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If my cat has had the vaccination for FeLV,
do I still need to worry?
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Yes. The virus can often remain hidden. Kittens seem to be at the highest risk for harboring the virus. The virus might remain hidden for years, or it might never surface. In our case, we are certain that the litter of kittens we took in was infected from their mother. At this time, 3 of the kittens are now dead, one is still alive in our house and has tested negative. The last cat we have lost track of. |
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If my cat tests negative, do I still need
to have him tested each year?
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Yes! See above. The virus can remain hidden for a varied
amount of time. Before your cat receives the booster shot the vet
needs to run the FeLV test. Our new vet has this as her policy.
No cat receives the booster shot until they are tested.
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Is there any treatment for cats infected
with feline leukemia virus?
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There is no cure at the present time, but some cats do live many
years after infection has been diagnosed. Some preliminary work with AZT
suggests that if treatment is started within two to three weeks of exposure,
persistent infection can be prevented. Other treatments with some success
include interferon, immune stimulants and acemannan (a derivative of aloe).
Cats with solid tumors are more responsive to standard cancer therapies.
Finally, antibiotics and other drugs are often used to treat infections
and infestations that are secondary to the viral infection.
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What about natural treatments?
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Acemannan is the functioning antiviral agent derived from aloe.
For some reason, the FDA does not classify aloe and derivatives as drugs,
when they are among the most ancient of all drugs. So they don't
regulate it, and you have to be careful which aloe products you buy for
which purposes.
Certified, unpasteurized 99.7% aloe vera juice from whole leaves is available from: Aloe Farms
We were able to buy this at our local health food store. I
used the aloe as the base for a health and medicine cocktail for Tamlin.
He was very adverse to taking his antibiotic pill, so I crushed it into
a fine dust. Into this I also added a little of each of the following:
Vitamin B12, Milk Thistle, Coenzyme Q-10 and a little bit of Valarium which
cats love for taste. Then I diluted this mixture with aloe and used
a syringe to dribble the liquid into Tamlin's mouth. Before I started
using this method we were all covered in bloody scars from trying to get
him to swallow a pill. If he had not failed so fast, I was also going
to buy fresh catnip and brew some special catnip tea to add in as
a treat.
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Weren't you afraid to try these natural
treatments?
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I discussed natural treatments with our new vet. She had a
very positive attitude towards these natural treatments in addition to
antibiotics and interferon. The Milk Thistle and Coenzyme Q-10 are
good for the liver and the blood, and the Vitamin B12 is good for energy
and also stimulates appetite. The Valarium was a new one for her,
but it's used to help people cope with stress and cats just go nuts over
it. Reduction of stress is important for the sick cat.
To also aid the diet, there is a great supplement that you can ask
your vet about. It's called Nutri-Cal and comes in a tube.
It is a high calorie palatable dietary supplement in a low volume form.
If your pet is not eating well, you only need to give him 1 tablespoon
a day for every 10 pounds that the pet weighs. It's very easy to
use. You put some on your finger and stick it on the roof of the
pet's mouth. We saw an immediate difference in Tamlin when feeding
him this while he was refusing regular food. A cat with leukemia
needs to eat a very good diet high in fat. This is not the time to
be watching the cat's weight unless it's to watch for it to go up.
Most cats with leukemia lose weight.
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What about interferon?
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Experimental studies utilizing human recombinant interferon-alpha-2b
(IFNalpha-2b) alone or with zidovudine (AZT) to treat established feline
leukemia virus (FeLV) infection resulted in a significant reduction in
circulating virus throughout a 49-day treatment period.
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Isn't interferon very expensive?
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No. Veterinarians may order interferon alpha for low dose
oral therapy from:
Island Pharmacy ServicesGeneral Information, drice@islandpharmacy.com
1707 Highway 51
A 1 liter bottle of Interferon, enough for 5 cats for a year, costs
about US$100. It must be ordered by your vet.
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At what point is it important to start
interferon?
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As soon as your pet tests positive to FeLV. Do not wait until
your pet is in the middle of a full-blown crisis and it's health is very
bad. For interferon to be effective it needs to be started as soon
as the cat tests positive. Tamlin never did get out of crisis, so
he was not able to begin the interferon treatments. The vet that
we had when Tamlin was first diagnosed did not believe in using interferon.
I was told that it was too expensive and they wouldn't do it. Then
I did some research and found out that is wasn't expensive. The second
thing I did was to find a new vet, but by then it was too late. Do
not be afraid to search for a vet that is agressive in fighting this disease.
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How contagious is FeLV?
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Very! One cat only has to hiss at another cat to spread the
disease. This is not like having feline aids which is much harder
to pass to another cat and usually requires a transfer of blood or saliva.
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Weren't you afraid to take Tamlin home
then?
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I flat out told the old vet that I wasn't going to do what he said
most of his other clients would do. I was not putting Tamlin to
sleep. He had been living with all the other cats in our household
since he was 3 weeks old. From all my research, it became evident
that he always had the leukemia virus since he had received his vaccination
when he was only about 8 weeks old. All the cat's shots were up to
date, so why would I worry at this point in time? The damage had
already been done. Further reading also educated us that an infected
cat sheds more of the virus before he becomes very ill with the disease.
Am I stating that everyone should do what we did? Make the choices that we did? No. If you have any doubts at all, then make sure the infected cat is separated from the others. I personally didn't see any point in it since they had all been living so closely together for the past 2 and a half years. In fact, we were assured that probably the other cats were positive. We spent the week after Tamlin died taking all the other cats in to be retested and receive booster shots. All the other cats tested negative. Tamlin's brother Marble tested negative. He may be one of the lucky kittens from that litter that developed a natural immunity to the disease. Pepper was the cat who always took care of Tamlin. Right up until the end, Pepper was busy watching over Tamlin and cleaning him up. Pepper also tested negative. But listen to this: We will continue to have all our cats tested once a year and given their booster shots! The bottom line is that every household is different. You have
to know all the facts, understand all the dangers and formulate a plan
that works best for you and your household.
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More important information on herbal medications: |
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| Another advantage offered by herbal medications is in
their unique actions. Until medical science can fully investigate the "miracles"
attributed to herbs touted as anti-cancer and anti-viral agents, we can
state with some caution that herbs are available to treat conditions against
which conventional medicine is currently helpless. We have only a few safe,
effective immune-stimulants in the conventional world, for example, but
studies have shown that herbs such as echinacea, astragalus, ginseng, and
many others have immune-stimulating effects.
Unfortunately, veterinary herbal medicine has a long way to go before the doses and protocols are formalized. Very mild herbs, such as raspberry for smooth pregnancies, milk thistle for hepatitis, and echinacea for immune stimulation, have been used without side effects for many years. Herbal medicine has a broad range of uses. Certain plants contain antimicrobial, anti-cancer, and immune modulating activities not found in our current drug arsenal. In addition, plants (like fruits and vegetables) contain a variety of unexplained nutritional factors which nourish and strengthen ("tonify") the body. Herbal tonics, then, offer a strengthening effect which simply isn't considered an aspect of disease treatment by modern, scientific medicine. Herbal medicine offers unique and powerful actions against diseases
that are sometimes intractable by conventional methods. In addition, herbal
medicine can tonify body systems to help fight disease. Because of these
powers, herbal medicine should be considered in most cases of ill health.
As with any drug, there are contraindications and toxicity problems that
should be considered according to the patient's condition. An experienced
herbal prescriber can be invaluable for the pet with medical problems of
almost any sort.
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