Welcome, Brenda! Sorry Spazzy is so ill, but you've come to the right place for info. You will be getting a lot of it in a very short time, but just to start out, your vet is way wrong about the bone marrow biopsy. Yikes! What you need to get is an IFA test. It's much more accurate than the test that would have been done in that long ten minutes -- it's a blood test that's sent to a lab and IT is the way to find out if the disease is in the marrow. You probably need, and I know this can be daunting, to find a vet who is more knowledgeable about FeLV. If yours is willing to learn, that's good but with an already sick kitty you probably need someone who's up to speed now.
Here's the mini-drill: lots of love, keep stress levels low, give good food (Iams is pretty good, but there are better ones you can get at the pet shop) with meat as the FIRST ingredient in the list and low on grains. You can give the supplement L-Lysine (from the health food store, not the human stuff from the drugstore, which has bad additives). Your vet may be talking about immunoregulin, which has been a big help to some kitties on this list. Probably you need to reassess Spazzy's condition once the runnies are under control. If he bounces back from that after the Clav, you'll have a better idea of his overall health. It may be that it's just a passing cold not directly related to the FeLV, in which case he may be around for quite a while. Or it could be that he's gotten to the really-sick stage and there may not be much you can do. (That's how it was with my Patches, a stray we brought in who crashed within 6 weeks). In that case, by bringing him in you are giving him the great kindness of a safe and loving place to be for however long rather than out on his own. Bless you for caring for him. Diane R. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brenda Waterson Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 2:13 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Stray Kitty I took in tests positive Hello, I recently took in a stray cat that had been hanging around my neighborhood for some time. He's such a nice boy and I had been feeding him for a few months before I took him in. What made me take him in was he became very sick with an upper respiratory infection and I had just felt so bad because the mucous that was coming from his nose was green, not too mention he was having a hard time breathing. I took him to my Vet who said he was a very sick kitty, he was close to pneumonia treated him with antibiotics and sent us home. I was to follow up with vaccinations and a neuter. He did finish his course of antibiotics, and days after I went on a family vacation for 10 days. My pet sitter stopped by daily to feed my animals, and walk the dogs. I received a call from the pet sitter stating she was sorry but the cat (Spazzy) had ran past her when she was taking the dogs out. I told her not to worry just try calling him and he should come back. Well that went on for days and no Spazzy. When I finally got home from vacation I was worried about him because he had been gone for about a week, I looked around the neighborhood but couldn't find him. Well about a month and a half had passed one morning while I was heading out the door to work, he was sitting at my back door. I was happy to see him, but was concerned because it seemed his upper respiratory infection was back. I brought him in the house, feed and watered him and off to work I went. I called my Vet who was booked for the weekend and couldn't see him until Monday. I was too concerned to wait so I figured it would be best to see a different Vet. Well Mr. Houdini as I like to call him (Spazzy) had gotten out. I was heartbroken and worried because he was sick . I again searched the neighborhood for him but had no luck at finding him. About a week had passed and I spotted him while I was walking my dogs. I was able to grab him, brought him back home and called the Vet. I took him in the following morning but seen a different Vet at the practice. Dr. McGinn had said he was sick but she wanted to check for Feline Leukemia because where he was treated not that long ago chances are he probably did have it. Not too mention he also had ulcers in his mouth which she stated is common for cats with feline L. Well those 10 minutes were very long just waiting, I hoped and prayed it was negative but it turned out he was positive. He was seen 10/13/08 was treated with Amoxi drops, twice a day until gone. Initially he seemed to be getting better, but a week and a half after I noticed he was sneezing but this time no mucous was visible just blood. I called the Vet's office once they opened, I had explained what was going on and was told Dr. McGinn would call me back by the end of the day. She did return my call and said she's changing his antibiotic to something stronger. She put him on Clavimox drops twice a day until gone. She also stated there are new meds for cats with feline L. but she would need to research it more before she would start using it at her practice. Have any of you heard of or maybe your cat is currently using this new medication? I guess it helps build the immune system. He started the Clavimox drop Saturday 10/26/08 and he seems to be doing better now, no drainage from his eyes, no sneezing blood, but still sounds very stuffy. Have any of you experienced these types of symptoms with your cats? He's gaining weight and thriving but from my understanding they can take a turn for the worse at any given time. Also once he's better she wants him to get his vaccines, however with a compromised immune system will the vaccine's harm him? Dr. McGinn seems to be a very caring Vet, but she doesn't seem to know too much about Feline L. I have done some research on the Internet and found that the Elisa test can sometimes produce a false positive, and it can tell what stage the feline L is at. I guess the preliminary stage (1) is where the cat has come in contact with it, but it's immune system is trying to fight off the disease. The secondary stage (2) is yes the cat does have it, it's gone past the cat's immune system fighting the disease and has moved into the cats bone marrow. Well Dr. McGinn stated the only way to find that out is by doing a bone marrow biopsy. The different websites I've viewed never stated that just that the Elisa test was able to determine what stage the cat was at. Have any of you ever heard of such a thing? At this point I don't know if I should keep trying to treat the sickness every time they appear, or if I should end all suffering for Spazzy and have him euthanized. I don't want him to suffer, and I feel by my keeping him around is being selfish because I love him. Is there anything I can do to help boost his immune system? The Vet recommended feeding him Iam's which he is now on. But is there something more I can do for him? I'm sorry this is such a long email but I thought it was best to start from the beginning so everyone could see the whole picture. _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org This electronic mail transmission and any attachments are confidential and may be privileged. 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