Hello Ashleigh,
I'm sorry to hear about Pepper, and how awful his passing is for you
and your family. It sounds like you did what was right for him, and
that's what our feline friends want from us. Frankly, everything
regarding Fred and Pepper is heartbreaking. You and your family and
your Bella will be in my prayers.
As for best treatment, good quality food is priority, and it sounds
like you're already there. I'm feeing my FeLV+ girl Innova EVO canned
and Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul dry. I'm going to go all
Innova EVO soon, and might sneak in some Wysong or Felidae at
different points. I've also heard good things about Nature's Variety.
Regarding interferon, I can only tell you that my cat is not showing
symptoms, other than a low wbc, and she is on the five on/five off
interferon treatment (1cc/day). At low doses, interferon should not
cause any issues, from what I've read. My vet believes that FeLV+
cats need to be put on interferon as soon as they receive a positive
test. The immunity (and other possible issues) come from using high
doses of human interferon. There IS a feline interferon that seems to
work well in high doses. Unfortunately, it is not available here in
the States, and your vet must get a dispensation from the FDA in
order to import it. Unlike the human interferon (which tends to just
be generically referred to as "interferon"), the feline interferon is
quite expensive.
There is also a Dr. Belfield who has turned a number of FeLV+ cats
negative using his own mix of vitamin C. It does not have the acidity
of the vitamin C that you and I would normally take, so it doesn't
upset the feline tummy. I think it's worth looking into, and I'm
going to give them a call on Monday.
Another supplement is Transfer Factor. The homeopathic vet I spoke
with gave me enough confidence to start mixing TF in with my cat's
wet food. TF boosts the immune system, supposedly in a very powerful
way. I'm also going to look into CoQ10, but since it is widely
available, I haven't looked into it as much. I've mainly been looking
for safe, theoretically effective treatments that may require more
wrangling than going down to the corner Walgreens.
There are other treatments. I'm not going to look into ImmunoRegulin
unless Ember starts to show symptoms of some sort. It's a more
invasive treatment, and the less invasive, the less stressful on the
kitty.
You should definitely retest if the "dot" was only faintly positive.
In three months, if she's negative, have an IFA test done to be sure.
If she has a negative IFA, then she's doing really well, and it's
highly likely you won't have to worry about FeLV with her. The virus
does do some sneaky things, and can hide out in places that testing
doesn't always catch. Still, I can't tell you how ecstatic I would be
if Ember was negative on ELISA and IFA. Wow!
Keep asking questions here. Given that your girl is a very faint
positive, it's possible that getting her on low dose human interferon
and something like Transfer Factor (with your vet's approval) might
help her to lick this thing before it becomes a problem. It's hard to
say, but best to hope.
Best regards to you and your family,
Lance
