Thank you for the responses all, its really informative.
I haven't used Interferon yet, as my vet is still looking into it.
I think Tomi is feeling a bit better today, he seemed to really like the dry
Innova food and ate quite a bit, but only tasted the canned Innova. He
doesn't seem to like canned food at all lately, so putting any supplements
in his food is not going to work very well.
I'll have to ask the vet if they have pet tinic. It would probably be
easier to squirt some of that into his mouth rather than making him swallow
a bunch of paste.
I would like to try the Transfer Factor, and i'm probably going to order it
yet, even though its $60 for 60 capsules, plus shipping. Would the
Colostrum from a health food store work as well as the Transfer Factor? It
sounds like the same thing, with the Transfer Factor just being more
expensive.
We'll see too if he'll use the paper litter, its in pellet form, and he's
not exactly sure he likes the feel of it on his feet. I do have 4 other
cats, so I still have clumping litter in the house, I just put Tomi and Kisa
together in a separate room for the night with the alternate litter.
My spirits are a little higher today after seeing that Tomi is feeling
better. I just hope he can continue to pull through. Its so scary to think
that he or Kisa could get so sick at any moment.
Cassandra
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nina" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 8:36 PM
Subject: Re: Hello, I am new to this form of discussion
Hi Tomi's guardian,
Sorry, what's your name?
It was suspected that my Grace had Hemobart too. Belinda is right that
Doxy is prescribed long-term for this. The abx retards the growth of new
parasites, (doesn't actually kill it off), so it's needed longer than the
usual 7-10 days to give the body a chance to destroy the infestation. My
Internist wanted Grace to remain on it indefinitely. Instead I would give
it to her whenever she was showing signs of anemia, at first I'd keep her
on it for a month at a time. Grace too was in terrible shape when I first
started medicating her with Doxy and she did bounce back. Are you the one
that posted about using Interferon Alpha 7 days on and 7 days off? I know
that the "pulse" method is a standard protocol, but whenever Grace was
showing symptoms, I'd give it to her daily until she began to feel better.
I've also upped the dose to as much as 3 ccs daily when they are fighting
something off.
I don't think the benefits of Nutri-cal are worth forcing it on Tomi.
It's mostly corn syrup anyway. If he's eating, (is he eating?), then I
wouldn't worry too much about fighting with him over it. I'd try mixing
in a small amount of Pet-tinic, (or another multi vita sup) into his food.
If the vet feels strongly about making sure Tomi has vita B12, he could
give him an injection of it, (although it does sting).
I order TF in a powder, I didn't even know they made TF in pill form.
I've never had anyone refuse it mixed in food. I don't usually add the
full amount suggested in one serving though. You can also get Tomi
regular colostrum at the health food store to add to his food.
It's good that you got Tomi the paper litter, you might want to try one of
the corn based litters too. Just be sure and not have any of the clumping
litter in the house, it's very dangerous to have them eating that. Did
you buy the Innova dry or wet? So far I've never had a cat turn their
nose up at the dry.
One more tip for you... If Tomi's appetite is good, you might be able to
hide his pills in Pill Pockets. Most of my guys won't eat the pill pocket
by itself. What I do is use about half the pill pocket to form around the
pill and then hide it in a small amount of something really yummy, like
tuna, or meat baby food. I have one guy that will eat his pill pocketed
pill if I give it to him with a couple of those nasty Temptation treats.
Hang in there my dear. You are doing wonderfully. We all know how
overwhelming and expensive it can be. Just do the best you can and try to
keep your spirits up. Continue to make decisions from your heart and take
things one day at a time. Shower those angels of yours with love.
My prayers are with you,
Nina