Megan,
Hi and welcome to the group. I'm sorry you had to find us but you've come to
the best place there is for info. short of a Veterinary Internist. I hope this
evening finds you better off than last night. Michael is right...going to the
website and clicking into Archives and searching through the most current
archives is a very good idea. There is so much to learn and lot of good,
intelligent people here to help you.
Retesting with the IFA after a positive ELISA (in-house) test is important.
ELISA can give false positives/negatives. However, since Olive already is
dealing with anemia, the test is probably correct. However, all of your
kitties who are positive can still seroconvert and 'throw' the virus, so don't
give up hope that one day they will be negative. I would retest every 3-6
months (probably 6, since it's less stressful on them to travel and test less
often). About 30-40% of cats who are exposed will throw off the virus, which
means that if all three were exposed as kittens, which is the most likely
scenario for exposure, then the other two may be negative. I'm betting at
least one of them is, considering the numbers.
I will not sugar-coat things...anemia is bad for FeLV+ kitties. It's fatal a
lot of the time, BUT we have seen kitties here who got through the anemia with
things like transfusions and meds to help stimulate red blood cell production
(mainly prednisolone). The transfusion will wear off. I think it lasts about
10 days, give or take. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Did the vet give you
any meds to give Olive? She needs help in getting her RBC's going again. Did
the vet say she has regenerative or non-regenerative anemia? Do you happen to
have a copy of the bloodwork results done on Olive? If not, can you get them
to send you one electronically or pick one up to post here? The BIG thing you
need to know about is Hemobartonella. Did your vet mention putting Olive on a
three week dose of Doxycycline. Hemobart is very difficult to see on a slide,
so difficult to diagnose. One minute the blood parasite is there, the next
it's not. So the majority
of vets usually dose with doxy when they see anemia in an felv+ cat. Hemobart
has a much higher presence in FeLV+ kitties. If it is hemobart, that's a good
thing Megan. It means you have a much better chance of saving Olive. But you
have to get her the meds asap. And be firm with your vet about the doxy. If
your vet has not touched on any of these things I'm telling you, find another
vet asap. You need someone who is willing to work with you to save Olive. Not
make money off of you and not immediately suggest pts at the first sign of a
positive FeLV test. Michael's suggestion of getting a referral to UT is a
great idea. I'm concerned that the vet did not tell you that the transfusion
was just a temporary fix. It treats the symptom, not the problem. Some people
do treat with Interferon. I would post a question with that in the subject
line and you will get more specific responses regarding that specific
treatment. Interferon will not treat
anemia though. It helps the immune system stay strong so the virus doesn't
kick in.
The two most important things you can do to keep your kitties healthy and the
virus from 'kicking in' or activating is to feed them a high quality diet, one
with no grains, like Innova Evo or the like. Add immune boosting supplements
like lysine to the food. Lysine must not have the additive Propylene Glycol in
the ingredients as it causes Heinz body anemia in cats. The other thing is to
keep your kitties as stress-free as possible. New additions to the family,
long vacations and especially boarding, moving, environmental factors like
heat, a lot of company, and loud noises are all some things that can stress
kitties out. Also, your kitties have already been exposed, so separating them
at this point is only going to stress them out further, something you don't
want. I would not separate. I did not separate mine (I had four, one
positive; the other three never became positive after four years sharing the
same food/water bowls and litter boxes).
Try not to stress out too much Megan, so Olive will not pick up on it. Do as
well as you can in your studies even though you are dealing with this, and
enjoy every minute you have with Olive. Take photos of her so in case the
worst happens, you have a visual memory of her. I am not trying to scare you;
just trying to give realistic advice. You can't know what's in store for Olive
in the near future. Prepare for the worst, but hope and PRAY for the best.
And please keep us posted and ask anymore questions you may have.
:)
Wendy
____________________________________________________________________________________
Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car
Finder tool.
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
