leukemia

my vet told me that my cat has Felv. he gave me some antibiotics for my cat and said my cat will probablly die within a few weeks. what kinds of things will happen to my baby as he is dying? will he be in pain? will he hurt if i hold him? how long will it take for my cat to die? does my cat know that he is dying? does he know that i am sad? is my cat sad?
are there any foods i can feed my cat that will boost his energy level and give him the strength to fight?

All i can say is dont give up hope. Is he showing signs of being sick? I had a cat with it and she lived to be 2 years we didnt know at that time that she even had it. The vet said that she prob had it since birth.

I don't have any answers for you, but I am sorry to hear about the leukemia

we took him to the vet on monday and he came home yesterday (thursday) the vet said his red and white blood cells are very low and he's already started to lose weight that was my first clue that he was sick. we could see his ribs.

What kind of test did the vet run? If it was the Elisa test (sometimes called the stick test), that test does not conclusively prove that a cat has FeLV. If all your vet did was draw a little blood and drop it into a plastic device with dots on it, that is the Elisa test.

When a cat is exposed to FeLV, their body will try to fight off the virus. During that time, they will show positive on an Elisa test. Many cats are very sick at this time as they are fighting a virus in their system. But if your cat was vaccinated against it, about 90% of the cats will ultimately fight off the virus. If unvaccinated, the odds go down (I believe) to about 50%.

If the cat cannot fight off the virus, then the full disease enters their blood stream. The only test the positively confirms full blown FeLV disease is called the IFA test. The test requires a vial of blood and most vets don't have the lab to run the test so they send it off to a lab.

So Elisa indicates exposure, IFA indicates full blown FeLV. You might want to call your vet and confirm what test he ran and before you make any decisions about him, ask for the IFA test. My last vet had never run one before and many vets (unfortunately) diagnose the disease after the Elisa test.

Verify with your vet about changing foods for him right now. In my house, I will give my cats a high quality food that they like that will encourage them to eat. If he truly has the disease and is that far along, he will become lethargic and he won't want to eat. He might get very clingy to you and will want to be held and cuddled as much as possible. I have discovered over the years that they will tell you when they have had enough, and one major sign is when they simply refuse to eat. Some otherwise social cats will find a dark quiet place to hide in. Every cat is different and there aren't any clear answers for you.

If it hasn't been run already, please ask for the IFA test to prove this one way or the other. And let us know how things are going, OK?

well our vet did both tests. he recomended we have the test done again in a few weeks. thank your for the info. the vet said the stick test showed a light positve and the one from the lab said he was negitve but the vet cant figure out why his blood cells are down so low and how come he is losing so much weight. we took him in because he had lost too much weight and he was really dehydrated they put him on an iv to rehydrate him. the medications he is on are prednisolone and excenel injectable this is the antibiotic.
thanks for the info though. i just want to make sure he is as comfortable as can be.

Originally Posted by kittycatlover20

well our vet did both tests. he recomended we have the test done again in a few weeks. thank your for the info. the vet said the stick test showed a light positve and the one from the lab said he was negitve but the vet cant figure out why his blood cells are down so low and how come he is losing so much weight. we took him in because he had lost too much weight and he was really dehydrated they put him on an iv to rehydrate him. the medications he is on are prednisolone and excenel injectable this is the antibiotic.
thanks for the info though. i just want to make sure he is as comfortable as can be.

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If the Elisa was light positive and the IFA negative, that tells me he is in the stage where his body is trying really hard to fight off the virus. I honestly don't know how extreme the effect would be on his blood counts, but it can affect them. The process to fight off the virus typically occurs in under 2 months which is why your vet wants to rerun the tests.

I'm so sorry you are going through this. I've been where you are and it really stinks. I'm a firm believer of the "Love and Cheese Danish" treatment with animals that are terminal or highly stressed. Give them all the love they need and give them whatever they want to eat (as long as it is healthy). Spoil them rotten. My cancer dog was given 30 days to live and lasted 18 months on this treatment. She was loving life too much to leave it.

You can PM katiemae1277. She rescues FeLV+ kitties & has tons of info. She won't be on until Monday, though, I think. Last I heard no computer at home!

thanks so much... u guys are lots of help

My kitty becme very clingy, and wanted to be held. He was a large boy, so he could sit in my lap, facing me, and lay his head on my chest. He really did not have many symptoms until right at the end, then he became nauseated at the smell of food. Our vet said he could have lived a little longer with meds, but we chose not to let him suffer those last weeks. I am so sorry this is happening to you and your kitty.

thank you so much. we have our cat on meds and he seems ok but i have a miserable existance anyhow so i am basically preparing for the worst. these cats are my whole life. they call me the crazy cat lady.. my cats make me somewhat normal. i will be crazy when they die. i am going to guess then since your cat got clingly he knew he was dying then. all my kitty does is sleep now. he still eats. we bring him his food so he doesnt have to get up as much. he still gets up for water and to eat a little bit he sometimes just stares at the foo dish like hes forgotten how to eat. how long did it take for your kitty to get really bad after you found out he was sick?

It took him almost 2 years to become sick after he was diagnosed. He was a huge boy at 22 lbs, and was still at 17 when he passed. He didn't even seem sick until the day before he died, he just changed his personality and became really clingy for a few weeks. My heart just aches for both of you.

omg i am so sorry for your loss as well. i have only ever experianced another cat loss i was i think 11 or 10 and my mom found this little guy clinging to our screen door. it was raining very hard and this kitty was soaking wet some mom brought him in and few weeks later he had a seizure and he kept having them and it turned out he had a serious liver problem. we had the surgery done. i believe it costed 2000 dollars. but we had to have him put down because he was still having seizures. mom and dad had him put down while i was visiting a friend. i was devistated. i remember i had the top gun sound track LOL and the second song on the tape was take my breath away and everytime i hear that song i cried. well i hope that our kitty holds on a while longer. Thank you for sharing with me. hugs and kisses

I'm so sorry to hear your little kitty is so sick.

Do you have other cats in the house? I should go back at reread the posts. If so have they been vacinated for it?