my last shot with my cat. just days to live,opinion's or help desperatly needed

My cat Mischa who i love very much, has fel V, she was born with it. Her first breakout was when she was a little over a year old. we have been treating her with an occasional blood transfusion and occasional steriods. It has always done the trick, until 2 weeks ago her breathing starting getting heavy. We braught her in to the vet, she had fluid in her lungs/chest area.we sucked it out almost 200ml's of milky fluid. She did better immediatly, got home played everything was fine. 4 days later shes not breathing well again and the doctor said all we can do is suck it out again,or euthanize her. I'm not ready for this ,she is everything to me, Iwould do anything. There is a surgery i heard about.but i'm not working but i would go into debt for her,what do u guys think i really need help. I live in the tri-state NY area. she does not suffer when the fluid is removed and acts normal this is the only reason im holding on

please can anyone help?

I have no experience at all with Felv.  I am sorry you are going through this someone who has experience will be along shortly
 

thank you so much, i would literally do anyting for this cat, she means everything to me
 

Hi floydfanx6 - welcome to the forum.

I lost a kitty to FeLV some years ago........before I found out that there are specialized online groups for managing that disease.

My best advice is to get yourself connected to one/both of them.......I'd join both.

The first can be found here: Felvtalk Discussion Group

Here's the second: FeLV Positive Cats

These groups use email as their operating platform - I recommend that you get a couple of new email accounts (Yahoo is best for the second group) - this will make it easier to manage the information from each group.

Would you keep us posted?

my cat has lymphoma or the early sighns of it, chylothorax. She is in a great mood,and tries to even play. Her breathing is not good and its getting worse, we tapped her chest 4 days ago and sucked out the white fluid ,Chyle. It  hast filled up again i can tell she is laboring. My girlfreind and everyone is telling me its too late for her, I do not want to give up hope. There is a procedure i read about,where they put a drain into you cat,and you can drain them everyday until the fluid stops building up. This would cost thousands and isnt an option for me financially, i tried to find charities or vet schools that could help,but its not working out. I would drive anywhere for her if you know compassion places,or even if its worth it for her to have this procedure.?

floydfanx6 said:

... i tried to find charities or vet schools that could help,but its not working out. I would drive anywhere for her if you know compassion places,or even if its worth it for her to have this procedure.?

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Let me more fully explain about the groups I suggested......

There are several serious chronic conditions and diseases that cats specific. For almost every one of these, there are groups of people online who come together to manage their kitty's battle with it. These groups have been functioning for years, so they have years and years of collective experience dealing with that specific disease - far more than any general practice Veterinarian. They know about the latest treatments, they know about drug trials when these become available - they really are the experts of treatments and options.

I only wish I would have known about them when I was in your position - I did not know - I believe that, IF I could have benefited from that kind of knowledge and experience, my cat would not have passed before his time.

In the strongest possible advice to you, I'd say, stop trawling for treatment modalities on the general internet. If ANYONE is going to have some solid information and advice to offer, it will be found within those groups. You are very vulnerable right now (as was I back then) - you can be easily distracted/ill-advised by people who will give you nothing for something.

Bring your question about this procedure to the groups - they will know whether/not it's legitimate and can answer questions about it. Financial assistance with costs?.......again, if anyone has those answers, it's THEM. I'm sure you will not be the first person to put that question to them.

Hope that explains things better.

thank you white shadow i did join both groups and emailed them, i feel im the only 1 still fighting for my cat

Surgery is not an option as we can't afford it. If we can find place that can do surgery for chylothorax at a reasonable price, we'd do it in a heartbeat.  I save my best friends life

Thanks for everyone's advice, we appreciate it!

What did you hear back from the either of the groups White Shadow had you join?  Do they think the surgery is even an option for your little one at this point, AND do they know of any clinics who might perform it for little or no cost? 

I have no experience of this issue but just wanted to send you best wishes. I do hope people on those other groups can help you.

thank you everyone,all your support is helping me and my girlfreind through these hard times. I would like to give an update, Misha went 7 days from her last chest tap. 2  days ago we noticed she was breathing heavy again. We braught her in today to get her chest tapped, shes sleeping now and is doing fine. My problem is this. My vet does not do surgeries he will refer us to someone in <anhattan. We have gotten quoted from 2,500- 5,000 or higher. Me and my girlfreind decided we are willing to do 2,500 on care credit if they give us a good chance of survival and her having a good quality of life. I don't want to go to a cheaper Vet that will provide less experience and may not do the surgery as well as the high priced ones. I live In new york city and im willing to drive anywhere in any state near by. If  any of you know of a high quality place that will work with us on the price please let me know. We have about 6-7 days before she fills up again and a decision has to be made before then,

I have joined both yahoo groups,thank you,and we have started her on Rutin

my normal vet doesn't know if she is prime for the surgery, he knows about it generally but not a lot of the details, since they do not do that procedure. I'm scared some vet will give me unrealistic goals just to cash in