My condolences on your loss of Yang.
You just have to take it one day at a time with Merlot, and savor each
day of good health. Survival time seems to be such a roll of the dice
with FeLV. I lost FeLV+ Milkdud in May, after 4.5 good years. His
buddy Harley is still with me after 3.5 years, but he is lonesome for
his friend.
I don't think probiotics would be helpful for a FeLV+ cat. Feed the
highest quality diet you can afford, avoiding grains like corn on the
ingredients list. I personally would not feed a raw meat diet to a cat
with a disease that compromises their immune system.
For symptom-free Harley, I am currently giving a few drops of Vetri-DMG
in his canned food, and a VitaChews multivitamin. I am looking at other
possibilites also, but didn't want to throw too much at him at once. He
appeared to have the beginnings of stomatitis at his last checkup, but
it hasn't bothered him - he eats with no discomfort. He will have a
3-month follow-up, and if there has been progression, I will be looking
at importing Virbagen Omega. My vet conferred with others through the
Veterinary Information Network, and looked at informational material I
gave him, and didn't feel it would be beneficial at this time.
Marsha
On 7/24/2014 2:12 PM, Maya D'Alessio wrote:
Hello everyone,
My cat Merlot, just tested positive for FeLV yesterday afternoon. We
had him tested, because my three year old cat Yang (female) started
acting ill at the end of June, the next morning I took her in to the
vets and we discovered she was anemic, jaundiced and had a high fever.
They checked her blood levels and found she was anemic (about 13, vs
26 in a healthy cat). She stayed at the vet during the day and her
blood levels didn't get any worse, and our vet was optimistic. They
transferred her over to the emergency clinic which was open all
evening and in to the weekend. They monitored her overnight and her
red blood cells decreased, her fever lowered but she went past normal
to too cold. That morning the blood tests came back and she was
positive for FeLV. We were shocked. Even worse was that her detailed
blood work showed no uptick in blood cell production, where she should
have increased production, she actually had almost no production. We
then got to see her before we had to put her down. That was the
hardest day of my life.
Now, with Merlot testing positive I am terrified of losing him so
quickly, and I am still grieving for Yang. I know the statistics are
not great for long term prognosis, but he is currently healthy (just a
tiny bit of gingivitis - we are going to start brushing his teeth).
What can I do to keep him healthy? How do I live with him everyday
without starting to grieve him already? I know we all are going to
die someday, but this just feels like it is going to hang over me. I
am still doing reading on the disease and newer treatments and such,
but do these all start after the cat becomes noticeably ill, or are
there things I can be doing now to help keep him healthy? Are
probiotics helpful in this case?
For those who have or have had a healthy FeLV cat, how long did they
stay healthy for?
--
Maya D'Alessio
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