jack the cat

i got jack about 7 week ago from cat protection i thought he was not well took him to vet diagnosed with feline leukeamia with anemia he is a lovely wee boy any ideas what i can give him to increase immunity and help with anemia he is on antibiotic and anabolic steriods from normal vet - i want to keep him alive a long a possible as i have fallen in love with him ??

I did a quick search on feeding cats with leukemia. Here is a website that might be useful: http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Cat-with-Feline-Leukemia. And here is another site that looks like it contains a lot of information on caring for FELV cats: http://www.felineleukemia.org/felvfaq.shtml#q3 (it delves into vitamins and supplements, too).

It seems that the most important thing is to give FELV cats a high-quality food that provides the nutrients they need to stay healthy. You will probably want to go for foods that have higher protein (meat). And don't worry about the carrots, peas, cranberries, etc. that are thrown into the more expensive brands. Cats can't digest these foods anyway.

Oh, something else the site says is that these cats have a harder time staying warm, so you may want to provide extra blankets or even a heated pad for Jack to sleep on. He'll love your for it - I know my Mr. Grimsby did!

Good luck with Jack. He will need your devoted care and attention. You're a wonderful person for adopting him.

Best regards.

thank you for advice i need all that i can get he deserves it don't think he has had a good life -he is a bit of a handful -little rascal xx

Ask your vet clinic if they carry iron supplements. Lixotinic aka Pet Tinic from Pfizer are excellent nutritional supplements, and highly palatable. The iron will help generate more hemoglobin and RBCs, improving his anemia. The added B complex vitamins help with immunity and cell production also.

Were antibiotics prescribed because his anemia is a symptom of Bartonella infection, bacteria that cause FIA, feline infectious anemia?

Supportive care is very important for immunocompromised cats. Ensure he's drinking and has moist food to get as much hydration as possible via diet. L-lysine supplementation twice daily can help prevent respiratory infections by limiting viral replication. Viralys and Enisyl paste is pretty palatable and easy to administer to a cat that may not eat powdered meds mixed into food. Also, while on antibiotics, and for a week after, consider a probiotic, namely Fortiflora or Proviable, targeted for cats' GI flora, with high bacterial colony counts, Proviable more so than Fortiflora. Fortiflora is flavored, thus your cat may readily eat that one sprinkled on moist food. Proviable comes in a capsule and in paste that should be given directly by mouth or mixed into food and is NOT tasty for cats.