Aww Kris-I am so sorry you are going through this and we all have to meet here-Avis' numbers are so similar to Murphy's in July. I am so glad your little terrier has found his soulmate-LOL I'll try and remember the questions I tend to wander: Interferon-we had caught a litter of 5 wild little ferals, (Oct 2008 about 8 wks old) all with snotty faces, some had eyes glued shut with yellow mucous, one had sores inside his mouth (calici virus?)-treated all for URIs, ear mites, fleas, ear and eye infections, worms-you name it-we got them all well after days and nights of taming, cuddling, washing snotty faces and scrubbing butts-original goal was to tame, neuter, vaccinate and adopt out the kitties. Got them their kitten shots-they looked nice and healthy-took them to be tested-all 5 positive. That vet kinda just stared at us and asked "what are you going to do with them?"-I said we just got them healthy-look at them, purring little fur balls-she said some people opted to euthanize FeLV+ cats and you don't want them around non FeLV cats.......well, I didn't know about the disease-we went home and rather than adopt them out and take a chance they be let outdoors, kept them-I guess I showed her LOL. Got them all neutered. We found a nice vet clinic-cats only and got them on the Interferon when they were about 4-5 months old. It was 1cc once a day. With their bad immune systems, someone was always sick-we had a constant prescription for Zithromax at the Walmart pharmacy-we'd get the bigger bottle and add our own water at home so we could mix up 1/2 at a time as needed-the kittens got really used to the strawberry flavor! Then we found Murphy in with the feral colony the kittens came from-he was such a sweet kitty-fluffy tuxedo with all those toes! 7 on the fronts, he looked like he was wearing ov-gloves. Unfortunately we left him there while we posted photo ads in the paper and on-line-surely someone was missing him-a month, not one call. We decided to take him to clinic and get neutered and vaccinated to adopt out-we got the call, he was positive and they were going to euthanize him unless I wanted to add him to my gang. So being Murphy's law-he got a name! The 4 brothers died a month apart, beginning when Buster was 8 months old-the anemia hits so fast. One day he was playing hard-somersaults, running-2 days later he was at the vet with PCV of 8. The second one, Jack we rushed to UC Davis in the middle of the night-we opted to try a transfusion-he had a bad reaction during the procedure, we told them to stop and let him go to his brother. You know, we took the remaining 4 to UC Davis, thinking they would be more advanced and have something great to treat them-got all the blood work done and exams. Nothing more to tell us than we had already been learning. I was so desperate to find help.Then Oni, he became anemic and died at home in my son's arms-horrible.The last was almost a year old when he became anemic-had trouble breathing and was crying out-he went to Davis at midnight, when they gave him the shot, fluid bubbled out of his nose. Anemia seems to hit so darn quickly. That was Aug 09. After finding some articles on line regarding the peak anti viral qualities of Interferon (Alpha) not lasting 24 hours, we discussed with our vet the 2x a day and she did not think it would hurt them. We found the articles on LTCI and took them to our vet and asked her to order it for us. She spoke with their vets and thought it may help boost their immune systems. We began in Sept 09 with once a week for a month, then every 2 weeks for a month, then monthly etc. We kept tabs on their CBCs and they seemed to be doing well, so I decided to go to 6 and 8 weeks on the injections. Then Murphy became anemic in July and he actually, 2 weeks after beginning the Procrit, stopped eating and moving-I was using a little syringe to give him canned AD and strained baby food (chicken and ham). I'd give him a syringe full (only 3cc) of water every half hour or so. On the 3rd or 4th day he became more alert and began to eat on his own but I'd still give him water now and then to keep him hydrated. It takes time to get the body working again-I do not know for sure how the Procrit (Epogen) works but I think the kidneys have a role in RBC production and it stimulates the kidneys to produce that element (a hormone?? I don't know) in case the kidneys have quit making it. He is not CRF as far as I know and the fact that we can reduce the Procrit so quickly seems to point to his kidneys functioning ok. This is a horrible disease-your babies can be sleek, shiny pictures of health and energy one day and be on death's door the next-I have never cried so much in my life....and I was not really a "cat person"...I guess I is one now! LOL. Rosie is now a year and 2 months-she is the survivor of the litter, a small sleek tabby-very hyper-busy and Murphy is about 2 months older-the polar opposite-mellow fluffball-likes to hang out and follow you from room to room, not a lap cat but wants to lay close and touch you with his big paw while he sleeps. I just don't want to lose these 2. You gotta try and treat the anemia fast-it takes time to get it to reverse. The other stuff I don't know anything about. You can see my kids in my facebook photo album-LOL-Farmville-aholic _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
