[Felvtalk] My Leuk + kitten and disgraceful vet

[Sandy]

Hello Sherri - thank goodness you changed vets - you know have one smart vet! This is an awesome site - the participants are empathetic and honest. 

Sandy W 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Sherri Godschalk" <skgodschalk61 at gmail.com> 
To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org 
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2016 12:48:06 PM 
Subject: [Felvtalk] My Leuk + kitten and disgraceful vet 

Thanks for accepting me into the group. 

The stray kitten that I adopted tested positive for Leukemia two weeks ago. I was so heartbroken to hear this news. And just as heartbroken to get the response I did from my vet. 

My Bogie, she was always small, playful and a terror, which I loved. She also was going in and out of heat quite often and was waiting for a break in the action so I could get her spayed. Before I could I noticed she had slowed down some…stopped knocking things off all of the tables and shelves and started sleeping more. I took her to my vet right away. I asked them right away to do a FELV test as well as the exam. Before they would even look at her really, they gave her rabies and distemper vaccines. Vet said she was healthy and just small and that I should spay her soon. I was making the appointment at the front desk when Dr told me to come back into the room. She said Bogie scored a faint positive for Leukemia and we should do a total blood evaluation and send out some blood to a lab in Indianapolis to verify. In the same breath she told me to consider putting my girl to sleep…even without knowing for certain. Shocked me a little about her. I said no. The diagnosis was confirmed…positive. And that she was severely anemic. RBC 13. They put her on Prednisone and an antibiotic and had me come back next week for another blood test. I had them also run the FEVL again, just to make sure. Still positive. Her count went up to 17. So not much improvement. We set up another appointment for the next week for a recheck. The vet called me later the same day and said that the count had dropped to 15 so it this wasn’t working. So I asked her what the plan was and what do we try next. She said there was no next. She would give me pills to keep Bogie comfortable but there was nothing else she was WILLING to do. “There are plenty of healthy cats out there that need homes” was her advice to me. I said “This is my cat and she deserves a chance” and hung up. I was furious. 

I was able to get into see a vet that I used to take my pets to. I asked the woman making the appointment if I could leave the kitten at home for this appointment as she was just getting over the prior visit just 2 days before and they agreed. I thought that was nice of them. He explained so thoroughly what was going on with Bogey. Why things were not working. He prescribed Stanzolol 2mg once a day along with the Prednisone once a day. He said if my baby doesn’t respond to this in a couple of weeks then we will know that she will probably not be able to make red blood cells anymore and the only thing left would be transfusions. That he would be willing to try with her. She was infected at birth and has lived a year with it, she is one strong kitty. 

I ran home and gave Bogie her first dose. 

Hoping and praying that this will help jump start her immune system. 

I was led to this site when I Googled the name of the drug and FELV. I haven’t been able to stop reading these posts and all the information here. I was curious, what food you all feed your cats? The vet told me to keep her on kitten food but make sure it is high quality. I told the dr that Bogie like boiled beef liver and he told me to give her as much as she wants. 

Is there anything else I can do to help Bogie’s immune system become stronger? 

_______________________________________________ 
Felvtalk mailing list 
Felvtalk at felineleukemia.org 
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://felineleukemia.org/pipermail/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org/attachments/20160817/3c23b142/attachment.html>