g to go up from basically a zero level). He was eating and looking
better, so I grit my teeth and proceeded with the Winstrol. I suspect that many
vets might have abandoned ship at that point, and pulled the Winstrol before it
had had an opportunity to really have the desired effect, but my vet was at
least good enough to recognize that if this treatment didn't work, my cat was
out of luck, and she allowed me to continue on with the Winstrol since Zander
was doing better in so many other ways.
This was also our experience when I used Winstrol in another very elderly cat
who had a large and aggressive sarcoma in her sinus cavity, and again who was
not expected to live very long. She lived another 3 years after the diagnosis
(she was around 19 when she passed away), and I believe that the Winstrol
helped immensely in getting her to keep eating, and to keep the swelling under
control. With her, we definitely found that her liver enzymes spiked
dramatically with the use of the Winstrol, but settled down immediately with a
brief discontinuance of the drug.
Zander died at age 7 from cardiomyopathy - nothing to do with his liver. I
tortured myself with thoughts that maybe the Winstrol had caused the
cardiomyopathy, and for all I know, it did. However, again, I did a fair amount
of research and initially, I found references to a link between Winstrol and
cardiac damage, but the link was pretty tenuous at best, and seemed to be
suspected in athletes who had taken Winstrol at 100 X the recommended dosages
for years and years. My guilt has never gone away because of course, you never
know, but what I do know is that I would have lost him when he was only a year
old. If the Winstrol managed to give me 6 more very good years with my cat, who
played and was exceptionally affectionate and showed an extreme happiness with
his life, then I would have to say I have no hesitation in doing it again.
What I find truly bizarre is that given the death sentence that this disease
represents to cats, it should be very simple indeed to (a) have vets try the
Winstrol and see what their experience is with it (with the proviso that they
shouldn’t pull a cat off the Winstrol just because the liver enzymes start to
go up) and (b) why haven’t there been some decent clinical trials with this
stuff? The cats are zero given probability of surviving this disease. Even if
Winstrol only works sometimes, that is better than the odds we are given for
these cats at the moment.
Since I originally posted this two years ago, I have done more research, so I
now have even more information supporting the use of Winstrol and Doxycycline.
My original email didn’t mention that before I stumbled on the Winstrol, we had
tried using Interferon and LTCI and Immunoregulin. All these treatments were
tried for extended periods of time, while simultaneously testing blood work
weekly to search for any evidence at all of improvement. None of these
treatments budged Zander’s low red cell, haematocrit, and platelet counts.
Amani
From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Molly
Mou
Sent: February-28-17 10:20 AM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: [Felvtalk] Another question(s) about Zander's protocol
Thank you Amani, Bob, Sandy and Ardy for your input.
I was wondering how did Zander's protocol originate? Was is trial and error or
a known remedy? How did 'they' or you know what meds would work for FeLV cats
and how was the combination decided? Just wanted some background to give my vet
when I talk with her.
Thanks again everyone. You are all so supportive!
Yes, I do have a medical background. I'm a retired vet tech so I'm glad I have
some knowledge of the meds to be used for Mia.
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