[Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia
I am so grateful to find this group. Please help me with your collective experience wisdom on this horrible disease. I don't have many specifics about Avis' history, but I gather that he was a stray in bad shape when he was rescued, then bounced around before settling in a dorm room with a college student friend of my daughter. Avis is currently about 21 months old. In May, I agreed to keep him for the summer. The original plan was that he would live in my good-sized, many-windowed basement safely separated from Max, my 9 year old border terrier who has never shared his home with another animal. Avis would return to his college student when school started after labor day. I absolutely did not expect the silly dog cat to become best friends in a week, playing together all over the house. Max wasn't the only one who quickly became fond of Avis, so I offered to keep him through the school year to avoid cooping him up in a dorm room. Avis came to us with a diagnosis of Feline Herpes a third eyelid permanently raised about halfway on one eye. A few days ago, I took him to a vet ophthalmologist for a minor procedure to improve his vision. A complete blood workup was done as prep to general anesthesia. It showed anemia, nonregenerative. WBC, Neutrophils LYM were also very low normal. The eye procedure was postponed. I rushed Avis to my vet for a FeLV/FIV test. Positive for FeLV, which was heartbreaking, but not really a surprise. Avis feels just fine right now. But because he already has blood abnormalities there is obviously no way to predict how long he will continue to feel good. My vet says she is willing to try any reasonable option to give him a chance at as much good quality life as possible. So I am now researching LTCI, Interferon, ImmunoRegulin, Staph Protein A -- all the treatments I'm sure have been thoroughly discussed on this forum before. Any consensus about what is most safe effective? Because there do not seem to be any definitive clinical trials or studies to go by. I will likely take care of Avis for the time he has left -- this is too much for a busy, stressed out college student to handle. Any suggestions to keep Avis as strong and comfortable and happy as possible for as long as possible will be very, very much appreciated. Thank you! Kris B. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia
That's so wonderful, Kris - now you know that your dog is really open to another animal buddy! I'm sure you'll get great advice from othersI am also fairly new to this group and have two very healthy FeLV+ adult male cats. I just wanted to tell you that I am currently socializing two 3-month old kittens, they are extremely well-adjusted. Our small dog, a Shnorky (Schnauzer/Yorky) and the male kitten absolutely love each other. They chase each other, roll around, chewing one another, playing hide and seek, pouncing out from behind the hiding places, etc...and the female doesn't mind any of that craziness, either! None of the adult cats mind our dog, they were here first. But I am seriously considering not finding a home for Tobey because Cookie and he are such great friends! Natalie -Original Message- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of nise...@yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 1:40 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia I am so grateful to find this group. Please help me with your collective experience wisdom on this horrible disease. I don't have many specifics about Avis' history, but I gather that he was a stray in bad shape when he was rescued, then bounced around before settling in a dorm room with a college student friend of my daughter. Avis is currently about 21 months old. In May, I agreed to keep him for the summer. The original plan was that he would live in my good-sized, many-windowed basement safely separated from Max, my 9 year old border terrier who has never shared his home with another animal. Avis would return to his college student when school started after labor day. I absolutely did not expect the silly dog cat to become best friends in a week, playing together all over the house. Max wasn't the only one who quickly became fond of Avis, so I offered to keep him through the school year to avoid cooping him up in a dorm room. Avis came to us with a diagnosis of Feline Herpes a third eyelid permanently raised about halfway on one eye. A few days ago, I took him to a vet ophthalmologist for a minor procedure to improve his vision. A complete blood workup was done as prep to general anesthesia. It showed anemia, nonregenerative. WBC, Neutrophils LYM were also very low normal. The eye procedure was postponed. I rushed Avis to my vet for a FeLV/FIV test. Positive for FeLV, which was heartbreaking, but not really a surprise. Avis feels just fine right now. But because he already has blood abnormalities there is obviously no way to predict how long he will continue to feel good. My vet says she is willing to try any reasonable option to give him a chance at as much good quality life as possible. So I am now researching LTCI, Interferon, ImmunoRegulin, Staph Protein A -- all the treatments I'm sure have been thoroughly discussed on this forum before. Any consensus about what is most safe effective? Because there do not seem to be any definitive clinical trials or studies to go by. I will likely take care of Avis for the time he has left -- this is too much for a busy, stressed out college student to handle. Any suggestions to keep Avis as strong and comfortable and happy as possible for as long as possible will be very, very much appreciated. Thank you! Kris B. ___ 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] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia
How anemic is he? what is his HCT? It is a common thing with FeLV needs to be monitored. Beth Dont Litter, Fix Your Critter! www.Furkids.org --- On Thu, 9/30/10, nise...@yahoo.com nise...@yahoo.com wrote: From: nise...@yahoo.com nise...@yahoo.com Subject: [Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010, 1:39 PM I am so grateful to find this group. Please help me with your collective experience wisdom on this horrible disease. I don't have many specifics about Avis' history, but I gather that he was a stray in bad shape when he was rescued, then bounced around before settling in a dorm room with a college student friend of my daughter. Avis is currently about 21 months old. In May, I agreed to keep him for the summer. The original plan was that he would live in my good-sized, many-windowed basement safely separated from Max, my 9 year old border terrier who has never shared his home with another animal. Avis would return to his college student when school started after labor day. I absolutely did not expect the silly dog cat to become best friends in a week, playing together all over the house. Max wasn't the only one who quickly became fond of Avis, so I offered to keep him through the school year to avoid cooping him up in a dorm room. Avis came to us with a diagnosis of Feline Herpes a third eyelid permanently raised about halfway on one eye. A few days ago, I took him to a vet ophthalmologist for a minor procedure to improve his vision. A complete blood workup was done as prep to general anesthesia. It showed anemia, nonregenerative. WBC, Neutrophils LYM were also very low normal. The eye procedure was postponed. I rushed Avis to my vet for a FeLV/FIV test. Positive for FeLV, which was heartbreaking, but not really a surprise. Avis feels just fine right now. But because he already has blood abnormalities there is obviously no way to predict how long he will continue to feel good. My vet says she is willing to try any reasonable option to give him a chance at as much good quality life as possible. So I am now researching LTCI, Interferon, ImmunoRegulin, Staph Protein A -- all the treatments I'm sure have been thoroughly discussed on this forum before. Any consensus about what is most safe effective? Because there do not seem to be any definitive clinical trials or studies to go by. I will likely take care of Avis for the time he has left -- this is too much for a busy, stressed out college student to handle. Any suggestions to keep Avis as strong and comfortable and happy as possible for as long as possible will be very, very much appreciated. Thank you! Kris B. ___ 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] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia
Hi Beth, RBC 4.37 HCT 21% Gums tongue a little pale, lower energy than other cats his age, but eating well, playing keeping up with everything that's going on the other side of the windows. My vet tells me that many anemic cats feel fine until the HCT hits 15%, give or take. We will do another blood test end of Oct, then approx every few months to see if the numbers hold steady, or monitor how fast they drop. So my goal is to keep those numbers up as high as possible for as long as possible. I understand that sometimes treatments like LTCI, Interferon, etc can help with that. Any thoughts/experiences? KB From: Beth create_me_...@yahoo.com To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Thu, September 30, 2010 2:58:29 PM Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia How anemic is he? what is his HCT? It is a common thing with FeLV needs to be monitored. Beth Dont Litter, Fix Your Critter! www.Furkids.org --- On Thu, 9/30/10, nise...@yahoo.com nise...@yahoo.com wrote: From: nise...@yahoo.com nise...@yahoo.com Subject: [Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010, 1:39 PM I am so grateful to find this group. Please help me with your collective experience wisdom on this horrible disease. I don't have many specifics about Avis' history, but I gather that he was a stray in bad shape when he was rescued, then bounced around before settling in a dorm room with a college student friend of my daughter. Avis is currently about 21 months old. In May, I agreed to keep him for the summer. The original plan was that he would live in my good-sized, many-windowed basement safely separated from Max, my 9 year old border terrier who has never shared his home with another animal. Avis would return to his college student when school started after labor day. I absolutely did not expect the silly dog cat to become best friends in a week, playing together all over the house. Max wasn't the only one who quickly became fond of Avis, so I offered to keep him through the school year to avoid cooping him up in a dorm room. Avis came to us with a diagnosis of Feline Herpes a third eyelid permanently raised about halfway on one eye. A few days ago, I took him to a vet ophthalmologist for a minor procedure to improve his vision. A complete blood workup was done as prep to general anesthesia. It showed anemia, nonregenerative. WBC, Neutrophils LYM were also very low normal. The eye procedure was postponed. I rushed Avis to my vet for a FeLV/FIV test. Positive for FeLV, which was heartbreaking, but not really a surprise. Avis feels just fine right now. But because he already has blood abnormalities there is obviously no way to predict how long he will continue to feel good. My vet says she is willing to try any reasonable option to give him a chance at as much good quality life as possible. So I am now researching LTCI, Interferon, ImmunoRegulin, Staph Protein A -- all the treatments I'm sure have been thoroughly discussed on this forum before. Any consensus about what is most safe effective? Because there do not seem to be any definitive clinical trials or studies to go by. I will likely take care of Avis for the time he has left -- this is too much for a busy, stressed out college student to handle. Any suggestions to keep Avis as strong and comfortable and happy as possible for as long as possible will be very, very much appreciated. Thank you! Kris B. ___ 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] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia
Thanks for the kind welcome, Natalie! It really was a joy to watch my feisty old terrier become such friends with a young cat. For whatever reason, they just clicked. I am glad it happened, because I think that Avis needs us. So are you doing anything special for your FeLV+ cats? Diet, supplements? How about stuff to avoid? Any insight is much appreciated. KB From: Natalie at...@optonline.net To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Thu, September 30, 2010 2:24:14 PM Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia That's so wonderful, Kris - now you know that your dog is really open to another animal buddy! I'm sure you'll get great advice from othersI am also fairly new to this group and have two very healthy FeLV+ adult male cats. I just wanted to tell you that I am currently socializing two 3-month old kittens, they are extremely well-adjusted. Our small dog, a Shnorky (Schnauzer/Yorky) and the male kitten absolutely love each other. They chase each other, roll around, chewing one another, playing hide and seek, pouncing out from behind the hiding places, etc...and the female doesn't mind any of that craziness, either! None of the adult cats mind our dog, they were here first. But I am seriously considering not finding a home for Tobey because Cookie and he are such great friends! Natalie -Original Message- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of nise...@yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 1:40 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Trying to do the right thing for Avis who is FeLV+ w/nonregenerative anemia I am so grateful to find this group. Please help me with your collective experience wisdom on this horrible disease. I don't have many specifics about Avis' history, but I gather that he was a stray in bad shape when he was rescued, then bounced around before settling in a dorm room with a college student friend of my daughter. Avis is currently about 21 months old. In May, I agreed to keep him for the summer. The original plan was that he would live in my good-sized, many-windowed basement safely separated from Max, my 9 year old border terrier who has never shared his home with another animal. Avis would return to his college student when school started after labor day. I absolutely did not expect the silly dog cat to become best friends in a week, playing together all over the house. Max wasn't the only one who quickly became fond of Avis, so I offered to keep him through the school year to avoid cooping him up in a dorm room. Avis came to us with a diagnosis of Feline Herpes a third eyelid permanently raised about halfway on one eye. A few days ago, I took him to a vet ophthalmologist for a minor procedure to improve his vision. A complete blood workup was done as prep to general anesthesia. It showed anemia, nonregenerative. WBC, Neutrophils LYM were also very low normal. The eye procedure was postponed. I rushed Avis to my vet for a FeLV/FIV test. Positive for FeLV, which was heartbreaking, but not really a surprise. Avis feels just fine right now. But because he already has blood abnormalities there is obviously no way to predict how long he will continue to feel good. My vet says she is willing to try any reasonable option to give him a chance at as much good quality life as possible. So I am now researching LTCI, Interferon, ImmunoRegulin, Staph Protein A -- all the treatments I'm sure have been thoroughly discussed on this forum before. Any consensus about what is most safe effective? Because there do not seem to be any definitive clinical trials or studies to go by. I will likely take care of Avis for the time he has left -- this is too much for a busy, stressed out college student to handle. Any suggestions to keep Avis as strong and comfortable and happy as possible for as long as possible will be very, very much appreciated. Thank you! Kris B. ___ 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
