[Felvtalk] Charlie

[Lance]

Hi Emily,

I’m very sorry to hear that you and Charlie are going through this. Most of us have been there. I remember all too well how anxiety-inducing the vet visits could be at times. I don’t know that I’ve ever been that acutely scared in my life. 

**NOTE: None of us are vets. What you’ll read below are my opinions and thoughts based on personal experiences with my FeLV+ girl, reading the list, reading other material online, and talking with various vets.**

I was surprised to read that the vet wanted to try steroids to stimulate wbc. That is exactly what you don’t want to do. Prednisone will lower wbc according to my research and my very trustworthy vet. I would not biopsy Charlie’s bone marrow. I don’t see how that could do any good. I think we considered something like that once and promptly vetoed it.

I would consider doing a chest x-ray to verify that something isn’t going on there. Typically, a cat will show respiratory symptoms with mediastinal lymphoma, but there are odd cases where that might not happen. My Ember, a 12 year old FeLV+ at the time of her passing, developed odd breathing, pale membranes, and plummeting wbc. Chest x-rays showed something that was likely mediastinal lymphoma. We weren’t sure, but Ember had hardly eaten for four days and clearly did not feel well, and I was not going to let her suffer while we took her out of state to be diagnosed and staged. I just didn’t have the time to do more.

Margo’s recommendations are good ones. ImmunoRegulin, interferon, and DMG are affordable treatments. Unfortunately, they are not guaranteed to work. DMG and ImmunoRegulin do not require a prescription, but interferon does, and interferon will probably need to be dispatched to you by an animal pharmacy like Road Runner in Phoenix, AZ. I was very happy with their service. DMG is probably the mildest treatment of the three. I would consider it if you can get Charlie’s wbc stabilized. DMG would be unlikely to rock the boat (I am *very* sympathetic to that concern).

So… I would consider a chest x-ray, and if that doesn’t seem to show mediastinal lymphoma, I would consider ImmunoRegulin or interferon alpha. We can help you with information about those treatments if you need it. If you’re in an urban area, I would look into getting a second opinion or at least a quick 15 minute call in with another vet who has lots of experience with cats and infectious diseases.

Again, I’m very sorry. Best hopes for Charlie, including a rebound in wbc. 

Lance

On Jun 17, 2014, at 3:34 PM, Margo <toomanykitties2 at earthlink.net> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> Dear Emily,
> 
>          I'm sorry, I'm not getting the emails for some reason, didn't see this until it was tagged on dlgegg's answer.
> 
>          Have you considered ImmunoRegulin, or Interferon? DMG? I have two positive cats on Interferon, and ImmunoRegulin at the Vet's office in case of a crash (knock on wood we never need it.)
> 
> http://www.felineleukemia.org/ireginfo.html
> 
>          I used Zeniquin instead of Baytril when Gribble first crashed, but it's the same family. I would continue that, if the Vet is willing.
> 
>          NO STEROIDS, please. The last thing you want to do is immune suppress an immuno-compromised cat. Since he's doing well, I would start him on Interferon and DMG. Can't hurt, might help. Seemed to work for my guys.
> 
> Good luck, let us know how it goes. Best to Charlie 
> 
> Margo
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> 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
> 
> 
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