Dear Cherie... I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear about what happened to your daughter, and after going through that kind of personal hell, I can understand why the manner in which Snowball passed was particularly excruciating for you. Her symptoms were not typical of what happens to kittys with FeLV, however. I've never heard of another FeLV kitty who had such a bleeding anomaly, but my experience with FeLV is not extensive.
No matter what the illness, when you are in the middle of having to deal with a terminal situation, it is the WORST. I guess I was just trying to put things in perspective...whenever you think your situation seems unbearable, if you will but look a little further you can find someone else whose situation is a lot worse than your own. I am sure the people who experienced the torrential rains and mudslide in La Conchita, CA would tell you that was the worst possible experience to endure, but just two weeks before could be thankful they weren't vacationing in Thailand or Sri Lanka. Someone else mentioned that their idea of the WORST was feline distemper (Panleukopenia), which has got to be one of the most horrible ways I have ever witnessed for a cat to die, with the excruciatingly painful crouching over the water bowl yet unable to drink, the vomiting of frothy yellow bile and the horrible bloody end-stage diarrhea that smells like something dead...the poor cat is literally shedding the lining of its intestines. Dogs with parvo go through similar torture and have that same awful smell. Both are corona viruses. As it is most devastating for young kittens and takes them out so quickly, at least death usually comes quickly for them. But the afflicted dogs and cats are in obvious agony while it is ravaging their bodies. I've only managed to save one kitten, at 10 weeks, from that horrid virus. With aggressive hospital treatment, the odds are somewhat better, I understand, though still not good. Thankfully the vaccine for the P-virus is effective and relatively safe, especially if administered in a single valent dose, and it is much less common than it once was. But it is easily transmitted and hard to eradicate, so if it breaks out in a shelter or unprotected multicat environment, it can wreak untold havoc and rapidly. I wasn't saying FeLV isn't an absolute nightmare, or that FIP was THE worst virus of all time, I was just saying that having dealt with FeLV and seen someone else and their kittys suffering through FIP and the frustration of there not being a test and no way to tell what you are dealing with in the early stages, worrying about just how contagious it really is, with the vaccine considered neither safe nor reliable, I'd choose dealing with FeLV over FIP. I've been there and done that and lost two precious furkids and my heart still aches, but I've also been on the other end with a miracle baby clearing the virus. And many kittys, for whatever reason, are lucky enough to become infected with FeLV and the virus never mutates to one of its more virulent forms and they go on to lead relatively normal lives for years. Most vets consider FIP to be 100% fatal, however. I've read that some holistic vets claim to have saved some cats from FIP if diagnosed early on, but still admit there is no way of knowing if the cat has truly been cured, or if it remains a carrier of the virus because there is no reliable testing for either the active virus or its latent state. You have to do a necropsy on a dead cat to know for certain. The testing we have for FeLV does seem to have its vagaries, but it is less of a crapshoot than for FIP. Guess I should have kept my philosophical musings to myself...I did not mean to stir up painful memories for others or start a debate. My apologies. I agree that all the serious viruses which can kill our beloved furkids are something we wish no one had to deal with. I, for one, am looking forward to pigging out on cheesecake with the rest of you before I cross over to be reunited with my furkids who have become angels. Sally in San Jose Sally in San Jose Certainly
