[Felvtalk] Thymus gland & FeLV

[dlgegg at windstream.net]

Really interesting, think I will get this info to my vet, although I am now relying less on him since he seems to keep missing important yet vital things in treating my cats.  I don't know if he is just getting tired of it all, maybe just does not care as much anymore.  He missed severe constipation in Casey until it was so bad she died.  She had cancer, but it was responding to the tonic and she was eating much better.  I now know how to check for constipation and drive my last 4 cats crazy, checking them.    Missed urinary tract infection in 2 others, he and an ER vet  .  I think we all need to educate ourselves on the "simple yet obvious" problems so we can recognize and treat them ourselves.  That is my soapbox  speech  for the week.


---- Marsha <martia at lynxe.com> wrote: 
> I was looking up human health stuff last night, meandered into info 
> about the thymus.  Did you know it is largest at puberty/adolescence, 
> then atrophies in older adults, turning into fat?  On the surface it 
> would seem to be critical to life and immune function, and it's absence 
> in a baby can be life-threatening.  Yet an adult can have it removed 
> (say if it is cancerous), and still be OK.  There are other things that 
> pick up the slack in an otherwise healthy adult.
> 
> It made more sense to me why kittens are more vulnerable to FeLV 
> infection, as their thymus is small and hasn't hit its full stride in 
> what it does with T-cells.
> 
> So I ended up Googling "thymus & FeLV".  I haven't yet begun to explore 
> the results I got, but the summaries look intriguing.
> 
> Marsha
> 
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