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starting the battle with FeLV

2038 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  heatherhunny
i hope i am putting this in the right place. in my introduction "looking for some support" i began telling that my cat Abigail was recently diagnosed with FeLV. i figured i would wait on the details leading up to her diagnosis til i could post here. about a year ago Abby starting having health problems. the first was an abscess in/near her mouth. she wouldn't let the vet near her mouth so he just gave her an antibiotic. when the abscess went away i noticed a tooth missing. i really didn't think much of it, just thought her and one of the other cats were rough housing and it broke. sometime later came the eye problem. runny with crust. vet gave her eye drops. the first set didn't work so he gave her a different brand, it worked for a little while then stopped. a few months later she had a seizure. vet told me not to worry as cats may randomly have a seizure then never have them again. after the seizure i noticed she started having trouble swallowing and sounded congested. we go again to the vet he said she had an upper respiratory problem and confirmed that she had lost almost all of her teeth. so we started her on an antibiotic again. once the antibiotic was gone she was still congested. went back to the vet to pick up another round this time was given cephalexin. she then got a severe case of diarrhea. i stopped the antiboitic and she seemed ok for a few days then i noticed she hadn't been eating or drinking for 2 days and just spent all her time hiding. the evening of the second day i brought her out and seen her sides were sunken in and she lost about half her body weight. that was it. i took her to the vet first thing the next morning and we got to see the head vet. he's usually not there as he is mostly out on house calls for livestock. i told him i felt we were treating symptoms but not the problem. he did a full blood work up and said she had FeLV and that her white cell count was triple what it should be. we started her on an immune therapy. she will get 3 more shots over the next 3 weeks and she is back on an antibiotic. Friday night she did eat (very little) and drink, but then went back to her spot. Saturday night she came out, ate, drank and even hung around for some lovins then went right back to her spot. the vet also gave us a gel called nurti-cal he said if push comes to shove a cat can live off that alone. i have been trying to give it to her but she has put up a fight every time i try. i see that as a good thing cause as long as she's fighting me over that, she'll fight whatever problem comes along. on a side note the vet also said she's borderline diabetic. which i blame my hubby for, because he'll feed her whatever she wants. Abby loves maple syrup and he'll let her lick his plate after he's done. hopefully we can get her over this hump and get her back on track.
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Your kitty seems to be in advanced stages of FeLv. You need to consider her quality of life. I know this is a heart breaking decision. There is a quality of life assesment on Haleys Angels website. Go thru this and answer the questions to see if she is ready to transition to the other side.

Hayley's Angels

Dr L comes to your home to euthanize which is so peaceful. Her book is wonderful "Animal Teachings, from Hayley's Angels Methods".

Another great book is Animals and the Afterlife: True Stories of Our Best Friends' Journey Beyond Death by Kim Sheridan. I found this book in a used book store and it changed my life views. I do TNR and rescue and face making decission about putting cats down more than I ever wanted to. Ill do anything to save a cat. This book brought me peace when they leave us, it isnt the end.

I can tell you deeply care about your cat. She is depending on you to stop her suffering when it gets too bad and she is spiraling downward with this disease. I will be facing this soon. My sister and I have a FeLv positive cat. I know youll do the right thing for your companion.
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our family has discussed this and we know when it comes down to it we will do what is right by her. she has already come out today and ate. i have been monitoring how much she eats and she has been eating a little more each day. we are going to continue the treatments, change her diet and see where to go from there.
i will check out that website and try to find those books. i have had to let a kitty friend of mine go before, but it still hurts just the same. i have been on an emotional roller coaster for the past couple of days.
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