[Felvtalk] Charlie

[dlgegg at windstream.net]

I have learned that I have to be diligent, take note of every little difference in behavior of my cats and myself.  With the last 3 who have passed, vets missed dehydration, urinary tract infections, things that were so obvious and yet they were missed because the vet was obsessed with leukemia or other cancer.  So obsessed that they could not see the trees for the forest. 
I have had more success with an herbal salve both for myself and my cats.  Casey's tumor in her mouth was dying from the tonic, but she died because the vet did not think she was dehydrated enough for me to continue giving her fluids every day.  1 week later, she died of dehydration and severe constipation


---- Lee Evans <moonsister22 at yahoo.com> wrote: 
> Hi - Hope you get this message. Stay away from bone marrow biopsies and anything else that is invasive. Sounds like Charlie may be trying to fight off the leukemia which may have been latent in his body. Many cats, especially adult cats do turn from positive to negative. The fact that he had a fever and high white count is a sign that his body is doing the right thing to try to combat some type of infection. I have had three cats who turned negative. Unfortunately, one who was just a year and a half turned back to positive for FeLv and then the disease went active. She survived for only two weeks. Poor Bunny. But Moses has been negative for about 7 years from the time I rescued him and he tested positive. I kept him isolated from the other cats for two months and then retested. He was negative and stayed that way. Percy was positive for both FeLv and FIV but turned negative for FeLv and is still negative after four years. I have also had the misery of
>  rescuing two cats who were leukemia positive and never turned negative and lasted two  years with me before they went down quickly, all in a couple of weeks. If Charlie is still hanging in there, it may either be that he is fighting off the infection or fighting off another infection. Tests are not going to do much to increase his health. If he is happy and acting normal, leave him be for the time being. You can give him 1000mcg of B12 - little pink pill crushed into his cat food. It does wonders for cats and humans. I saved the life of our office cat, Franny, who lived to be 17 years old after a bout of hepatic lipidosis during which she went from 15 pounds to 7 pounds in the course of a month. Fortunately, I noticed that all the fur had no substance under it and rushed her to the vet where they gave her a 40% chance to live. I syringe fed her for a month, mixing the 1000mcg tablet of B-12 with a jar of baby food chicken every day as her supplement
>  and then a blended can of Iams chicken cat food daily. Lots of work but had a live cat afterwards.




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

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>Dear Emily,
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>          I'm sorry, I'm not getting the emails for some reason, didn't see this until it was tagged on dlgegg's answer.
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>          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.)
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>http://www.felineleukemia.org/ireginfo.html
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>          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.
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>          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.
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>Good luck, let us know how it goes. Best to Charlie 
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>Margo
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>> 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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