[Felvtalk] FeLV in Bone Marrow not in Blood
My 1 year kitten was diagnosed with FeLV back in Oct. She has never tested positive with either blood test, only with bone marrow aspiration after she got real sick at 20 weeks of age. As of now she is showing no signs of FeLV, just a low normal blood test. To look at her you would and the way she plays you would not even know she had FeLV. Questions are: Can a cat clear FeLV from the bone marrow? Could FeLV just stay in the bone marrow and never go to her blood? Can a cat expect to live a long life as long as the FeLV never moves from the bone marrow? If she stays well should we think about getting another bone marrow aspiration since the FeLV never been in the blood? Right now she on interferon 1 week on 1 week off. She off all other drug as she doing so well. Vet does not want to take her off the interferon ever. Thank you, Sharon ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] LTCI, and FELV Fevers and Treatments
Hi Andy, The Internet is getting smaller and smaller everyday. I have been reading your posts on 910 pets about Aggie. I guess when we get that bad news about our fur babies we head for the web to learn more. I so happy for you and Aggie that she doing well. Our vet has Kelsea on Alpha Interferon 7 days on then 7 day off. As of Tuesday her CBC are great. She also very playful and great appetite. She is gaining a little over a 1pound a month. Which is right on track for a kitten. Her attitude is awesome. All the vet tech at the veterinary hospital we bring her to here in MA love her. I been the Mass Veterinary Hospital so much that Kelsea that the vet and I are on first name basis . Since Aggie is asymptomatic does this meaning she still test postive for FeLV even thou she showing no other signs of FeLV. I have heard of some cats may test negtive after LTCI. Did Aggie FeLV show up in the bone marrow, or just the blood? Part of me wants to put her on LTCI now, but the other parts just wants to wait and see how she does. Like you said this won't continue on forever, but for now--everyday is a party with her. Take care, Sharon On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 2:29 PM, Andy Domek oxjake...@hotmail.com wrote: Re: :LTCH--I've had reasonable success with LTCI. If you do a search in the archives, you can read what I've written about my journey with my cat, Aggie. She's still kicking at 6 and a half years. I've had her on Alpha Interferon every day of her life, 1 cc every morning (and after she suffered a seizure of unknown cause, every morning and evening). She's also been on LTCI every two weeks since her WBC and neutrophils went downhill last Spring. Her bloodwork has rebounded nicely, and she is currently asymptomatic, and very playful with a fine appetite and attitude. I know this won't continue on forever, but for now--every day is a party with her. About the interferon, Aggie has been on it every day of her life from the time we adopted her. She had zero symptoms of anything FELV related until she developed adenocarcinoma of the salivary gland (cancer) at the age of 5. We had that removed in the Summer of 09, and as I mentioned above--she's still here. I think the Interferon may have played a role in keeping her healthy for so long. It isn't terribly expensive, at any rate. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Question about Interferon
Hi Brenda, At this time my kitten is tolerating the interferon. It is my understanding from my vet that some cats do have side effects with the interferon. When we put Kelsea on the interferon it was the right thing to do, she was very sick kitten. I have to say I am very glad I did. I'm not sure if I mention in pass emails that Kelsea is on the interferon for 7 days then off for the next 7 days, she only get 1 cc at night. Let me know what you decide to do. My thoughts are with you and Eden. Sharon On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 9:59 AM, brenda_osbou...@hotmail.com wrote: Many of you have said that you are using interferon to treat your FeLV cats and I'm trying to decide if we should start Eden on this as well. Nobody has mentioned any side effects from the treatment but I work with cancer patients and I've seen many patients treated with interferon and it is not well tolerated at all. In fact it is a treatment that is plagued with many serious side effects and in many cases the side effects are much worse then the symptoms of the patient's actual disease. So I'm wondering if the cats being treated are experiencing side effects or if the dose is so low in cats that the side effects aren't a problem. Thanks, Brenda ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] LTCI
Hi, I want to introduce myself and my very beautiful Ragdoll kitten Kelsea who tested positive for FeLV in the bone marrow ( I know it is not a good thing) . Kelsea was diagnose with FeLV about 8 weeks ago. Right now she is doing wonderful on the treatment plan her vet has her on, which includes Interferon, Atopic and a steroid. She was on dimethylgycine to build up her red blood cells, she has been off the dimethlgycine for about two weeks now. At this point all her all her blood work is normal. She is putting on weight; over 2 pounds since her diagnoses. To look at this little one you would not even know she was sick. : ) I’m hoping someone could let me know anything about LTCI. I’m not thinking about change Kelsea’s med now, since she is doing so well. I would just like a little more information on LTCI. i.e. what kind of success has it had in FeLV. I am also wondering what are the chances the FeLV will go into remission if it is in the bone marrow? Kelsea’s vet tell me that the chances are very low, but I just need to know if it has happen to anyone out there. Many Purrr to all, Kelsea and Sharon ( Kelsea’s Mom) ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Question on FeLV Treatments Fevers
Hi Brenda, I have a 7 month old kitten who is also 7 lbs. We started her on interferon right away as she is FeLV + in the bone marrow. When she was about 4.5 months she got real sick and her red blood count was 13. At that time we found out she was FeLV+. Our vet recommend interferon along with steroids. It has been about 8 weeks since she got sick and she gone from 4.7 lbs to 7.2 lbs.:) She happy and playing like you would expect a kitten to play. Got a call from her vet last night and her last round of blood work is great. I don't know how long that will last, but I think the interferon is helping for now. My kitten goes to be large vet hospital here in MA. The vet that handling my kitten case has been intouch with other vet hopital about my kitten, which make me feel good about the care my kitten is getting. The vet did tell us that interferon will not cure FeLV, but that cats on interferon do live longer than cats who are not on interferon. I don't know if this helps, but I thought I would share. Take care, Sharon On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 11:44 AM, brenda_osbou...@hotmail.com wrote: I introduced myself and my little FeLV girl Eden the other day. She'd had a couple of episodes of fever and anorexia last week. She was treated at my vet's office and was able to come home on Saturday. She's been doing pretty well but last night we noticed a big improvement in her. She was relaxing and cleaning herself rather then being curled up sleeping all the time. She looked so good and I was so happy to see her being pretty normal. I'm doing assisted feeding with her although she will eat small amounts of food on her own. And she is drinking pretty well too. The vet that treated Eden was not my regular vet as he was off last week but I had a chance to talk to him about Eden yesterday. He doesn't have much confidence in the current treatments for FeLV and said there are no studies that show that any of them offer any benefit. He said he's only had one person interested in doing interferon and it didn't do anything for their FeLV cat. He said he's willing to try it if I want to but I'm not sure if I should pursue it since Eden is now doing so well on her own. She is still on antibiotics. Her blood work showed low WBC and neutrophils but her red blood cells and hematocrit were normal so we know she's not anemic. We had an incident last night with one of our other cats that completely stressed Eden out and caused a bit of a set back. One of our other cats, who is completely crazy, just came out of nowhere and jumped Eden, knocking her over. Eden is a small cat, only 7 lbs, so it doesn't take much to knock her over. But she was not happy the rest of the evening and this morning seemed to wake up with a fever. But her attitude is still great, she ate for me this morning and as I left for work she was sitting in my husband's recliner just happily cleaning herself. She seems to have brief episodes of fever that seem to resolve on their own so I don't think I need to worry too much about those as long as she's still eating and drinking but I was curious if others see this in their FeLV cats too. It also seems that at least a few people have just automatically started treatment for their FeLV cats. Eden is young so we feel that she deserves every chance we can give her but I'm still on the fence about starting any treatment on her. Is there any general thoughts on when to start treatment or even if anyone should start treatments? Brenda ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
