Chumley's (FIV+) Health Journal

Just so there's a record, and I figured having the info public does more good than just keeping it to myself.

History

Chumley turned up at the feral feeder in May. He was SO food aggressive, he drove the other ferals away. He didn't run when we went to put out food.

May 6, 2010. We trapped him and got him to the vet to be neutered. We couldn't release him because of the other ferals. We contacted the foster network to take him. Height of kitty season, they couldn't take him right away. We used a rented trailer parked next to our RV in which to foster him until they had space.

June 13, 2010. We got the call from the foster network they had space. Morning of the 14th, we took Chumley to the vet to drop him off for his FIV/ FeLV test and distemper vaccination. Foster network would pick him up from there.

Got a call from the vet - the foster network did NOT pick him up. He tested positive for FIV. We brought him back to the trailer, completely freaking out because we knew nothing about FIV. Thanks to the good people of TCS - especially eilcon - we got up to speed pretty quickly.

We were worried about his cat aggression, but began scent swapping right away.

June 26, 2010. Began bringing Chumley over here for limited, short introductions. Lengthened daily visits slowly.

July 17, 2010. Chumley came over for a full day and night - we never took him back to the trailer. He's now home, full time.


Health History

May 6, 2010. Neutered. Chumley also received his rabies vaccination and was treated for parasites (Revolution and Drontal).

"Puncture wounds and swelling noted on medial right forelimb - re-opened wound for drainage. Clipped and cleaned area. Gave cefovocin SQ."

Chumley weighed 10.1 pounds.

He had diarrhea from day one. We added pumpkin to his wet food, and started him on l-lysine immediately.

May 18, 2010. Chumley is LIMPING. Run to the vet. His right front leg was previously broken and never set, 70% restriction of motion in ankle. Probably jumped and landed on it wrong. He was given a pain injection (Metacam). Still has watery stool. Picked up Metronidazole and Centrine. Put him on boiled chicken and rice after fasting 24 hours.

May 21, 2010. Still diarrhea. Picked up more Centrine.

June 3, 2010. Stool sample tested negative for all parasites (including giardia).

June 3, 2010. Started Fortiflora probiotic - on it for two days. Turned what had become soft stools into diarrhea so watery the poor baby dripped outside the box.

June 5, 2010. More Centrine and Metronidazole. Fasted him 24 hours and put him on boiled chicken/rice diet for ... somewhere between 1 and 2 weeks.

June 10, 2010. Began acidophilus/bifidus probiotic combo. Worked up to 1 capsule sprinkled on food 2x daily (human dose). Worked. Chumley has soft, stinky stools, but no diarrhea.

June 24, 2010. Full blood work and Western Blot. Results of both: blood chemistry looks great, Western Blot indicates "transient positive" (meaning one of two tested FIV antibodies present).

July 1, 2010. Bumped L-lysine to 500mg/day. Stool became watery again. Reduced L-lysine.

July 3, 2010. Began giving Chumley Transfer Factor - added slowly to diet.

July 6, 2010. Stools "normal" for him (soft, but formed, very stinky). We've noticed Chumley seems to be very itchy. He bites his feet, itches his cheeks, and scratches his ears a lot. We switched him (not slowly) to Hill's z/d anti-allergan prescription food. Did get diarrhea, but resolved in less than a week.

July 8, 2010. Took Chumley to Tuxedo's vet. Chumley is "a very muscular guy." His blood chem "looks great." His missing fur patches are definitely an allergic reaction (did skin scraping). Had ear infection. Sent sample out for culture, but we treated it successfully with Animax ointment 2x/day for 1 week.

Chumley now weighs 12 pounds.

Itchy/scratchies did not resolve on z/d (which he was on for about 2 months). Also tried a grain free, but that gave him diarrhea again. Just put him on c/d which all of our other cats eat.

Mid-September. Tried to give Chumley benadryl. He foamed like crazy. Researched and switched him to zyrtec - human dose delivered 1/2 2x/day.

October 7, 2010. We'd contacted an animal communicator to help resolve a behavioral issue we were having with Sheldon towards Chumley. Shel's normally our ambassador, and he was clearly upset with Chum and being aggressive towards him. Chum was a very bitey kitty, and especially because of the FIV, this worried us. She did a great job (readings with both Shel and Chum over the next 3 weeks), and we're so thankful for her help! She also helped us identify brewer's rice as a trigger for Chumley's itchies, and on her advice we changed all soap and laundry soap to chemical-free, non-toxic, fragrance-free, dye-free. We additionally put out humidifiers. (Already have hepa filters).

October 16, 2010. It was suggested we try cold pressed, extra virgin, organic coconut oil made from fresh coconuts (as opposed to most coconut oils, which are made from chopra, e.g. dried coconut) to treat his allergies. It has antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, and antihistamine properties. I did begin introducing it to his diet, and he liked it and it didn't cause tummy problems. However, the issue of plant-based fats in cats was brought to my attention. I did a lot of research on it, and it seems that coconut oil is actually fine for cats - may even be healthy for them.* There is also a small study out of the Philippines that indicates it suppresses the viral load in HIV-infected people. So there were a lot of positives to potentially using coconut oil. But because I wasn't sure about it, I stopped its use with Chumley.

I did ask the new vet about it, and she wasn't familiar with it. She's going to do her own research, but wanted to stick with what she knows for now.

*For those wondering, the issue is that cats do not have the D6D (delta 6 desaturase) enzyme required via digestive process to convert ALA (alpha linolenic acid), a precurser to EPA and DHA. Dogs and cats naturally and directly metabolize EPA and DHA (essential fatty acids), but cannot metabolize ALA. Coconut oil is about 2% ALA. The concern is the effect on the liver over time. Cats can obtain EFAs from fat in meats, though fish oils (especially salmon oil or krill oil) have the needed Omega-3s (as opposed to the Omega 6s). If you want more info, feel free to PM me. Worth noting, most grain-free diets have flax seed in them. Flax seed oil has far more ALA than coconut oil, and lots of healthy EFAs. So if flax seed is provided as an alternative to grain, and cats are tolerating that, it seems to me coconut oil should be just fine. Coconut oil is a medium-chain saturated fat (MCT, medium chain triglyceride), and when MCTs were delivered in the form of Palm Oil, it was well tolerated by cats (Winn Feline Foundation reporting on study published in I forgot-which peer review animal medical journal). But they didn't study long term effects on kidney function, just whether they'll eat it.

We discontinued the zyrtec. It did not appear to be helping much.

October 31, 2010. Chumley now has small patches of what look like shaved spots on the inside of his forelegs and his entire abdomen has short hair - he's been nibbling at it, not licking it and thus not completely removing it, just "shaving" it.

November 4, 2010. Learned ingredients in z/d dry include Brewer's Rice, which is often an allergan. The c/d dry also has brewer's rice. Stopped ALL dry feeding for ALL cats, and moved to 4 meals of wet c/d per day.

By the time appointment for new vet (see below), hair on Chum's legs and abdomen growing back in a bit, but he's still very itchy/scratchy.

November 24, 2010. Initial visit to holistic DVM. Alternate med training includes Chinese Herbs, Western Herbs, Acupuncture, various energy healing methods, and nutrition. Chumley is extremely Yin deficient with spleen Qi deficiency. He is "hot" (not in terms of a fever, but in terms of energy imbalance) and that's why he's pulling out all his hair in the places he is. Prescribed (chinese herbal) "Wei Qi Booster" and "Si Miao San." Begin Wei Qi Booster first - try sprinkling VERY SMALL AMOUNT from capsule onto food (2x/day), working up to 2 full capsules 2x/day. When stable, add Si Miao San.

Vet does not want us to switch food for now. We'll probably have to do home made. Did give me reference to a prescription diet for his Yin deficiency, but the specialty place doesn't make cat food yet, only dog food. (http://www.pettao.com)

That night and morning of November 25, we sprinkled an almost minuscule amount of Wei Qi booster onto food - and he immediately had terrible, liquid diarrhea. In touch with holistic vet by e-mail. Stop Wei Qi Booster. She placed alternate prescription with online vendor.

November 27, 2010. Vet suggested (via e-mail) that we put Chumley back on slippery elm, but that we increase the amount (gradually), and instead of just adding the slippery elm directly to his food we combine it 1:2 slippery elm to probiotic to the point where he receives 1/4 tsp of slippery elm 2x daily. Mix that into a paste with approximately 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon (however much is needed) of aloe vera oral liquid. We got the aloe vera oral liquid, but because his probiotic is already a 2x dose, we only mix the slippery elm with the aloe vera oral liquid, add that to his food, then sprinkle the contents of the probiotic capsule on top.

December 2, 2010. New (chinese) herbal prescriptions arrived by mail. Give "Prosperous Farmer" 1 pill 2x per day. Use "Consolidate Qi" oral liquid "as needed" for diarrhea. Begin with late night meal.

The Prosperous Farmer is a large pill, and I can't use a piller. Try cutting it in half and using pill pockets for each half. Chumley has no problem with this.

December 3 and 4, 2010. No sign of diarrhea yet. Stool (so far) seems firmer and less stinky.

No, no insurance. I don't know how much we've spent on him, actually. It's not bad compared to what we spent on Tuxedo or Flowerbelle - but we had the money to spend back then. We find the rescue kitties with special needs always cost the most up front, and once you get them healthy, then it's just the maintenance (hopefully). Right now, we're doing what we can as we can afford it. Let's just say... Chumley is our Christmas present.

The 2 traditional vets said he has some slight tartar, but doesn't need a dental yet (FIV kitties usually have problems with their teeth/gums). New holistic vet says she sees signs of gingivitis, but her recommendations are to:

1) address his GI issues (spleen Qi deficiency),

2) then his Yin deficiency (which should resolve what appear to us to be allergies). He'll probably start acupuncture treatments at his next visit at the end of December/beginning of January.

3) She'll see where things stand with his teeth/gums at the next visit and decide what to do about them then. They do dentals without anesthesia. I'm not sure what that means or how they do it, but it came up at the end of our first meeting with her, and we'd already been there almost two hours going over everything, and we didn't want to ask at that point LOL.

He'll need dentals probably every 6 months. But we'll start looking at what to do for his immune system once we've addressed these other issues. Get him able to eat things or take herbal medicinals without immediate diarrhea, help him not be itchy/scratchy, get his gingivitis fixed up, and then decide how to proceed with immune system regulation. I'd say immune system "boosting," but that's really not what it will be. We will need to slow down the virus, and boost the appropriate stuff.

There is a site http://www.fivtherapy.com that discusses in depth the (basically herbal on the second round of treatment) treatment of an FIV kitty. They were able to get his viral load down to levels so low he tested negative for FIV. The issue is that all of the herbs used need proper dosage, they need to be rotated, and they can interact with each other and other meds, so basically their use needs to be supervised by a vet trained in their use. Well - especially as Chum doesn't exhibit signs of issues directly related to FIV, anyway.

In fact, for all we know, he fought off the infection. He was "just" a transient positive (one antibody tested positive of two). But he's got enough other immune-related imbalance problems right now, we're just dealing with getting him physically comfortable and energetically re-balanced. We may have another Western Blot done at some point to see where things stand, but it's not a priorty (at $135) right now.

He wasn't weighed at this last visit, but my guess is he's around 14 pounds or so. She was VERY pleased he's chunky, because she's got wiggle room to work with if he ever has issues of inappetence during whatever treatments we try.

Both of his traditional vets know we took him to the holistic vet (and she's a DVM as well), and she has all their paperwork. The local traditional vet and the new vet have actually met and know each other a bit.

You may be confusing FeLV and FIV. FIV is not passed casually, it requires a deep tissue bite wound. It exists outside of the body for a few seconds. So FIV+ and FIV- kitties can live quite normally together without risk of spreading the infection if proper introductions are made. The kitties can even play and roughhouse together.

FeLV, on the other hand, lives outside of the body for hours, so it can be spread to other cats by grooming each other or sharing food dishes.

Many people have FIV infected kitties and don't know it. When a kitty seems to have immune-related problems later in life, then they find out.

This happens because it is such a slow-acting virus, it can take several months after the initial infection to have detectable levels of the viral load. So if a cat is bitten, then rescued within a few days or weeks, that cat will likely test negative for FIV. So people think they're adopting an FIV- kitty. This kitty lives with other cats just fine, the others aren't infected. But then later in life, it seems to take longer to fix a cold, or it seems to need stronger antibiotics. That's how they find out. And it turns out that cat was just fine living with all their other kitties.

Yet, sadly, had they known from the very start the cat was FIV+ they likely never would have adopted him or her.

I took your advice, added the information to the original post, and deleted the post with the additional information. So now it looks like that part of your suggestion makes no sense.

I'm most comfortable just copying this into a word file - but that's another good suggestion (make sure I have a back up).

We do love his big ol' Tom Cat head - it makes SUCH a big smile! It just melts our hearts!!! He smiles a lot - especially when he sleeps, he just has the biggest grin. This is one kitty who was SO HAPPY to be rescued.

According to the animal communicator, he never had a family, but lived outside of some type of institution - she got the feeling it was a nursing home or something - older people - and the people there fed him and cared for him. He described himself to her as "an adorable little kitty." I can just see people saying that to him when he was a little baby! She guesses the place shut down or something, but all the people went away, and there was no more food. So he started his journey. She has no idea if he walked three miles or 300 miles, or over what time period, but he was lonely and scared and hungry and walked and walked and walked for a long time. He got hit by a car (which we knew from the vet but she didn't) and got very sick, and he thought he was going to die. (He does have damage to his turbinates, so his breathing sounds snargly, which she also didn't know). He says he's normally a really easy going fellow, but he was so hungry, he had to fight other cats for food - and he just stopped trying or caring. Again, this rings true (though with FIV its apparent he was fighting somewhere along the line) - because outside he was insanely food aggressive. I've never seen anything like it in almost 10 years of working with ferals - but inside, he's just a sweetheart and really wants to be friends with all the other cats. Thank goodness for Billy!

So it also explains why he was reasonably comfortable around people. And it was very quiet over in the trailer, so it turns out it was a really good way to introduce him to being inside. But at that point - he was just thankful to not have to always look for his next meal or fight other cats for it. And he never, ever did anything to try to get out.

Chumley outside:


Transition:


Loving on Billy, inside, at home now:

Ok. I'll e-mail myself the word file.

We think he's absolutely adorable.

December 4, 2010. 9:20pm. Chumley went #2 for the second time today, and it was light brown, very stinky again, and VERY soft, even for him (still slightly formed though). So I used the Consolidate Qi (to be used "as needed for diarrhea or loose stool," 3 drops at a time. It is a "strong Spleen Qi Deficiency herbal preparation in an alcohol base). I'm not sure how many times a day "as needed" is, so I e-mailed his vet.

The no grain foods were really rich for Chumley, but many cats thrive on them!

December 5, 2010. AM feeding. Chumley's #2 was light brown, stinky, but slightly more formed this morning. Gave him another dose of "Consolidate Qi" (used as needed for diarrhea or loose stool).

Yeah, when you first bring them in, it takes a couple of months for their coats to transition, but he's got beautiful, thick, shiny fur now!

December 5, 2010. Early PM feeding. 2nd dose of Consolidate Qi for the day.

Will do. He doesn't like kisses much, but I'll give it another go. At a minimum he'll get a headbump from you, because those he likes.

In the trailer, he was a lap kitty, purring, loving being brushed. He did get overstimulated easily, and used his mouth (bit) to say "no" - though he never liked hands reaching out at him. Here - with 7 more cats - he's still getting comfortable. He's not a lap kitty here (yet). He LOVES being friends with Billy, but is a little scared of Lazlo (who, surprisingly, never had a problem with him), is a little scared of Shel still (see earlier post about that issue), and very leery of Spooky, who still hisses at him (though a lot less. They've been found sleeping next to each other up in the front window). He's enjoying being brushed if we start when he's napping or it's part of a "brush round" (where there's a group of kitties in a semi-circle, each taking turns with a couple of cheek brushes each, move on to next cat... ), and he sleeps on the bed (though not every night), often on one of our legs. He purrs in the mornings and if we've been out for a while - and he comes up to say "hi," and get his headbumps, and he gets his purr up. But he doesn't actively seek pets (yet - he will!), and is still very nervous about hands reaching out at him (though once he's up in my arms, he'll relax if I only hold him for a few).

I don't know when Billy became completely comfortable - but it took about a year, maybe a little more. We assume it'll be the same - if not a little longer - for Chum.

We'd never seen a "classic" tabby before. We just thought Chum had the coolest pattern we'd ever seen with those "bullseyes" on his side!

December 5, 2010. Late night feeding. 3rd dose of Consolidate Qi for the day.

December 6, 2010. Early AM feeding. Chum's stool is starting to firm up a bit, but still soft. 1st dose Consolidate Qi for the day on empty tummy. He only got 1/2 of the first Prosperous Farmer pill down today, but I didn't want to force the issue.

Well I decided not to log each and every time I give him a medication.

December 8, 2010. Have continued with Prosperous Farmer as prescribed (1 pill, 2x/day). Tomorrow night will mark one week on it. Also continue slippery elm/aloe vera oral liquid mixture, probiotics (acidophilus/bifidus), and the Consolidate Qi (as needed, for loose stool or diarrhea). Since beginning the Consolidate Qi in the evening of December 4, as of this morning, after watching him go to the bathroom, I cleaned the litterbox. There was another poop in there, and I was unable to tell which was his and which was the other one. (He's a serious digger!).

Edited to add: I've been giving him the Consolidate Qi 3-4x/day.

Early results - beginning of diarrhea became loose stool (which has been "normal" for Chumley), and appears to have been resolved inside of 3 1/2 days.

He is DEFINITELY not as itchy/scratchy. We removed what may have been a trigger (brewer's rice) in early November (in original journal entry, don't remember if it was Nov 4 or 6) by moving the cats to all wet (from combo of dry/wet). The hair growth on abdomen and inner legs had begun, but seems to be growing in rapidly now.

OK, I am officially a bad kitty meowmy. Chumley hasn't been back to the holistic vet for his check-up yet.

He is definitely doing MUCH better than he was - his purr is back, he's not manic about grooming, his stools are normal now (but still stinky), and he still absolutely LOVES playing. He still gets a "what's going on" haunted look in his eyes rather frequently - but we don't take it personally. He's comfortable around the other kitties most of the time now, and we could just not be happier about that! (Lazlo looks at him funny sometimes and that makes him a little leary, and Shel does run over him every once in a while during his "crazies" - but no more going AFTER him. ).

I've been working on getting him used to a baby tooth brush so I can get honey onto his gums (to treat the gingivitis). That project is ... well ... let's just say "in progress." He loves being brushed with the toothbrush on his lips and cheeks, and he loves eating babyfood off of it - but I'm not having a lot of luck actually getting it IN his mouth without him bugging out yet. I could do the front of his gums, but that's about it so far.

And I thought I noticed thinning hair on a patch on the outside of his front left leg. Confirmed today that there is a small bald patch there. The hair on his tummy is still a bit thin, but it is definitely BACK, and the fur is grown back on the bald spots he'd made on the inside of his legs.

So I know nothing about energy meridiens or what this means, but he does need to get back to the vet!

I have started changing his diet. I know he's "Yin deficient," and the vet had wanted me to contact a specialty food company about a prescription diet. Well, they're still only making food for dogs... but I'm working on incorporating higher quality cat foods that have more "yin" stuff in them. He's still getting the c/d like the other kitties, but now it's only half his calories (which I do need to reduce as he's quite a big boy now!). I'm rotating various Instinct cat foods (95% meat stuff), a few of the Wellness grain free foods, the Holistic food (chicken & lamb) and a number of the Wellness foods with oat fiber.

I haven't changed his slippery elm, aloe vera juice, probiotic or chinese herbals.