[Felvtalk] Question about Interferon
Many of you have said that you are using interferon to treat your FeLV cats and I'm trying to decide if we should start Eden on this as well. Nobody has mentioned any side effects from the treatment but I work with cancer patients and I've seen many patients treated with interferon and it is not well tolerated at all. In fact it is a treatment that is plagued with many serious side effects and in many cases the side effects are much worse then the symptoms of the patient's actual disease. So I'm wondering if the cats being treated are experiencing side effects or if the dose is so low in cats that the side effects aren't a problem. Thanks, Brenda ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Interferon
Thanks. I can do without the sarcasm. I'm just trying to figure out what's best for my girl. Eden has a very sensitive system and if there are side effects of any drug then no doubt she's going to have them. And no I don't consider still being alive as being a side effect and again, I can do without the sarcasm when I'm trying to make some very difficult decisions during a very stressful time. I work in the medical field so I'm well aware of what drugs can do to a body and I'm also aware of the great benefit they can offer. I like to know as much as I can before making any decisions when dealing with what has the potential to be a very toxic drug. I thank everyone else who has shared their stories and experiences. Brenda From: oxjake...@hotmail.com To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:05:00 + Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Interferon Aggie has had interferon every day of her life since I've had her (for 6 and a half years) and has had no noticeable side effects. But--she is still alive and happy, so I suppose you could consider that a side-effect. Might also be chalked up to good luck, but I'm sure the Interferon hasn't hurt her. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] Question on FeLV Treatments Fevers
I introduced myself and my little FeLV girl Eden the other day. She'd had a couple of episodes of fever and anorexia last week. She was treated at my vet's office and was able to come home on Saturday. She's been doing pretty well but last night we noticed a big improvement in her. She was relaxing and cleaning herself rather then being curled up sleeping all the time. She looked so good and I was so happy to see her being pretty normal. I'm doing assisted feeding with her although she will eat small amounts of food on her own. And she is drinking pretty well too. The vet that treated Eden was not my regular vet as he was off last week but I had a chance to talk to him about Eden yesterday. He doesn't have much confidence in the current treatments for FeLV and said there are no studies that show that any of them offer any benefit. He said he's only had one person interested in doing interferon and it didn't do anything for their FeLV cat. He said he's willing to try it if I want to but I'm not sure if I should pursue it since Eden is now doing so well on her own. She is still on antibiotics. Her blood work showed low WBC and neutrophils but her red blood cells and hematocrit were normal so we know she's not anemic. We had an incident last night with one of our other cats that completely stressed Eden out and caused a bit of a set back. One of our other cats, who is completely crazy, just came out of nowhere and jumped Eden, knocking her over. Eden is a small cat, only 7 lbs, so it doesn't take much to knock her over. But she was not happy the rest of the evening and this morning seemed to wake up with a fever. But her attitude is still great, she ate for me this morning and as I left for work she was sitting in my husband's recliner just happily cleaning herself. She seems to have brief episodes of fever that seem to resolve on their own so I don't think I need to worry too much about those as long as she's still eating and drinking but I was curious if others see this in their FeLV cats too. It also seems that at least a few people have just automatically started treatment for their FeLV cats. Eden is young so we feel that she deserves every chance we can give her but I'm still on the fence about starting any treatment on her. Is there any general thoughts on when to start treatment or even if anyone should start treatments? Brenda ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Question on FeLV Treatments Fevers
Right now she's eating her regular canned food with NutriCal mixed in. She likes it alot and is now starting to show some interest in just eating it right off of a plate. I'm also looking for some immune boosters. Transfer Factor seems like a good one. I'm also wondering if anyone has used neupogen for low white blood cell counts? We use it here for our cancer patients but I've not heard of it being used in animals. Thanks for the tip about the Vit C. I'll check it out. Brenda Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 12:20:33 -0500 From: at...@optonline.net To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Question on FeLV Treatments Fevers I am still looking for something for my two asymptomatic adults - my vet has no confidence in interferon because he has never seen significant results with it. He says that each cat is so different from another that a treatment may help one but not the other. The first kitten I had years ago was on interferon. I am still doing research trying to find something that could be used to boost the immune system, more than just Echinacea. A good multiple vitamin supplement and a daily dose of CoQ10 is keeping my two FeLV+ boys very healthy so far. They are both about 5-6 years old and were strays, probably abandoned. Are you feeding her with Science Diet A-D? Very easy to feed with a syringe, if you have to. I also found that vitamin C in crystal form often helps in bringing down a fever. Natalie -Original Message- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of brenda_osbou...@hotmail.com Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 11:44 AM To: Feline Leukemia Subject: [Felvtalk] Question on FeLV Treatments Fevers I introduced myself and my little FeLV girl Eden the other day. She'd had a couple of episodes of fever and anorexia last week. She was treated at my vet's office and was able to come home on Saturday. She's been doing pretty well but last night we noticed a big improvement in her. She was relaxing and cleaning herself rather then being curled up sleeping all the time. She looked so good and I was so happy to see her being pretty normal. I'm doing assisted feeding with her although she will eat small amounts of food on her own. And she is drinking pretty well too. The vet that treated Eden was not my regular vet as he was off last week but I had a chance to talk to him about Eden yesterday. He doesn't have much confidence in the current treatments for FeLV and said there are no studies that show that any of them offer any benefit. He said he's only had one person interested in doing interferon and it didn't do anything for their FeLV cat. He said he's willing to try it if I want to but I'm not sure if I should pursue it since Eden is now doing so well on her own. She is still on antibiotics. Her blood work showed low WBC and neutrophils but her red blood cells and hematocrit were normal so we know she's not anemic. We had an incident last night with one of our other cats that completely stressed Eden out and caused a bit of a set back. One of our other cats, who is completely crazy, just came out of nowhere and jumped Eden, knocking her over. Eden is a small cat, only 7 lbs, so it doesn't take much to knock her over. But she was not happy the rest of the evening and this morning seemed to wake up with a fever. But her attitude is still great, she ate for me this morning and as I left for work she was sitting in my husband's recliner just happily cleaning herself. She seems to have brief episodes of fever that seem to resolve on their own so I don't think I need to worry too much about those as long as she's still eating and drinking but I was curious if others see this in their FeLV cats too. It also seems that at least a few people have just automatically started treatment for their FeLV cats. Eden is young so we feel that she deserves every chance we can give her but I'm still on the fence about starting any treatment on her. Is there any general thoughts on when to start treatment or even if anyone should start treatments? Brenda ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Question on FeLV Treatments Fevers
Thank you for sharing your story Sharon. It really does help to hear what others are doing for their kitties. Our only other experience with FeLV was with our kitty Scampi who passed away earlier this year. Scampi was a feral cat that would only let us take care of him from a distance for about 6 years. He lived outside, we put food and water out for him and in the winter we put out a heated dog house for him that he loved. Scampi was already 7 years old when he finally decided he could trust us and that's when we found out that he had FeLV. He lived to be 13 and didn't have any problems at all. When we found Eden I guess we just assumed that she would follow the same path as Scampi so it sort of took us by surprise that she's already having some issues. We really didn't have to make any treatment decisions for Scampi because he didn't need anything. I guess I'm still not totally sure that Eden does either. She is certainly putting us through our paces. Earlier this evening she didn't seem like she was doing very well. Her breathing was very rapid, which it had not been before. We tucked her in somewhere comfy, went to walk the dogs and by the time we got back she was doing much better and even ate some of her dry food. I gave her some canned too and then she spent a good 15 minutes just cleaning herself. She's resting now and looks pretty comfortable. I'm going to talk to my vet more about her tomorrow and see what sort of plan we can come up with. I hope your little one continues to do so well. Brenda Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 13:54:23 -0500 From: sharon.annfa...@gmail.com To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Question on FeLV Treatments Fevers Hi Brenda, I have a 7 month old kitten who is also 7 lbs. We started her on interferon right away as she is FeLV + in the bone marrow. When she was about 4.5 months she got real sick and her red blood count was 13. At that time we found out she was FeLV+. Our vet recommend interferon along with steroids. It has been about 8 weeks since she got sick and she gone from 4.7 lbs to 7.2 lbs.:) She happy and playing like you would expect a kitten to play. Got a call from her vet last night and her last round of blood work is great. I don't know how long that will last, but I think the interferon is helping for now. My kitten goes to be large vet hospital here in MA. The vet that handling my kitten case has been intouch with other vet hopital about my kitten, which make me feel good about the care my kitten is getting. The vet did tell us that interferon will not cure FeLV, but that cats on interferon do live longer than cats who are not on interferon. I don't know if this helps, but I thought I would share. Take care, Sharon On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 11:44 AM, brenda_osbou...@hotmail.com wrote: I introduced myself and my little FeLV girl Eden the other day. She'd had a couple of episodes of fever and anorexia last week. She was treated at my vet's office and was able to come home on Saturday. She's been doing pretty well but last night we noticed a big improvement in her. She was relaxing and cleaning herself rather then being curled up sleeping all the time. She looked so good and I was so happy to see her being pretty normal. I'm doing assisted feeding with her although she will eat small amounts of food on her own. And she is drinking pretty well too. The vet that treated Eden was not my regular vet as he was off last week but I had a chance to talk to him about Eden yesterday. He doesn't have much confidence in the current treatments for FeLV and said there are no studies that show that any of them offer any benefit. He said he's only had one person interested in doing interferon and it didn't do anything for their FeLV cat. He said he's willing to try it if I want to but I'm not sure if I should pursue it since Eden is now doing so well on her own. She is still on antibiotics. Her blood work showed low WBC and neutrophils but her red blood cells and hematocrit were normal so we know she's not anemic. We had an incident last night with one of our other cats that completely stressed Eden out and caused a bit of a set back. One of our other cats, who is completely crazy, just came out of nowhere and jumped Eden, knocking her over. Eden is a small cat, only 7 lbs, so it doesn't take much to knock her over. But she was not happy the rest of the evening and this morning seemed to wake up with a fever. But her attitude is still great, she ate for me this morning and as I left for work she was sitting in my husband's recliner just happily cleaning herself. She seems to have brief episodes of fever that seem to resolve on their own so I don't think I need to worry too much about those as long as she's still eating and drinking but I was curious if others see this in their FeLV cats too. It also seems that at least a few people have
Re: [Felvtalk] Blood in Tweezers stool
It could be due to several things but since you mentioned that he was straining a bit it's probably just from that. The redder the blood is the lower in the intestinal tract it originated. If it's really dark, almost brown blood then that usually indicates a bleed in the stomach or upper portions of the GI tract. But bright red blood comes from pretty far down and can come from things like straining. The fact that it was runny with some blood in it may just mean that his GI tract is irritated. If it continues then your vet will probably want to put Tweezer on some medication. It could be a GI bug of some kind. Good luck and I hope it turns out to be nothing too serious for Tweezer. Brenda From: fs...@roadrunner.com To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 07:37:50 -0500 Subject: [Felvtalk] Blood in Tweezers stool My 4 year old FeLV+ kitty, Tweezer has always had some digestive problems. Nothing more then gas and a rumbly tummy though. This morning he had a runny stool with blood in it and it seemed painful for him to go. Is this still another thing that positive cats deal with? Tweezer was just at the vets a couple of weeks ago for a check up. The vet said he looks healthy and the CBC came back normal. When their office opens today I will be calling but I wanted to ask the people on this list because you are the ones that know the troubles of FeLV+ cats. Any advice? ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Helping kitty with extreme congestion
Hi Melinda, Have you ever tried to do any assisted feedings for your kitty? It's hard sometimes when they're not feeling well because they tend not to want to eat but you know they have to get some nutrition in them. I've done it for several cats and we are currently doing it for our kitty Eden because I feel like if we can just keep her eating and get her antibiotics in to her then she'll have a better chance of recovering. I don't believe in force feeding but it's been my experience that assisted feeding is pretty well accepted by the cats that I've done it with. What I do is take some canned food, mix in some liquid of some kind (either milk or kitten milk replacement) add a big glob of NutriCal and mix it all up so that it can be sucked up in a large syringe. Then I just feed the mixture to Eden with the syringe. At first she wasn't quite sure what I was doing but then she started just eating it as soon as it came out of the syringe. She's eating on her own too but I didn't feel like she was eating enough. I like to use NutriCal when they're really down because it's high calorie and loaded with nutrients so it can really help them keep their strength up and heal. You mentioned that you were having a hard time getting meds into your kitty because he's not all that interested in food so I just thought I'd mention the assisted feeding idea. It's worked well for us in the past and I hope it helps Eden get over her current problems. I hope your kitty feels better soon. Brenda From: msk...@me.com Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 07:37:33 +0900 To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Helping kitty with extreme congestion As I wrote in my previous post on mixing, my little kitty is extremely congested. The vet has given him antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicine, but since he isn't too interested in eating, I am having trouble getting them into him. I have very limited access to medications or natural remedies unless they are homemade using easily accessible ingredients. I read something about saline drops or using children's Afrin. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you, Melinda and VooDoo ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] Introductions Questions
Hi Everyone, I hope I'm doing this right. I've not belonged to a group like this before so I'm hoping this message is going to the right place. My husband and I have some experience with FeLV kitties as we took in a feral cat several years ago who tested positive. We were very lucky with Scampi in that he didn't have any problems from his disease until he was 13 years old when it got the better of him and we had to euthanize him. We now have another kitty who has tested positive for FeLV and has recently started having some problems so I would love to get some opinions on her from some of the more experienced members. Eden was a stray who came up to us in a field where we run our 5 dogs at night. We heard a cat meowing and as we got closer the meowing got louder. My husband pinpointed the sound and then suddenly this very skinny cat came walking out of the brush towards my husband. She was sweet as can be and starving nearly to death. We picked her up and brought her home and at her first vet check she tested positive for FeLV. She has been retested since then and has again come up with what the vet called a strong positive. Eden is about 9 or 10 months old and had been doing well for the couple of months that we've had her. She recently stopped eating and just sort of looked like she wasn't feeling well so we took her to the vet. My regular vet was off so another vet cared for Eden. She did some blood work and found that Eden had a low WBC and neutrophil count, which as we know, is not that unusual for a FeLV kitty. But Eden also had a high temp so she got some IV fluids and antibiotics. She was able to come home after spending the night at the clinic but then a few days later she had the same symptoms. This time her temp was a bit higher then it had been the first time. She stayed again at the clinic, got some IV fluids and rebounded again. She came home this past Saturday and has been doing pretty well. She eats small meals several times a day and takes her antibiotics in a pill pocket without any trouble at all. She sleeps alot though and is not back to her normal self yet. The vet who took care of Eden thought that she was in the end stages of her FeLV and wasn't sure Eden would recover. But she has and we hope she continues to get better. Eden seems young to be in the end stage of her disease, although her system overall seems quite sensitive so maybe she's just more affected by the virus then other cats tend to be. The vet did not mention any of the treatments that are currently being used for FeLV and I'm wondering if there is anything that would be of benefit to Eden. She is so young and so precious and clearly didn't have a great start in life so we are so hoping to be able to give her a good life for however many years she has. Any thoughts or advice for our sweet girl would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Brenda ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Question About Inegrating Positive and Negative Cats
Hi Stephanie, I've just joined this group today so I'm not sure if I should be responding to this and I'm sure others may have varying opinions on this topic but for me and for my own cats, we allow our FeLV +ve kitty to interact with our other cats. She is not isolated at all nor did we isolate our previous FeLV +ve cat from the others. The others are vaccinated and we have 12 cats all together. They were all strays, some were feral and we try to provide them all with the best possible life that we can. I think the contagious aspect of FeLV is a bit over blown, although obviously not a disease that you want to take lightly. I've read differing views on how contagious it is. I've read that it is really only a concern if cats are fighting or engaging in mating behavior. I've also read that the virus is shed through saliva so even sharing the same water bowl can be a danger to the cats who are not FeLV. So I think you can find both ends of the spectrum in whatever you read. As with anything you should do what you feel is right, keeping in mind that not many people will want to take on a cat who is FeLV +ve so finding your new one a new home may not be that easy. Our previous cat who was FeLV positive lived with us for 6 years. He was feral so we cared for him while he lived outside for 7 years. One day he decided to come inside and he never left. We didn't have any problems with him spreading anything to the other cats and we're really not all that concerned about our newest kitty Eden spreading anything around. She loves the other cats and has great fun playing with two of our younger ones, who were feral alley kittens. I think it's a very personal choice but whatever you decided to do just know that we all do what we feel is right for our own pets and for our individual situations and there are no wrong choices when they are made with love and compassion. Brenda Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2010 11:01:24 -0800 From: steph.she...@yahoo.com To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Question About Inegrating Positive and Negative Cats Hi Everyone, I am new to this site and new to the world of FELV. My husband and I recently took in a stray kitten, Magic, who had been coming into our yard and on our porch. We've had her inside and separated from our FELV negative cats for six weeks now and love her dearly. At her first vet appt about five week ago she tested positive on two different snap tests. She also recently tested positive on the IFA test. Magic is about five months old and is healthy (other than FELV), active, growing and gaining weight, loves to play and is the sweetest girl. For now, she lives in our master bedroom separated from our other cats. One of the vets at my practice suggested it was possible to integrate her with our other cats if we had them all vaccinated. She did tell me that the vaccine isn't 100% so there was some risk to our other cats. Right now, I do not feel like is the option for me as it doesn't seem fair to expose my FELV negative to cats to the risk of the vaccine itself or exposure to her. However, I thought I would ask if anyone has gone this route and what their experience has been. The vet who suggested this to me isn't the vet I usually see and I am waiting for my regular vet to come back to work later this week. Assuming we don't integrate her with the other cats, she is currently living in our bedroom. She doesn't seem unhappy and while it's not an ideal set-up for us, it is something we could manage long term. I struggle with what is fair for her - to stay with us where we love her so much, but her space is limited or to find her a home where she can have more space and possibly time with her owners. If she stays with us in our bedroom, should we still vaccinate our other cats as a precaution? Any thoughts or experience anyone has on either of these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Stephanie ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Question About Inegrating Positive and Negative Cats
Our kitty Scampi lived to be 13 years old with his FeLV. He was never sick in all the years we took care of him. He only became ill about 2 weeks prior to his passing away but even then he still loved to snooze in the sun whenever he could. There is always hope, sometimes it's just harder to find. Brenda -Original Message- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Sander, Sue Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 4:58 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Question About Inegrating Positive and Negative Cats It's so wonderful to know that Bailey lived for over 10 years. Does anyone else know of FEL+ who have lived a long life? If so, please tell me. I want to have hope. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
