Re: Pekoe - Doing Great!

[Kerry MacKenzie]

Congrats to Pekoe! That's SO wonderful! And the fact he's stopped eating concrete--wow. It's good to know that miracles happen, and Pekoe sounds like a real little miracle. He sounds just like my neg Tiger in his newly acquired litter habits. Tiger does pretty well what Pekoe does. Also Tiger goes outside the box from time to time. None of the others do that. I'm afraid I don't know the cause, and my vet hasn't come up with either an adverse diagnosis or any ideas that work. I tried a whole slew of different boxes but that didn't seem to make any difference. I even bought one of these big plastic concrete mixers-Tiger is a big boy--but that made no difference--he just backed up to the edge and peed over. So now it's back to the biggest hooded type available. Tiger is pretty highly strung, and very needy and quite mean to the others when he gets away with it. I was told that the reason he rarely covers up after doing his business is that he was never taught. Which would fit the fact that he's also a wool-sucker--that's a sign he was weaned too soon. Maybe others will jump in with ideas? Big hugs to Pekoe--what a star! Kerry M.     ----- Original Message ----- From: Marlene Chornie To: Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 5:10 PM Subject: Pekoe - Doing Great! Hi All,       Kept meaning to post an update on Pekoe before this.  His last blood test results showed some improvement in the right direction!  Mar. 29th, his results were as follows:   WBC - 8.4 (Range = 4.2 - 13) - [Mar. 8th was 6.6] RBC - 5.6 (6.2 - 10.6) - [was 5.0] Hb - 107 (93 - 153) - [was 101] PCV - 32% (28 - 49%) - [was 31%] MCV - 58 (39 - 52) - [was 62] MCH - 19 (13 - 17) - [was 20] MCHC - 335 (300 - 344) - [was 325] RDW - 19.7 (14 - 17) - [was 18.7] Platelets - 27 (93 - 514) - [was 12] MPV - 19.2 (8 - 21) - [was 22.4] T.S. Protein - 80 (60 - 80) - [was 81] Retics% - 0.2 - [was 0.2] Retics Abs.# - 11.1 (<60) - [was 10.2]       He's still on the higher dose of Prednisone at least for a while yet, and is also on the Interferon Alpha.  As well, he was on a course of Azithromycin for a respiratory infection - his only symptom was sneezing.  He still sneezes occasionally, but not at all like he was.  And, he appears to have stopped licking concrete!  He wasn't "as interested" in his canned food when he had the respiratory infection, until we started warming it a little in the microwave, then he gobbled it up - poor little guy, most likely couldn't smell it until it was warmed up!  We've continued warming his food as he seems to prefer it that way.  He's also showing more interest in playing than he has in a while.     We finally got some "numbers" through our vet regarding the costs involved with the Feline Interferon.  Unfortunately, the cost really is quite prohibitive here in Canada.  However, there is a little glimmer of hope on the horizon.  "Rumour" has it that it might be approved for use in Canada this summer??  Not too sure though that the cost would come down all that much, but we'll see if/when it's approved.     All in all, we're reasonably pleased with his progress as far as the blood work goes.  But, I learned with our CRF baby Casper to "treat the cat - not the numbers".     I don't think this is anything to be too concerned about, but lately Pekoe has been backing his butt right up against the litter box cover when he pees (it's one of those big boxes with a big "hood" cover on it).  Then it sort of trickles onto the lip of the box and sometimes dribbles down the outside of the box.  Also, a lot of times he doesn't bother to bury it when he pees - just appears to walk into the box, pee, then exit the box.  We've cleaned the boxes several times (no chemicals or anything), but he still continues to do it.  Should we be concerned about this??     My best to all of you and your furkids.   Marlene (Pekoe & Angel Digby)