Re: Introduction

[Nina]

Marissa, I agree with everything Michelle has said, (bless her).  There is a group for assist feeding, I suggest you poke your head in there for some advice.  You can assist feed for months, but you want to make sure that Jake is getting as balanced a diet as you can.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-Assisted-Feeding/ I have never heard about dehydration from interferon either.  The drawback from daily interferon is the potential "immunity" of it's benefits.  I've heard, and I don't know if this is true, that if you give small doses, (.5 to 1cc) daily, there isn't as much concern about that.  Look in the archives for discussions on Feline interferon, you may be interested in that as well. Cats won't eat what they can't smell.  Sometimes slightly warming the food will bring out the aroma and encourage them to eat.  Usually they will lap at food when they won't chew.  You could try warming some goat's milk for him, or adding a couple of drops of salmon oil, (if he likes salmon) to make it good and smelly.  My guys eat better when I pet and cajole them, every cat is different and I can't tell you how many hours I've spent crawling after someone on my hands and knees with a bowl of something yummy in my hand.  Oh, that reminds me, try switching from a bowl to a plate and only putting tiny bits of food down at a time. The slippery elm is a good, safe suggestion for nausea.  Something that helped my Gypsy was a prescription called Metoclopramide syrup.  It helps with the spasms and doesn't taste bad, (at least not in my opinion :) ). Welcome to the group, I'm so sorry Jake is not feeling well, but I'm glad you found us.  Hang in there, you're not alone. Prayers for Jake's quick recovery, Nina [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Marissa,     Hi and welcome, and BLESS YOU for adopting a cat with FeLV!  My suggestion is this: if he is still on Baytril, take him off it. Cats are not meant to be on Baytril that long-- it is a very strong drug. My Lucy was on it for a month for bladder infection when she had a stone two months ago, and she is still having diarrhea from it even though she has been off it for weeks-- she never had diarrhea before, but it really screwed up her system.  So take him off it and give him acidophilus, which is good bacteria for the gut to replace all the good bacteria that has been killed off by the Baytril.  Also, take  him off the Vitamin C, which can also cause diarrhea.        There are other ways to make URI's better. Give him Lysine, which you can get in health food stores, which supports the immune system and is anti-viral. Also 6 drops of echinacea tincture each day (get the kind without alcohol).  And read the archived posts and the articles on this group's web page about Immuno-Regulin, which has really helped a few of our cats kick hard-to-beat URI's. And if he really does need antibiotics, try Clavamox or, less traditional for URI's but very effective we have found, Doxicycline.        Also, at this point he probably has an upset stomach, so I would give him 1/4 of a Pepcid (the kind that is all famotidine with no other ingredients)  once or twice a day.       If his symptoms are from URI and too much antibiotics, this course should help.  You should realize though that there are other things that cats with FeLV are vulnerable to that could cause the GI symptoms, like intestinal lymphoma.  That can be controlled with steroids and chemo, but has to be diagnosed.  For now, though, I think I would assume that the problems are from the exceedingly long course of Baytril and the Vitamin C, because that could definitely do this, I think.      Good luck and please keep us updated.