Feline Luekemia

What was/is your experience with Fel Luek?

I lost Leo in April to this and it was horrible.

He was 3.5 years old, he had so much life to do.

How old is your FL cat? When was he/she diagnosed?

How did you know? What treatment do you do?

For those who lost yours, what was your experience?

How sick was your cat?

What did you do to make things easier on your cat?

I lost my own dear Leo to FeLeuk about 7 years ago. My sister gave me a kitten that had it, Leo made friends with him and contracted it from him. The kitten did not live but a few months before he became too ill to have any quality of life, so he had to be sent to the Bridge. Leo lived normally for 4 more years, no symptoms, a very happy, spoiled, and loved kitty. His symptoms came on suddenly one morning, throwing up green stuff and lying in the shower panting, so we took him to the emergency vet. He could have had a few more weeks with us, constantly on meds and possibly in pain, but we made the hard decision to let him go then. He was a whopping 22 lbs for most of his adult life, but had lost down to 17 lbs, almost overnight. If i had seen it, I would have taken him in sooner, but i really do not think it would have prolonged his life.
I am so sorry for your loss, I know how hard it is to lose a beloved baby to this awful disease.

I've had FeLV in my household and in a feral colony that I tended. When they contract it at birth, you will lose them very young. If they contract it as an adult, it all depends on how generally healthy they were when they got it. A member here has a household of FeLV positive cats and adopts them purposely to give them a chance at a good life. She will have the best information to answer your question.

But I do need to ask you a question back and I don't know any way to ask it without being blunt. Losing a cat to FeLV (or any illness for that matter) is devastating. If Leo has been gone since April, why question this now? You sound so very sad still, and if you are still trying to find a way to work through your grief, what can we do to help? I'm not sure that by answering your questions the way that you asked them will help you now.

Hi

I'm the member Momofmany spoke of
What was/is your experience with Fel Luek?
I have adopted FeLV+ babies exclusively for about 10 years now

I lost Leo in April to this and it was horrible.

He was 3.5 years old, he had so much life to do.
I am so very sorry

How old is your FL cat? When was he/she diagnosed?
I have 12 right now ranging and all range in age from about 2 to 4

How did you know? What treatment do you do?
I have a couple contacts that would call me if a cat tested positive. I do not do any treatment other than be vigilant about getting them on anti-biotics when sick

For those who lost yours, what was your experience?
I've lost many, many kitties to FeLV, some were very quick, others were not and had to be helped over the bridge. I loved every single one of my cats whether they were here a couple years or mere months and it was very sad

especially the kittens I've lost

How sick was your cat?
After all this time I have a sense when the leukemia has come to claim another. I try to make peace with it and let the kitty know how very loved they are, most have a fairly peaceful passing

What did you do to make things easier on your cat?
I used to feed my cats a fairly decent food, now they are on scrip food

but other than that they were just normal cats doing normal cat things


I know a lot of people could not do what I do and I admit there are days when I wish I wasn't a FeLV owner, but I like to think that I give these cats a loving home for whatever time they have and in return I am gifted with the most incredibly loving cats on earth. It sucks big time when they pass, but I take comfort in that I gave them a good life instead of the alternative

If you have any questions or jsut want to talk, please feel free to PM me

Hi Katiemae! Thank you for you post and a big thank you for doing what you do for the kitties that many would never think to care for.

YOU ARE MY HERO !!!!!!

What is Scrip food? I am thinking it is a bit icky? What does it do? Maintain healthy ammume system etc?

Hi Momofmany - Yes, I am still very sad and miss Leo very much, every day to be exact. I asked my questions because chances are my other 3 cats will come down with it at some point. 2 Girls are Leo's sisters (who were all tested as babies, are indoor cats and Leo came down with it later anyway) and I have a tiger cat that was Leo's playmate, he is a "brother from another mother"

Leo got sick all in a 2 week span. Went to the vet every other day for 2 weeks, tons of anti-biotics, I even gave Bayrol (sp?) injections which I think eventually wore down his kidneys, out of no where he was extreamly animic, he turned yellow, started panting and crying, horrible really.

I wanted to hear other people's experiences because I cannot fathom going through it again. If their symptoms are all different that's one thing but if they all go through what Leo went through well then OMG, I don't know how Katie handles it.

It is comforting to know the older the cat the better chance of more of a "normal' life they will get when diagnosed.

I think I am using this topic as my own therapy/healing and what better place to do it then with a bunch of you here who love our cats all the same. I feel like if I knew he was positive from the start I would have done things differently for him as far as different foods etc.

He had BAD gingivitis which I occasionally would give him antibiotics for but when it cleared up I stopped and then started again in bad times. I was told by my vet that gingivitis is a sign of FL... but why didn't he tell me that the numerous times before?

I think I am just sad. Leo Gump was one of those cats you don't come across often. He was found with his sisters in an abandoned barn at 5 weeks old. I am thankful to have loved and lost then to never love at all. He would have been dead at 5 weeks old if I didn't trap him and his family.

Thanks everyone for listening!

scrip food is prescription food- I have one kitty that has crystal issues and my feeding system is that everyone is free fed, so they all eat it. The food is crap but it works on the crystals, so that is what they eat!

Mtbee, I just wanted to say I am so sorry for your loss and I hope your other kitties stay healthy. Katiemae I also wanted to say how touched I am about what you do for these sick kitties that would not have any chance at life if you did not have such a big heart, you are very special person! Jenn