[Felvtalk] FW: Continued Improvement for Bogey on Stanzolol

Fri Sep 30 18:54:23 CDT 2016

Oh my gosh Amani! What an incredible story. The chances that he could
survive from where he was. I cannot imagine the joy you felt when you saw
his gums were pink. What a long road for the both of you. Says so much about
you. So your vet knew of the treatment but was afraid of it. Hopefully the
next FELV cat they saw in their office, they remembered the success that you
experienced and prescribed accordingly. How lucky that you had the knowledge
you did, the confidence to respectfully challenge the ones telling you there
was no hope. Zander was one lucky kitty.

I can¹t say that I don¹t worry about the side effects of the drugs Bogey is
taking. But I understand that he has to survive THIS first. I am not so sure
that my vet has anything against using Doxycicline as much as he just
doesn¹t see a need for it yet. What test was run on Zander to check the
liver enzymes you mentioned?

Getting the message out about this drug and it¹s positive response in FELV
anemic cats is something I truly hope happens. When my vet gave me this pill
for Bogey, I had no idea what it was. He told me it was a steroid that body
builders take. I ran home, gave the cat the pill, sat down at my computer
and Googled ³Felv Stanzolol² and this site came up. I have written a bit
about my experience thus far here, and on a Facebook page for FIV and FELV
cats. But it makes me feel bad for the people that read it and get hopeful,
go to their vets and get the ³doesn¹t help², ³bad for livers² or just ³No².
I know it is very early in Bogey¹s treatment and she may not continue to get
better with just what she is taking. But I am glad for every moment that I
have with her. I hope I have hundreds and thousands more.

Thanks for sharing the story about Zander. Amazing.

From:  Felvtalk <felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org> on behalf of Amani
Oakley <aoakley at oakleylegal.com>
Reply-To:  <felvtalk at felineleukemia.org>
Date:  Friday, September 30, 2016 at 6:11 PM
To:  "felvtalk at felineleukemia.org" <felvtalk at felineleukemia.org>
Subject:  Re: [Felvtalk] FW:  Continued Improvement for Bogey on Stanzolol

Yes, Sherri. There¹s no question this is a frustrating, devastating disease,
made far far worse by vets lacking in knowledge, and committed to just
putting down FeLV cats. Sherri, Zander¹s haematocrit was actually down to 5
initially, and he had to be placed in an oxygen tent because his haemoglobin
was so low his body would have had trouble transporting oxygen to the cells
in his body. I gave him blood transfusions initially, but could see that
they were only temporary stopgaps, and after the second one, he had a
reaction, so I was told he couldn¹t have any more transfusions, as the next
one would kill him. As a former medical technologist, I knew that to be
true. (In Canada, they didn¹t test for blood type at the time  don¹t know
if they do now.)

After trying Zander on a course of Interferon and a course of LTCI (or
whatever it is called  I always mix up the letters), I totally by chance,
opened up my drawer and rummaged through it in desperation because his
haematocrit had dropped from a high of 16 after his second blood
transfusion, back down to 10, and I knew I was going to lose him soon. He
was on Doxycycline and Prednisone, but it wasn¹t doing a thing for his cell
lines, which were all depressed  with the most critical being the red
cells/haematocrit numbers. Imagine my total surprise when, after I gave him
some old Winstrol I found in the drawer, I started noticing his ears and
gums taking on a pink hue and when I tested him 3 days after starting the
Winstrol, the haematocrit had gone up instead of steadily down.

My surprise grew, and finally overcame my skepticism (I mean, really, what
are the odds that I discovered a cure???) and Zander¹s results kept slowly
but steadily rising for months and months until he was finally out of danger
and then into the normal reference range for all his results.

Then, after a year, when I told the internal specialist who had very kindly
told me there was no hope with this disease, imagine my shock that he KNEW
about Winstrol and said that I had gone ³old-school² and this has been
something they used to use for this disease until ³word² spread that the
drug could cause liver damage!

Frankly, after reading about all the experiences of so many people in this
situation, I realize how lucky I am. Because of my background in health
care, my very long relationship with my vet clinic (which I would often
diagnose things before them and/or I would identify problems they hadn¹t
seen) AND very likely, my prickly personality/refusal to take no for an
answer, my vets were good enough to back off and let me do my thing. They
recognized that, OBVIOUSLY, they had nothing to offer me if the Winstrol
didn¹t work. They faithfully tried the Interferon and the LTCI at my
request, and ran the weekly bloodwork, and agreed that there were no
positive effects. They saw the positive effects with the WInstrol. They
tried on a few occasions to talk me into discontinuing or reducing the
Winstrol when the liver enzymes increased, but after what Zander had been
through  being on the brink of death  I was not open to discussing this
option. On a few occasions I would reduce the Winstrol briefly, only to see
his haematology drop. I would then hold my breath for a few days or weeks,
to let the liver enzymes settle a bit, before getting him back on the
WInstrol. However, I don¹t think any of the vets were prepared to argue with
the obvious success. They had seen the unbelievably low haematocrit and red
cell count, for themselves.

I just don¹t know how we can get this message across to mainstream vets.
This is NOT an evil drug which must be avoided at all costs. I wish I could
address a vet convention. If I had LITTLE TIME, I would write a paper and
submit it for publication in a vet publication.

I get angered when I hear about all the trouble everyone has, getting some
Winstrol for their cats, despite the desperate circumstances the cats are
in.

Sherri, the odd thing for you is that your vet is okay with the Winstrol but
not the Doxycycline. Really bizarre!

No wonder underground markets flourish. It just shouldn¹t be this hard to be
at least given an opportunity and a bit of hope to save our cats.

Amani

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