[Felvtalk] Baby's intro

[Amani Oakley]

Hi Lorraine

What I have suggested to many in this group, for treatment of FeLV, is the following combination of medications:


Winstrol (Stanazolol) - 1 mg twice a day

Doxycycline - 1/5 to ¼ tablet (100 mg) twice a day

Prednisolone - ½ 5 mg tablet, twice a day

If there are problems with the intestines (vomiting, constipation, slow moving stools, stools of large diameters, all of which might be indicative of the effect of the virus on the intestines) you can try adding ¼ tablet of apometocloprimide.

If the haematocrit level is REALLY REALLY low - like below 5-8, you might consider starting the Winstrol at 2 mg twice a day for a week, to try and kickstart things quickly, but given that there is going to be a likely increase in liver enzymes with the use of Winstrol, recognize that this might also increase the liver enzymes faster.



Lorraine, you will very likely encounter great resistance or skepticism regarding the use of the Winstrol. It is an anabolic steroid, associated with some doping scandals in professional athletics, so it has a bad rap in the sports world. I haven't yet figures out why this should matter in the animal world, especially since NOTHING else works to turn back on the red cell production in FeLV, but I am just warning you that you may get an unexpected reaction from the vet. If not, terrific - carry on. If you do, many people in this online group have managed to procure it themselves.

I also suggest blood work up front, so you can gauge how well the Winstrol is working to address the anemia. The other thing to resist, however, is that Winstrol may well bump up liver enzymes - sometimes dramatically. Vets will get alarmed at this and will often tell you to discontinue the Winstrol, but I would resist this. The liver enzymes almost always go back to normal once the Winstrol is discontinued, with no lasting harm to the liver, and there is really nothing else to use for this disease.

How long you need to stay on this regimen will depend on the lab results. Once the anemia is resolved (haematocrit, haemoglobin and reticulocytes back to normal) you may need to continue with the Winstrol for a more time. My experience was that every time I wanted to wean my cat off the Winstrol, his haematocrit would immediately drop. I kept him on the Winstrol until I didn't see a drop in haematocrit when I began to wean him off. My cat's results were horrible, before starting the Winstrol. (His haematocrit was FIVE, with ZERO percent reticulocytes, and I had given him several blood transfusions, which obviously were only a temporary fix.)

I hope this helps.

Amani












From: Felvtalk <felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org> On Behalf Of Lorraine Johnston
Sent: February 21, 2019 7:23 PM
To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
Subject: [Felvtalk] Baby's intro

Hello,
I'm a new member. While caring for my cousin's cat Baby here in my home during his 2-week vacation in Mexico, we had bloodwork done ahead of the dental cleaning that my husband and I agreed to have done for her.  She turned up positive for FeLeuk on ELISA, IFA, and PCR--the triple whammy. She's already slightly anemic.
Baby was first vaccinated against FeLV in Jan. 2018 before her first-ever stay with us.  But the booster due at week 3-4 was missed. This was followed by a bite puncture in Dec. 2018. So I suspect that first vaccine was worn off by the time of the bite.
Baby is 11 and in otherwise good health, so I hope there's a good chance she'll still live her "normal span" --and perhaps even die of something unrelated. But the anemia is not a  good sign, I'm told.
I am putting together information for my cousin to try to take the edge off of the terrible shock this will give him. I'm of course including cautions about keeping her indoors, etc., and following up on any symptoms, etc. I hope to put off telling him until just before he flies back to the US.
I suspect my cousin would prefer treatments that are oral as opposed to IV. But his wife is trained as a nurse, so perhaps they would be willing to try difficult-to-administer treatments. I'm not sure how much room their budget has for expensive, imported treatments like feline interferon omega.
On general principles: in our home, Baby has been kept entirely separate from our own six cats, who are vaccinated against FeLV except for one little guy who has FIV whom we avoid over-vaccinating. We have always hand-washed after handling Baby or her dishes, even prior to this diagnostic info.
I think I've drawn the complete picture, but please ask if I've left out something important.
FWIW, I have a degree in biology and am a medical writer, so I don't scare easy, and I understand big words...mostly. (-:

- Lorraine

"Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine."  - Alan Turing
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