I'm sorry to hear about Sebastian's continuing leg problems,
Jennifer. Earlier this evening I filed the email below for my own future
reference, from fellow listmember Laurie, sent on July 18, and I thought you
might be interested in it with a view to the next step with
Sebastian.
I'm sending lots of healing vibes for Sebastian--from
everything you've described he's such a brave little cat and sure deserves a
break.
Wishing you and Sebastian all the best
Kerry
Hello,
I have
written numerous messages to the board about my cat, BJ. Well, we adopted
another cat, a female orange tabby named Mitzi. Both are feline leukemia
positive and both are doing great. For those who might not know our story, here
it is. My brother and I adopted a black and white domestic shorthair we call BJ.
At the time, he was perfectly healthy. Then, three weeks later he had polyps in
his left ear and had surgery to remove them. His middle ear was removed and his
left ear closed. He has had no residual effect and his hearing is
fine.Then,
about two months later, he began having strange, unexplained fevers and was
lethargic and not eating well. The diagnosis was feline leukemia. The prognosis
given by our vet at the time, a traditional vet, was grim to say the least. She
said the best thing to do was to have BJ euthanized. We immediately started
looking for a vet who could
help.Our last
appointment with that vet was on a Friday. We took BJ home that night and had a
consultation with an alternative vet the next Monday morning. She
practices holistic and homeopathic as well as tradition veterinary medicine.
Some of her methods are not recognized by the American Veterinary Medical
Association. Some traditional veterinarians would bristle at her ideas about
good dog and cat nutrition.
However,
today, under our new vet's care, BJ is, for all intense and purposes, healthy.
He shows no outward sign of illness, even though he still tests positive for
feline leukemia. For anyone looking for good veterinary care for an FeLV+ cat or
kitten, the best suggestion I can give is to contact the AHVMA, the Holistic
Veterinary Medical Association using this link http://www.ahvma.org/referral/. It may help you find a vet
in your area who can treat your cat's or kitten's condition.
I wish I
could tell you how much it means to my brother and me to have a vet who has made
the choice to treat feline leukemia, not just kill the host. She has the
knowledge expertise to do what a traditional vet could not do. When we were
given BJ's diagnosis a year ago, it was like getting hit by a truck. When we
were told there was nothing to do but put him to sleep, it was like getting hit
by a truck again. We knew very little about the illness then. However, we knew
that if there was any chance that our precious BJ could live a good life with
this disease, then that's what he would do. We have never looked back and
are thankful every single day that we made the choice to get BJ treated.
Our vet also
successfully treats our little one, Mitzi. She is now almost nine months old and
is a curious, rambunctious, lively cat. Our non-traditional vet has made a world
of difference for our entire family.Laurie B. Oliver
- Original Message -
From:
JENNIFER RATLIFF
To: Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 5:41
PM
Subject: Sweet Sebastian
I was finally able to get Sebastian in to see an internist and a
nuerologist. The vet believes that the weakness in his back legs could
be a mass on his spinal cord or lesions all along his spine. They would
have to do more tests to be sure. Even after the tests there is no
real treatment for either, so I decided not to put him through all of
that. He can barely walk anymore. I can not bare to see him this
way. Has anyone had any similar problems with there Felv+ kitties?
Is there anything I can do? Maybe an alternative vet?
Also does anyone know the shelf life of
Interferon?
