[Felvtalk] help for Charlie

[Emily Cordeaux]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some help in determining next steps for our cat Charlie. We
adopted our beloved Charlie three years ago from a shelter. He is now about
four years old. We found out in December while doing routine tests that he
has feline leukemia (at the time trying to figure out the cause of his IBS-
switching his food ended up doing the trick). We were quite surprised- at
the time the only symptom that matched were his gums were relatively
inflamed.

At the end of March / beginning of April Charlie became ill. He lost weight
and became lethargic. He kept eating but needed me to keep bringing his
food to him in order for him to eat. He underwent different tests- the
xrays/blood tests showed that his organs were fine. There was however some
bacteria in his urine and so we thought it might be an infection. He also
had a slight fever and his white blood cell count was low. We tried him on
an injectable antibiotic initially which didn't help, but then switched him
to Baytril to which he has responded really well.

Charlie started to become sick again once he finished his first round of
Baytril, and so we put him back on the antibiotic. He also underwent more
tests- this time there was no bacteria in his urine but his white blood
cell count was still low. Since this time he has stayed on Baytril (we
tried him on a stronger antibiotic but he couldn't stomach it and so we
stayed put).

Charlie for the past few weeks has seemed incredibly well. He is vibrant,
affectionate, and he eats incredibly well (he's even put on a pound).
However, his white blood cell count is plummeting. He went from a 3.1 on
April 2nd, to a 2.7 on May 27th, to 1.8 on June 13th.

At this point it seems as though this isn't the result of an infection, but
the progression of his leukemia. Our vet has presented us with some options
moving forward but I'm not sure of what we should do.

What's challenging is that he is so happy and vibrant right now. We're
really afraid of doing anything that might compromise that. He is his happy
little cheeky self and we are making the most of every moment.

Our vet has suggested a series of tests (more blood, xray, urine, bone
marrow) and they don't seem like our best option. Some are really
invasive-like a bone marrow biopsy-and incredibly costly. We've maxed out
all our credit options paying for Charlie's treatments so far, and there is
only so much more we can do.

Our vet has also suggested that we try putting him on steroids to see if
that boosts his white blood cell count. She mentioned however that if this
is an aggressive infection (and not the progression of his leukemia) the
steroid could worsen it. She hinted that this is an option that she would
at least try. At this point we don't have much to lose, but again we don't
want to compromise any quality time we do have with Charlie.

Our other option is to just keep him on the Baytril, and let things run
their course. We could also wait and put him on the steroid once things
worsen.

I'd really appreciate any insights anyone can provide. This has been harder
than I ever could have imagined. We've fallen so hard for this little guy
and it's just been one heartbreaking visit to the vet after another.

Thank you in advance.

Emily
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://felineleukemia.org/pipermail/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org/attachments/20140616/9c280ddb/attachment.html>