[Felvtalk] Just tested positive

Maya D'Alessio mdelow at gmail.com
Thu Jul 24 16:57:07 CDT 2014


Wow.  That really gives me hope.  My guy is only 2, so I hope I get to have
him as long as you had your Ember.  I am sorry you lost her.


On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 5:37 PM, Lance <linimon at fastmail.fm> wrote:

> I’m very sorry to hear about Yang’s passing and that Merlot has tested
> positive. Hopefully, Merlot has a lot more time ahead of him.
>
> I used interferon alpha and Liquid DMG fairly regularly for my Ember. She
> also got Transfer Factor (human formula; not the one for cats), but I
> wasn’t consistent with that and was uncertain about its efficacy. I might
> have eventually looked into LTCI, but my vet did not like the lack of
> third-party data on the treatment. However, that doesn’t mean that it
> doesn’t work.
>
> FeLV is scary, but don’t lose hope. Ember had minor illnesses here and
> there: sneezing (likely due to allergies) and an occasional day or two of
> diarrhea. For the latter condition, I would fast her for 12 hours (going
> much longer could cause liver damage), and I would feed her canned pumpkin
> (not pie filling but plain pumpkin) for a day to give her some fiber. These
> problems weren’t frequent for us, thankfully. Blood tests were moments of
> anxiety at times (Ember usually had low wbc).
>
> Ember lived for at least eight years from testing positive to her death
> two months ago. I would have liked to have had her longer (she was a little
> over 12 years old), but I feel very fortunate for all the time we had
> together.
>
> Lance
>
> On Jul 24, 2014, at 2:12 PM, Maya D'Alessio <mdelow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > My cat Merlot, just tested positive for FeLV yesterday afternoon.  We
> had him tested, because my three year old cat Yang (female) started acting
> ill at the end of June, the next morning I took her in to the vets and we
> discovered she was anemic, jaundiced and had a high fever.  They checked
> her blood levels and found she was anemic (about 13, vs 26 in a healthy
> cat).  She stayed at the vet during the day  and her blood levels didn't
> get any worse, and our vet was optimistic.  They transferred her over to
> the emergency clinic which was open all evening and in to the weekend.
>  They monitored her overnight and her red blood cells decreased, her fever
> lowered but she went past normal to too cold.  That morning the blood tests
> came back and she was positive for FeLV.  We were shocked.  Even worse was
> that her detailed blood work showed no uptick in blood cell production,
> where she should have increased production, she actually had almost no
> production.  We then got to see her before we had to put her down.  That
> was the hardest day of my life.
> >
> > Now, with Merlot testing positive I am terrified of losing him so
> quickly, and I am still grieving for Yang.  I know the statistics are not
> great for long term prognosis, but he is currently healthy (just a tiny bit
> of gingivitis - we are going to start brushing his teeth).  What can I do
> to keep him healthy?  How do I live with him everyday without starting to
> grieve him already?  I know we all are going to die someday, but this just
> feels like it is going to hang over me.  I am still doing reading on the
> disease and newer treatments and such, but do these all start after the cat
> becomes noticeably ill, or are there things I can be doing now to help keep
> him healthy?  Are probiotics helpful in this case?
> >
> > For those who have or have had a healthy FeLV cat, how long did they
> stay healthy for?
> >
> >
> > --
> > Maya D'Alessio
> >
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>
>
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-- 
Maya D'Alessio
PhD student
B1 377B, x32320
Graduate Student Endowment Fund Coordinator
Biology GSA Vice Chair
GSA Director At-Large
University of Waterloo
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