Hello all, I am new to the forum, and in advance I greatly appreciate all the help I can get!
I adopted a 2.5 month old kitten (now called Albie) in February of this year from a cat hoarding situation. I got him neutered, vaccinated and chipped immediately, and he has been on a high quality diet since he joined my family; my boyfriend and our other cat, Babyman, who is just over one year old now (Also neutered, vaccinated and chipped!). The two young cats got along and played well. They have always been indoor cats because of where we live (Coyotes, bears, traffic, weather conditions).
In July, Albie got sick with a fever, diarrhea, vomiting, no appetite, etc. Took him to a vet, bloodwork showed exceptionally low neutrophils, x-rays showed no blockage. They tested him for the general feline virals, which we was negative. They gave him anti-nausea medication and fluids, we took him home and started clavamox, gave him pumpkin and monitored his temp. He got better after a few more days of fluids and care at the vets.
About 2 weeks later, the symptoms returned...and he returned to the vets office.... Again and again. To make a really long story short, this up and down continued for 3 months with several antibiotics, with no conclusive evidence to anything after x-rays, ultrasounds and bloodwork tests.
Terrified it was dry FIP (nothing on ultrasounds, negative parvo test, nothing on corona titer, no severe respiratory symptoms) or FeLV hiding in the bone marrow (negative blood test), I took him to UC Davis. After an exam, x-rays, ultrasound with aspirate of lymph nodes, bloodwork, bone marrow aspirate of BOTH shoulders, Albie was diagnosed with genetic myelodysplasia. He had zero neutrophils at the time. He was negative for FeLV from the bone marrow and highly unlikely FIP, which means the immunomodulators aren't an option.
Albie is currently on prednisolone, clavamox and baytril. His local vet offered some research from VIN regarding myelodysplasia and menatetranone, a vitamin k2 analog and its success in increasing neutrophils and other important blood cells. He is on 10mg of menatetranone a day along with his other meds. Right before he went to Davis, he had been sneezing off and on with no response to doxycycline or lysine. Per his vets, he is off of doxy but continuing lysine. Still no change in his sneezing. We do live in an older building with lots of dust, so I have an air purifier going 24/7.
A week after the Davis visit and starting the steroids, his neutrophils are up from 0 to 259. Normal starts at 2,500, but it's better than zero! We will be checking again this week.
And so, my little baby boy, who isn't even a year old, is basically a bubble boy. He continues to have a high quality diet; he is free fed Hollistic Select dry all life stages chicken formula mixed with Purevita all life stages dry chicken formula. He gets as much wet food as he will eat 2-3 times a day (with his meds) which is usually Fussie Cat, Tiki Cat, Solid Gold, Against the Grain, and occasionally a Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers or one with cheddar cheese, even though the ingredients are horrendous, because he loves it.
I want my Albie baby to enjoy his life as long as I can stretch it without him suffering. I was just hoping for some ideas on enriching his life within his limits, any ideas on making pilling easier, toys or food that any spoiled cat or kitten must have (He has Bonito Flakes, and plenty of them!), or any medical advice fellow kitty owners may have for these kind of situations.
Again, I appreciate any advice in advance, and if anyone has experience or questions on the matter please let me know!
Thanks,
Amber n Albie
I adopted a 2.5 month old kitten (now called Albie) in February of this year from a cat hoarding situation. I got him neutered, vaccinated and chipped immediately, and he has been on a high quality diet since he joined my family; my boyfriend and our other cat, Babyman, who is just over one year old now (Also neutered, vaccinated and chipped!). The two young cats got along and played well. They have always been indoor cats because of where we live (Coyotes, bears, traffic, weather conditions).
In July, Albie got sick with a fever, diarrhea, vomiting, no appetite, etc. Took him to a vet, bloodwork showed exceptionally low neutrophils, x-rays showed no blockage. They tested him for the general feline virals, which we was negative. They gave him anti-nausea medication and fluids, we took him home and started clavamox, gave him pumpkin and monitored his temp. He got better after a few more days of fluids and care at the vets.
About 2 weeks later, the symptoms returned...and he returned to the vets office.... Again and again. To make a really long story short, this up and down continued for 3 months with several antibiotics, with no conclusive evidence to anything after x-rays, ultrasounds and bloodwork tests.
Terrified it was dry FIP (nothing on ultrasounds, negative parvo test, nothing on corona titer, no severe respiratory symptoms) or FeLV hiding in the bone marrow (negative blood test), I took him to UC Davis. After an exam, x-rays, ultrasound with aspirate of lymph nodes, bloodwork, bone marrow aspirate of BOTH shoulders, Albie was diagnosed with genetic myelodysplasia. He had zero neutrophils at the time. He was negative for FeLV from the bone marrow and highly unlikely FIP, which means the immunomodulators aren't an option.
Albie is currently on prednisolone, clavamox and baytril. His local vet offered some research from VIN regarding myelodysplasia and menatetranone, a vitamin k2 analog and its success in increasing neutrophils and other important blood cells. He is on 10mg of menatetranone a day along with his other meds. Right before he went to Davis, he had been sneezing off and on with no response to doxycycline or lysine. Per his vets, he is off of doxy but continuing lysine. Still no change in his sneezing. We do live in an older building with lots of dust, so I have an air purifier going 24/7.
A week after the Davis visit and starting the steroids, his neutrophils are up from 0 to 259. Normal starts at 2,500, but it's better than zero! We will be checking again this week.
And so, my little baby boy, who isn't even a year old, is basically a bubble boy. He continues to have a high quality diet; he is free fed Hollistic Select dry all life stages chicken formula mixed with Purevita all life stages dry chicken formula. He gets as much wet food as he will eat 2-3 times a day (with his meds) which is usually Fussie Cat, Tiki Cat, Solid Gold, Against the Grain, and occasionally a Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers or one with cheddar cheese, even though the ingredients are horrendous, because he loves it.
I want my Albie baby to enjoy his life as long as I can stretch it without him suffering. I was just hoping for some ideas on enriching his life within his limits, any ideas on making pilling easier, toys or food that any spoiled cat or kitten must have (He has Bonito Flakes, and plenty of them!), or any medical advice fellow kitty owners may have for these kind of situations.
Again, I appreciate any advice in advance, and if anyone has experience or questions on the matter please let me know!
Thanks,
Amber n Albie
I have a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed with a very aggressive large cell lymphoma at the end of July 2011. We started chemo right away, and three weeks after then end of the six months of chemo, an ultrasound revealed his "massive" tumor (in his stomach) was in remission. And we just focus on doing anything he loves. He loves being brushed, he loves sleeping on my husband's legs at night, he loves playing with his feather wand toy, he loves freeze dried meat treats, he loves watching birds in the bird feeder we have stuck to the window..... 
