Ahhh., Megan, you have already had some wonderful advice fromWendy, Michael
& Caroline (did I miss anyone? Sorry if I did).
There is nothing that I can add to their words of wisdom except, once again,
I will say,
"You need to take care of yourself, and don't forget to
breathe........."
We have all been through what you are experiencing, and you are among
friends.
Take care & please keep us posted.
Susan J. DuBose >^..^<
www.PetGirlsPetsitting.com
www.Tx.SiameseRescue.org
www.shadowcats.net
"As Cleopatra lay in state,
Faithful Bast at her side did wait,
Purring welcomes of soft applause,
Ever guarding with sharpened claws."
Trajan Tennent
----- Original Message -----
From: "Megan Heikkinen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 5:05 PM
Subject: My cat was tested positive yesterday, and I don't know what to do.
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
