[Felvtalk] FW: Merlot

Mon Oct 19 12:43:27 CDT 2015

I adopted a cat last summer (2014) from a feral colony. I found out, just after I adopted her, that several of the other cats taken from the colony died from FIP. The kitten I had taken was about 8 months old, and she got deathly ill just after I took her home. She was congested with runny eyes and a temperature when I took her, but got REALLY bad after that. She ran a very high temperature and wouldn’t eat, and just basically slept for days. I couldn’t get any real food into her, but did manage to get some pureed baby food in via syringe (this is always a great life-saver!). I started her on the Winstrol, because again, FIP is a game-over virus and I had nothing to lose as she was clearly not going to make it otherwise, and there is nothing that treats FIP effectively. I spoke to the woman from whom I had adopted her and she told me that the cat I had been stroking and cooing over the night before had also just passed away and again, it looked like FIP.

Samantha had a very hard belly – another sign of FIP, and I think she had fluid accumulation AROUND her lungs (another sign of FIP).

It took longer for me to see an effect with Samantha than I had seen with Zander – my FeLV cat – but she was looking a lot better in about a week and much better in 2 weeks. I discontinued the Winstrol after about a month because she was very difficult to catch and pill, being a semi-feral. Otherwise I would have continued for much longer. She got better in every way except she continued to have sounds of chest congestion even though an xray done eventually, showed no accumulation within the lungs. The sounds in her chest continued, though nothing else was wrong.

Recently (about 1 month ago now) I decided to try the Winstrol again, to see if I could clear out what I felt was the accumulated fluid AROUND the lungs, typical of FIP. I didn’t notice a change after 1 week of Winstrol (which is unusual as I can usually tell when this stuff is working, very early on). I decided to persevere, nonetheless, because Winstrol is really a more long-term kind of medication. She has now been on it for 5 weeks and I just mentioned to my husband today that I have now noticed that the unusual gurgling and air restriction which I had always heard with her, were now almost completely dissipated. Still a bit there, but very mild.

I know that for the people on the chatline who have seen my posts before, they must think I have Winstrol on the brain, but I have had good results with it almost every time one of my cats receives a death sentence from one of these incurable viruses, and other situations where it has helped boost energy and food intake (sarcoma of the nasal cavity). The way I look at it, it really can’t hurt in most of these circumstances, and there is a good possibility of a positive effect. One of the Listserve members emailed me recently to indicate she had gotten her cat on Winstrol after my suggestions, and this turned him right around, so hopefully, others will experience some of these good results too.

Amani

From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Maya D'Alessio
Sent: October-19-15 1:20 PM
To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org<mailto:felvtalk at felineleukemia.org>
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Merlot

Wow, after looking in to FIP, it does sound like that could be what is going on.

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 12:22 PM, Amani Oakley <aoakley at oakleylegal.com<mailto:aoakley at oakleylegal.com>> wrote:
Then get the Winstrol ASAP. My cat was in an oxygen tent and his haemotocrit was down to 5 before I got the Winstrol into him.

The abdominal pain sounds more like FIP, to be honest, but I have a FIP cat who also responded remarkably to the Winstrol, so same advice. Call the vet today and speak to him about getting the Winstrol right away. I understand that it can be injected though I have never done that. If the vet is able, starting with an injection might give Merlot a faster boost.

Amani

From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org<mailto:felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org>] On Behalf Of Maya D'Alessio
Sent: October-19-15 12:04 PM

To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org<mailto:felvtalk at felineleukemia.org>
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Merlot

Thanks for the advice re. the winstrol. I am honestly concerned about him making it past the next few days.

His abdomen is really sore/tense/uncomfortable and he complains heavily when being moved/picked up/palpated. Do you have any idea if that fits with the FeLV?
[https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif]

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 11:59 AM, Amani Oakley <aoakley at oakleylegal.com<mailto:aoakley at oakleylegal.com>> wrote:
Maya

I would be pretty sure that the platelet drop is from FeLV and I am not sure why that is stumping the vets. FeLV can attack any one of the three cell lines (red cells, white cells and platelets) because it effects the bone marrow where these cells are all produced. Thus, when FeLV begins to affect a cat, you can get a drop in one or two or all three of the cell lines.

In addition to the treatment he is getting, ask the vet to put him on Winstrol. I have posted here many times, and will again, that Winstrol is the only medication I found effective that actually turned back on the cell production of the bone marrow. He can remain on the prednisolone and the Doxycycline. Even though the Doxycycline is an antibiotic and thus not effective against viruses, my vets have said that they have gotten some positive results from using it with FeLV cats. I used it with my cat, in addition to the Prednisolone and the Winstrol, but having used the Doxycycline and Prednisolone WITHOUT the Winstrol first, I can confirm that it was the Winstrol that did the trick (confirmed by weekly monitoring of my cat’s blood work – checking specifically for haematocrit levels, RBC levels, Reticulocyte levels, white cells (total, neutrophils and leukocytes) and platelet counts. (I have posted this before, but just so that you know, before moving to Winstrol, I had my cat on Interferon – which did nothing to his blood work results at all – and then LTCI – which again had no positive result on the bloodwork.)

Winstrol (Stanozolol) is an anabolic steroid which usually is required to be ordered from a compounding pharmacy. The dose I used was 1 mg 2x a day.

If you want to confirm the effectiveness as I did, place Merlot on the Winstrol and after a week or two, run his haematology blood work again. You should start seeing a nudging up of the red cells, although the platelet counts in my cat at least, were the last to respond to the Winstrol. Don’t give up if there is no change in 2 weeks, and you will likely also get a bump up in his appetite and his general feeling of wellbeing (playing, purring, etc.)

Merlot may start having his liver enzymes rise. Resist the urge or the advice of your vet to discontinue the Winstrol. The liver enzymes will very likely drop after he is weaned off the Winstrol, and for the time being, the more important thing is to deal with his failing bone marrow.

Amani

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