feel free to correct me. Thank you, Sue - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:56 AM Subject: RE: Sweet Buzz I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment (which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months and it's fine. A lot of people on this list- or more so formerly on this list- have FELV+ rooms. Many people even mix them because the transmission rate is very low- much lower than you would think- and vets have differing opinions on this (so do owners of FELV cats). I had an FELV cat and he was my only cat for the 4 years I had him but I made that choice because he hated other cats (and that is probably why he had FELV to begin with- he was a fighter!) and I was so obsessed with him that I didn't want to expose him to any run-of-the-mill diseases that another cat could have that he maybe wouldn't be able to fight off as well b/c of his FELV. But I have a vet who mixes Felv cats with non-Felv and she says there's never been any transmission- that the critical time period is when they are very young kittens and if they don't pick up Felv then, it's very unlikely they will get it as they get olde because their immune system matures and their body develops antibodies and a system for fighting off these feline retroviruses. It's when they are kittens and have an immature immune system that they are most susceptible to transmission. So she will mix adult non-Felv cats with Felv+s and has never had a transmission issue. I'm not telling you what to do- it's a personal decision- but I do think it's one that has to be made with as much info at hand as possible and one single vet is not going to provide you that. Sadly, in this day and age, there are STILL vets who recommend putting to sleep an ASYMPTOMATIC Felv cat (which frankly, I think is malpractice). So you need to consult a lot of different resources to make a fully informed decision. You also need to have Buzz retested in approximately 6 months. There can be a lot of false positive tests in kittens for FELV. My Felv cat was already about 2 years old when I found him and I had him retested 3 times (positive every time) b/c I was in such denial! He was so strong and never had anything wrong with him until the end. But retesting is a must
Re: Sweet Buzz
Sue, you cracked me up with your description of Charlie! My Frankie has asthma. So did Teddy and Keisha. Sometimes Frankie's eye runs. Is Charlie on inhaled meds? Frankie is and this has all but stopped his attacks. What a blessing as he is also blind. My friend had a feline leukemia negative cat living in the room with her positive cats for 5-6 years. She didn't realize he was negative (and he may have tested positive before she put him there). She retested him because he never got the upper respiratory infections or anything that the others seemed to get. He was negative! She moved him then and he is still alive. He' was an obnoxious long haired red boy when he was staying in that room. He is gorgeous but he would come sailing across the room at you, totally unexpectedly and land on you ~ nails extended! He was probably trying to get someone to notice his robust health! L - Original Message - From: Sue Frank Koren To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 6:39 PM Subject: Re: Sweet Buzz Thank you for your advise about Buzz, and I am so very sorry about your Brumley. What an aching empty place they leave in your heart when they are gone! It sounds like he couldn't have been in a better place for his last months, though. I just joined this group and I think the first thing I have learned is not to read these e-mails at work. I sat at my desk this afternoon with tears rolling down my face when I read about Brumley. Buzz is here with me in my computer room right now. He enjoys laying on my arm while I am trying to type. I have set the room up like a cat playground with loads of toys, a chair by the window, a place to scratch and of coarse his food tray and litter box. Even so he cries when he is left in here and it breaks my heart. I bring him out and hold him often in the rest of the house and I can see that he wants to get down and play with the other cats. I am afraid to let him mingle with the others even if they are older cats. Charlie is my big dumb dark grey boy. He loves everyone that comes near him, human and cat. He loves to lick the other cats. If a cat could bounce along going doit de doy de doy with a huge smile on his face, that would be Charlie. He has asthma and for several months last year he had a lot of trouble with the feline herpes virus in his eyes. Tucker is about the same age as Charlie (7). He recently had to have all his teeth removed because his immune system was attacking the bacteria on his teeth. He also gets spells where he acts drunk (the vet calls it a vestibular episode). They only last for about a half hour and the vet has said to give him vitamin B1. Because of these problems I am afraid that they might have problems fighting off the FeLV virus. Thank you for the advise about food, I will look into feeding Buzz something that is better. Right now he gets IAMS dry food for indoor cats, and I heard that spring water is good for FeLV + cats, so he gets that also. I still think he would be happiest in a home where he could roam the whole house and maybe be with other cats, but in the meantime I intend to do everything for him that I can. I am not the best at computers, so if I am doing this incorrectly, I apologize and please feel free to correct me. Thank you, Sue - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:56 AM Subject: RE: Sweet Buzz I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment (which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months and it's fine. A lot of people on this list- or more so formerly on this list- have FELV+ rooms. Many people even mix them because the transmission rate is very low- much lower than you would think- and vets have differing opinions on this (so do owners of FELV cats). I had an FELV cat and he was my only cat for the 4 years I had him but I made that choice because he hated other cats (and that is probably why he had FELV to begin with- he was a fighter!) and I was so obsessed with him that I didn't want to expose him to any run-of-the-mill diseases that another cat could have that he maybe wouldn't be able to fight off as well b/c of his FELV. But I have a vet who mixes Felv cats with non-Felv and she says there's never been any transmission- that the critical time period is when they are very young kittens and if they don't pick up Felv then, it's very unlikely they will get it as they get olde because their immune system matures and their body develops
fixing a leukemia kitty
I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend that type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy - Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: fixing a leukemia kitty
I was also thinking of Lynne's kitty having surgery this week and was hoping that no vaccinations will be given to a kitty who is immune compromised and faced with the stress of surgery. (2 cents) Jane On Feb 6, 2008, at 9:36 PM, Dorothy Noble wrote: I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend that type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: fixing a leukemia kitty
Dorothy, believe me, this is weighing heavy on my mind. He's scheduled to go in this Friday. The vet assured me he was healthy and up to it. If it were a spaying I probably would definitely be worried since I think it is a more complicated surgery. I still have tomorrow to reconsider. I would definitely be happier if his urine were not so strong smelling and I have read that neutered cats can be healthier, ie less likely to develop prostate or other cancers so I'm really torn as to which way to go. I do not want him to be wanting to go out. The first night we had him the little buggar went upstairs and peed in an unoccupied bedroom and it took two days to clean, air the place and get the smell out. We had his litter box ready but he chose to mark this room. The door has since been closed and he faithfully uses his litter box but once the breeding season comes, I don't know what he'll do. What do the rest of you think. Should I hold off on this surgery? Boo is somewhere between 4 and 6 years old, kind of old for neutering but I truly want what's best for him. Thanks Dorothy for your input. Lynne - Original Message - From: Dorothy Noble To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:36 PM Subject: fixing a leukemia kitty I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend t hat type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy -- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: fixing a leukemia kitty
Jane, the vet told me he was going to hold off on any immunizations and when and if we did do them, they would have to be ordered because he wouldn't be getting the same vaccinations as a healthy cat. I'm wondering if the regular immunizations are live viruses and perhaps cats with feline leukemia get non live ones? Lynne - Original Message - From: Jane Lyons To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:50 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty I was also thinking of Lynne's kitty having surgery this week and was hoping that no vaccinations will be given to a kitty who is immune compromised and faced with the stress of surgery. (2 cents) Jane On Feb 6, 2008, at 9:36 PM, Dorothy Noble wrote: I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend that type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
RE: fixing a leukemia kitty
You know, neutering a male is much less invasive then a female. I've had all mine neutered/spayed-my own opinion is that the risk of being unneutered far outweighs the risk of neutering. There is always some risk to any anesthesia, whether it be a FELV + or not. Christiane Biagi 914-632-4672 Cell: 914-720-6888 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Katrina Animal Reunion Team (KART) www.findkpets.org Join Us Help Reunite Katrina-displaced Families with their Animals From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lynne Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:55 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty Dorothy, believe me, this is weighing heavy on my mind. He's scheduled to go in this Friday. The vet assured me he was healthy and up to it. If it were a spaying I probably would definitely be worried since I think it is a more complicated surgery. I still have tomorrow to reconsider. I would definitely be happier if his urine were not so strong smelling and I have read that neutered cats can be healthier, ie less likely to develop prostate or other cancers so I'm really torn as to which way to go. I do not want him to be wanting to go out. The first night we had him the little buggar went upstairs and peed in an unoccupied bedroom and it took two days to clean, air the place and get the smell out. We had his litter box ready but he chose to mark this room. The door has since been closed and he faithfully uses his litter box but once the breeding season comes, I don't know what he'll do. What do the rest of you think. Should I hold off on this surgery? Boo is somewhere between 4 and 6 years old, kind of old for neutering but I truly want what's best for him. Thanks Dorothy for your input. Lynne - Original Message - From: Dorothy Noble mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:36 PM Subject: fixing a leukemia kitty I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend t hat type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy _ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http:/tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/ca tegory.php?category=shopping them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: fixing a leukemia kitty
Lynne, my friend has all her feline leukemia kitties altered. I think one, in 20 years, had a problem. At least for a female, our vet believes the stress of the regular heat cycle would be greater than that of the spay. And you are right that an unneutered male is at risk of certain cancers...and he's already potentially immune compromised. We had Isabella scheduled for her spay 2 or 3 times and each time she had a temp so we didn't do it. When she got so bad that we needed an ultrasound, the vet discovered she had hemaclips or something like that which meant she was already spayed. Boy were we relieved that we had not put her under and had cut open unnecessarily! (The vet had shaved her when we first rescued her and could not find a spay scar). I would not be as worried about a neuter as a spay ~ if Boo is otherwise in good health and esp since he's not going to be vaccinated now. We did not vaccinate Isabella. I have watched a neuter being done. It takes no time at all. He won't be under long. I would ask whether they do a reversal and if the vet thinks this is a good idea for him.Bottom line for me ~ if the vet thinks it's ok to do the alter, I would be inclined to do it. Afterall, I am sure he doesn't want a poor result. Laurie - Original Message - From: Lynne To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:54 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty Dorothy, believe me, this is weighing heavy on my mind. He's scheduled to go in this Friday. The vet assured me he was healthy and up to it. If it were a spaying I probably would definitely be worried since I think it is a more complicated surgery. I still have tomorrow to reconsider. I would definitely be happier if his urine were not so strong smelling and I have read that neutered cats can be healthier, ie less likely to develop prostate or other cancers so I'm really torn as to which way to go. I do not want him to be wanting to go out. The first night we had him the little buggar went upstairs and peed in an unoccupied bedroom and it took two days to clean, air the place and get the smell out. We had his litter box ready but he chose to mark this room. The door has since been closed and he faithfully uses his litter box but once the breeding season comes, I don't know what he'll do. What do the rest of you think. Should I hold off on this surgery? Boo is somewhere between 4 and 6 years old, kind of old for neutering but I truly want what's best for him. Thanks Dorothy for your input. Lynne - Original Message - From: Dorothy Noble To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:36 PM Subject: fixing a leukemia kitty I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend t hat type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: fixing a leukemia kitty
Thank you Laurie for your input. My husband and I have been discussing this and he's of the opinion that the cat is healthy now so what would we wait for. Apparently when he lived at his previous owners he was always escaping and wanting to get out. That's how we came to know him. He spent almost every day in our driveway sleeping last summer and we became attached to him. I always worried something would happen to him on his way back home in the evening crossing the road. Maybe neutering will make him not want to go out although he hasn't even hinted at wanting to go so far. I'm sure that would change come breeding season. Lynne - Original Message - From: laurieskatz To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 10:33 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty Lynne, my friend has all her feline leukemia kitties altered. I think one, in 20 years, had a problem. At least for a female, our vet believes the stress of the regular heat cycle would be greater than that of the spay. And you are right that an unneutered male is at risk of certain cancers...and he's already potentially immune compromised. We had Isabella scheduled for her spay 2 or 3 times and each time she had a temp so we didn't do it. When she got so bad that we needed an ultrasound, the vet discovered she had hemaclips or something like that which meant she was already spayed. Boy were we relieved that we had not put her under and had cut open unnecessarily! (The vet had shaved her when we first rescued her and could not find a spay scar). I would not be as worried about a neuter as a spay ~ if Boo is otherwise in good health and esp since he's not going to be vaccinated now. We did not vaccinate Isabella. I have watched a neuter being done. It takes no time at all. He won't be under long. I would ask whether they do a reversal and if the vet thinks this is a good idea for him.Bottom line for me ~ if the vet thinks it's ok to do the alter, I would be inclined to do it. Afterall, I am sure he doesn't want a poor result. Laurie - Original Message - From: Lynne To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:54 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty Dorothy, believe me, this is weighing heavy on my mind. He's scheduled to go in this Friday. The vet assured me he was healthy and up to it. If it were a spaying I probably would definitely be worried since I think it is a more complicated surgery. I still have tomorrow to reconsider. I would definitely be happier if his urine were not so strong smelling and I have read that neutered cats can be healthier, ie less likely to develop prostate or other cancers so I'm really torn as to which way to go. I do not want him to be wanting to go out. The first night we had him the little buggar went upstairs and peed in an unoccupied bedroom and it took two days to clean, air the place and get the smell out. We had his litter box ready but he chose to mark this room. The door has since been closed and he faithfully uses his litter box but once the breeding season comes, I don't know what he'll do. What do the rest of you think. Should I hold off on this surgery? Boo is somewhere between 4 and 6 years old, kind of old for neutering but I truly want what's best for him. Thanks Dorothy for your input. Lynne - Original Message - From: Dorothy Noble To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:36 PM Subject: fixing a leukemia kitty I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend t hat type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy -- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: fixing a leukemia kitty
Lynne, I agree with your husband. You'd hate to not even have the option later. Perhaps you can keep it low stress by bringing him back home as soon as the vet can release him (if one of you can work it out to pick him up). L - Original Message - From: Lynne To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:39 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty Thank you Laurie for your input. My husband and I have been discussing this and he's of the opinion that the cat is healthy now so what would we wait for. Apparently when he lived at his previous owners he was always escaping and wanting to get out. That's how we came to know him. He spent almost every day in our driveway sleeping last summer and we became attached to him. I always worried something would happen to him on his way back home in the evening crossing the road. Maybe neutering will make him not want to go out although he hasn't even hinted at wanting to go so far. I'm sure that would change come breeding season. Lynne - Original Message - From: laurieskatz To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 10:33 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty Lynne, my friend has all her feline leukemia kitties altered. I think one, in 20 years, had a problem. At least for a female, our vet believes the stress of the regular heat cycle would be greater than that of the spay. And you are right that an unneutered male is at risk of certain cancers...and he's already potentially immune compromised. We had Isabella scheduled for her spay 2 or 3 times and each time she had a temp so we didn't do it. When she got so bad that we needed an ultrasound, the vet discovered she had hemaclips or something like that which meant she was already spayed. Boy were we relieved that we had not put her under and had cut open unnecessarily! (The vet had shaved her when we first rescued her and could not find a spay scar). I would not be as worried about a neuter as a spay ~ if Boo is otherwise in good health and esp since he's not going to be vaccinated now. We did not vaccinate Isabella. I have watched a neuter being done. It takes no time at all. He won't be under long. I would ask whether they do a reversal and if the vet thinks this is a good idea for him.Bottom line for me ~ if the vet thinks it's ok to do the alter, I would be inclined to do it. Afterall, I am sure he doesn't want a poor result. Laurie - Original Message - From: Lynne To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:54 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty Dorothy, believe me, this is weighing heavy on my mind. He's scheduled to go in this Friday. The vet assured me he was healthy and up to it. If it were a spaying I probably would definitely be worried since I think it is a more complicated surgery. I still have tomorrow to reconsider. I would definitely be happier if his urine were not so strong smelling and I have read that neutered cats can be healthier, ie less likely to develop prostate or other cancers so I'm really torn as to which way to go. I do not want him to be wanting to go out. The first night we had him the little buggar went upstairs and peed in an unoccupied bedroom and it took two days to clean, air the place and get the smell out. We had his litter box ready but he chose to mark this room. The door has since been closed and he faithfully uses his litter box but once the breeding season comes, I don't know what he'll do. What do the rest of you think. Should I hold off on this surgery? Boo is somewhere between 4 and 6 years old, kind of old for neutering but I truly want what's best for him. Thanks Dorothy for your input. Lynne - Original Message - From: Dorothy Noble To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:36 PM Subject: fixing a leukemia kitty I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend t hat type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy Looking for
Re: fixing a leukemia kitty
Lynne just make sure that that 'everyone' knows that there are to be no vaccinations. You'll have time to research which, if any vaccinations, he should have in the future. We'll send you good thoughts on Friday. I am sure he will be fine. I'll find links for good research on vaccinations when you get through this. Jane On Feb 6, 2008, at 9:57 PM, Lynne wrote: Jane, the vet told me he was going to hold off on any immunizations and when and if we did do them, they would have to be ordered because he wouldn't be getting the same vaccinations as a healthy cat. I'm wondering if the regular immunizations are live viruses and perhaps cats with feline leukemia get non live ones? Lynne - Original Message - From: Jane Lyons To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:50 PM Subject: Re: fixing a leukemia kitty I was also thinking of Lynne's kitty having surgery this week and was hoping that no vaccinations will be given to a kitty who is immune compromised and faced with the stress of surgery. (2 cents) Jane On Feb 6, 2008, at 9:36 PM, Dorothy Noble wrote: I was reading Lynne's postings about her new cat being neutered this weekend - I just wanted to pass along a little ifo I had received from a society in Missouri. I was looking to adopt a FeLV kitty (to be a friend to my other FeLV) and I was inquiring about cats that they had. I asked if they would be spayed or neutered prior to adoption and she emphatically said NO. She said that if they were not already fixed, they definitely do NOT recommend that type of surgery on a cat with leukemia, due to their already fragile immune systems. (I chose to wait until I could find one who was already fixed because I definitely like my cats to be altered.) Just a little food for thought - I would hate to have something happen to your friend during a surgery! Dorothy Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
