re. Haunted by questions please help ?
Jenn, and others, appreciate all comments we are suffering thru bereavement, Thanks for asking more about our sweet Frodo; we are sure he was born with the virus. The haunting question is, and still looking for answers experiences and opinions : If a kitten is born with the virus, are they more likely to succumb at an early age ? Thanks Jenn for that observation that they often don't live past 3. We want to know the stats or general percentage of kittens treated with immuno regulin or whatever, to turn negative and not be contagious (or is that a separate question). We wish we had tested and treated, but we did not. He was a healthy, thriving cat til he suddenly became ill. He contracted a major bacterial infection from eating raw chicken neck, and coincidentally raw venison liver the same day. He had been totally happy and normal prior no infection or problem. Only symptom looking back was he was not as agile or fast, but we thought he was just not a kitten anymore. Because the vet acted like something else might be going on and seemed to want tons of tests and in hospital expense, it seemed bogus money grab; then, someone on a yahoo list not this one, said a culture and sensitivity was needed, but it was useless if the cat already started antibiotics. NOT true, and I believed the person and he didn't get the right antibiotic for several weeks. Meanwhile he wasn't eating. All along, we just thought it was an infection that he would overcome. GREAT regret. When he died, he also had toxoplasmosis, and we had an autopsy, he had hi grade lymphoblastic sarcoma in many places with lesions indicating it had been around before. The suggestion to us was he had the cancer before the campylobacter and stopped eating (he never ate on his own for his last 8 weeks) because of that. Other question PLEASE any opinion - is that type of scenario likely or was vet trying to make me feel better ? If we had treated the bacterial infection, I wonder if the cancer could have been tackled with chemo. Not that we had money, a ton of hospital expense went on credit cards, but it was in the end for nothing and subjected him to many antibiotics. Please help, but I want to know the truth and actual stats if anyone is aware. Lynne __ Find your next car at http://autos.yahoo.ca
Re: re. Haunted by questions please help ?
Hi Lynne, I'm so sorry for your sad loss. In reply to your first question, that's what I've been told - if they were born with the virus, they have less of a chance. My two who were born with the virus lived to 2.5-3 yrs of age. I wasn't giving them interferon. I have 5 FELV cats now, and two that I'm pretty sure were born with the virus. Been giving them low dose oral interferon daily since they were kittens. They're about 2 yrs now, so we'll see. Gloria On Nov 23, 2005, at 9:38 AM, Lynne Moquin wrote: Jenn, and others, appreciate all comments we are suffering thru bereavement, Thanks for asking more about our sweet Frodo; we are sure he was born with the virus. The haunting question is, and still looking for answers experiences and opinions : If a kitten is born with the virus, are they more likely to succumb at an early age ? Thanks Jenn for that observation that they often don't live past 3
Re: re. Haunted by questions please help ?
Lynne, I know this might be a lot to ask right now, but please stop feeling so guilty. Every single person here looks at some aspect of the care they gave their furball before they passed away, and questions whether this or that should have been done instead of what was done. Or question their vet. Or the diet. You name it. But the bottom line is, you did all you could given the information and time you had. Keep in mind that you did nothing intentionally to harm your kitty. You did the best you could and we all know that desperate feeling of grasping at anything and everything that might help and hating ourselves for being ignorant when time was of the essence. Please don't torture yourself. That being said, I know what you are going through. I am coming to terms right now with the loss of my precious Cricket almost two weeks ago. We are our own worst critics. We are harder on ourselves than anyone else, and it's probably time that you started going a little easier on yourself. There are so many unanswered questions about FeLV. The vets don't know much either. Many of the questions you asked in your first post have no answers as of yet. I treated Cricket with ImmunoRegulin, but he was so anemic and only responded for a short time before he got too sick to eat and then died the day I had a feeding tube inserted as a last ditch effort to save him. It was a heartbreaking experience I will never forget. He was 4 and a half when he died. From what you said about your kitty, it sounds like he had the cancers pretty badly and all over. Treating the bacterial infection effectively MIGHT have bought him more time, but you had no guarantee of that. And yes, he MIGHT have responded to chemo, but you had no guarantee of that either. What you did know is that he had been dealing with cancer for some time. It might have just been his time. When I think about this concept, I think back to a beautiful girl, inside and out, that I went to high school with. She was 3 years younger than me, the head cheerleader at our high school, and was a precious human being. EVERYONE loved her. She was so sweet and friendly and just shining all the time. A truly priceless soul. She got into a car accident with three other girls one day on the way to practice. It was a sunny afternoon, and she spilled her drink while driving her Suzuki Samurai, and bent over to pick it up, and when she looked up, she was in another lane going head on with another car, and jerked the wheel and flipped the car. She was thrown from the vehicle, hit her head, and her parents eventually had to turn off the life support. It was such a tragedy in our small town. And the only thing that I can think of when I think back on her is that it was her time. Why else would God take such a beautiful soul from making everyone's life better here? And at such a young age? We can never know why the time comes for any of us or our loved ones or furballs, but it does. We don't know the inner-workings of Heaven and why things happen the way they do. The only comfort I have is the inner peace I have from God being there for me and holding me when I am weak. In my situation, second guessing myself helped me not to deal directly with the fact that my beloved Cricket was gone and was not coming back. And when I stopped (mostly), I had to accept the truth and just grieve in that way, instead of feeling guilty. I hope this helps you Lynne. And please forgive me if I have said anything to offend you. I do know how you are feeling. I just want to help in the best way I can. Prayers for you and your family. And I am SO sorry that you lost your kitty. :) Wendy __ Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page! http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
Re: re. Haunted by questions please help ?
Yes, kittens born with the virus are more likely to die at a younger age. 18 months seems to be the magic number for lots of them, I think many of us have lost several at that particular age, between 1 and 2 years old. As for the rest, I will leave others with more experience with cancer to answer that, my Moogie never got cancer. Jenn http://ucat.us http://ucat.us/domesticcatlinks.html Adopt a cat from UCAT rescue: http://ucat.us/adopt.html Adopt a FIV+ cat: http://ucat.us/AWrescue/FIV/ Adopt a FELV+ cat: http://ucat.us/FELVadopt.html ~~~ I collect KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil, a 3 yr old special needs cat who must live on a liquid diet for the rest of his life. Bazil's caretaker collects labels and sends them to KMR, where they add up until she earns a free can of formula! PLEASE save your KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil! If you use KMR, even just one can, please email me for the NEW address to send them to! ~ Does your cat have chronic diarrhea that does not respond to treatment, or has your cat been loosely diagnosed as IBD? Have you tested for Tritrichomonosis? The test is new, the new drug makes it curable. Ask me today how you can test for Trich! -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.6/179 - Release Date: 11/23/2005
