Megan, The vet program at your school could be a real
help. I am so sorry that you are going through this,
especially with school just starting. It has to be
horribly stressful for you... The most important
thing, right now, is that you stay strong and remain
focused. No matter what, you have to be the strong one
to take care of your cats...You cannot afford to let
this affect your school performance. If you start
slipping in school, you will sink into a depression
and just start feeling overwhelmed...
You did the best thing, so far, by all of your
kitties. You got everyone vaccinated and you found
this group. Any questions you have, will be answered
here and the emotional support here is the best.
Everyone here understands.
A couple months ago I got the news my kitty was FeLV
positive. I have absorbed a lot of information on how
to better take care of my cats since that day. The
people here gave me the hope , support and information
I needed to arm myself against this scary disease....
Like Michael just told you: FeLV is not a death
sentence for your positive kitty. This site is way
ahead of most vets, with current information on FeLV,
so trust the people here who take care of their FeLV+
kitties every day to know what they are talking
about...Again, I am very sorry...but as you will learn
, sometimes a cat can even fight off the virus...it
happens... We will be with you every step of the way.
You and your kitties have lots of loving, informed,
aunts and uncles here...Glenda
--- Megan Heikkinen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> My name is Megan. I'm a college student with three
> sibling cats, one of which
> was recently found to be FeLV-positive. We
> discovered this after Olive had a
> severe anemic episode last week all of the sudden
> and almost died. Her
> brother's blood was able to restore her, but how
> long this will last, we don't
> know. She has seemed happy and feeling well since
> the blood transfusion, but
> there's a feeling in my gut that tells me it's only
> a matter of time before
> she gets sick again, and I don't know what to do
> about that. Like I said, I'm
> a college student, and independent from my parents,
> which by default means I'm
> poor.
>
> My vet doesn't know much about treatment, but he is
> going to talk to the
> university's vet school. We are considering
> interferon, although to be honest,
> I don't know if I'd be able to give Olive shots
> everyday. I'm in quite a
> dilemma, because I want to do what I can for Olive.
> She is the sweetest,
> friendliest cat I have ever met. All of my friends
> love her and some of them
> are also pretty upset about her condition.
>
> Part of the dilemma is what to do about interaction
> with her siblings. I just
> had them tested (and vaccinated) today, and won't
> know the results until
> Thursday. I would assume that they are very likely
> to be infected as well, yet
> part of me thinks that they aren't, and the vet
> thought this, too. I had
> thought that maybe my boyfriend's cat had
> transmitted it to Olive, because he
> has some health problems, and therefore maybe only
> she was infected. But he
> tested negative today on the in-home test, so now
> I'm scared that Olive has
> had this since she was little, and therefore my
> other two probably have it as
> well. Unless, of course, they've developed immunity
> to it.
>
> So, there are my two problems: What to do with
> Olive, and what to do if my
> other two turn out negative. If they are all
> positive, then leaving them
> together isn't an issue; although then I'm also left
> with the horrible
> situation of having three FeLV-positive cats. If
> they turn out to be negative,
> I don't know how to separate them. I don't want to
> risk their lives by having
> them interact, yet I can't bear to give up Olive. I
> live in an apartment, so
> keeping them separate in my home isn't a great
> solution.
>
> If anyone has any suggestions, words of advice,
> etc., please let me know. I am
> completely distraught over this. Last night I could
> not sleep, and I'm already
> not caring about school, which just started.
>
> Thank you for reading this. Sorry it's so long...
> -Megan
>
>
>
>
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