Laura
Tiffany wrote:
> Hello all!
>
> I have a friend who has a beautiful FeLV+ cat. She's having trouble
> with him and she and her vet are not quite sure what steps to take
> next. She doesn't really understand how mailing lists work, so I told
> her I'd act as go-between as far as posting messages and forwarding
> replies. If after reading Darcy's story you have anything you can
> suggest from your own experiences or knowledge, please, please post and
> I'll forward it on to her. Thanks so much for your time!
>
> Tiffany (owned by 8 beautiful indoor-only, altered, non-FeLV+ cats)
>
> Darcy's Story
>
> (I don't know if it's general knowledge, but RAC is Rabies Animal
> Control.)
>
> Darcy was adopted from RAC two years ago. I was told that he was six
> weeks old, weaned and eating solid food, neutered, and "a fat, healthy,
> happy little kitten". Two days later, my vet told me Darcy was only
> four weeks old, malnourished, loaded with worms, and suffering from
> double pneumonia. In short, he was in bad shape, and the prognosis for
> recovery wasn't good. But he was given a dose of droncit and a supply
> of amoxi, and we went home to wrestle the devil.
>
> Within days, he was worse; the amoxi wasn't working. We returned to Dr.
> E. and he took a culture and changed the antibiotic from amoxi to
> panmycin. The culture results wouldn't be back for two-three days, so
> we'd just have to struggle through until then. Those were two of the
> longest days I'll ever know. Darcy stopped eating and drinking, and
> finally curled up in his litter box, sinking deeper into his illness. I
> held him through those endless nights and begged him to keep breathing,
> forcing him to take water and liquefied food from an eye dropper. The
> panmycin had no effect, and each day I called Dr. E's office every few
> hours to ask about the culture results which seemed to take forever to
> arrive.
>
> Finally, the lab report came back: Darcy needed Cefadroxil, the only
> antibiotic that killed the culture. I raced to Dr. E's office for the
> precious fluid, and started Darcy on it the minute I came home. This
> was the point of no return: if he made it through the night, recovery
> was almost assured.
>
> The hours crawled by while my poor little baby struggled for air, but
> finally, right before dawn, his breathing leveled out and he relaxed
> into an even sleep. When he awoke, he yawned and stretched -- and
> tottered into the kitchen toward his bowls. When he hesitantly began
> lapping water for the first time in three days, I burst into tears of
> joy and gratitude. Soon he started to nibble his food, and I knew the
> worst was over. My Darcy would live.
>
> He stayed on the Cefadroxil for two full weeks, and by then it was time
> to take him in to Dr. E. again for a follow-up exam, his FeLV test, and
> his vaccinations. He'd been so sick the whole time I'd had him that
> we'd had to postpone all the routine care until he'd recovered enough to
> draw a blood sample. Now he'd gained weight and filled out, his eyes
> were bright and clear, his coat was kitten-soft and shiny -- he was the
> very picture of health.
>
> When Dr. E. showed me the results of the leukemia test, I felt as though
> I'd been kicked in the stomach. There in front of me were the horrible
> blue dots condemning my Darcy to premature death. Dr. E. surmised that
> Darcy's mother had been infected, consequently infecting the whole
> litter. I was stunned into paralysis, not believing that my exuberant
> little kitten playing happily on the examination table had just been
> given a death sentence.
>
> Compassionate man that he is, Dr. E. explained all the ramifications of
> being leukemia-positive. I listened to the odds, and decided to opt for
> whatever time we could have together. Darcy would have the best life I
> could give him, and when it was time to let go, he would tell me. But
> not until then.
>
> Since that day, Darcy's life has been as normal as I could make it.
> He's gotten all his vaccinations (except for FeLV, of course), and he's
> been retested twice. The readings were both strong positives, so
> there's no longer any doubt. Dr. E. has never disputed or questioned my
> decision, but I know he's become very frustrated at times treating
> Darcy's seemingly endless chronic conditions.
>
> Darcy is two years old now (I estimate he was born in mid-February, so I
> celebrate his birthday on Valentine's Day), and judging only from
> appearance, he's a normal, healthy, happy, classic, charcoal grey
> tabby. But he sounds like he's breathing through a bellows, wheezy and
> asthmatic, and this has gone from an occasional occurrence to a constant
> condition.
>
> Since his first bout with double pneumonia, Darcy's been back to see Dr.
> E. many times, and usually for the same thing, or variations thereof:
> upper respiratory, bronchial, asthma, allergies. Makes sense, I
> suppose, since his respiratory system was whammied from the beginning,
> but I know it's the underlying dormant leukemia that keeps him from
> being able to ever totally recover. He's been on so many different
> types of antibiotics: Amoxi (nothing in the Amoxi family works for
> him); Panmycin (also ineffective); Cefadroxil (formerly the magic
> bullet, but no longer); Baytril (doesn't work); Antirobe (doesn't work);
> Delta Alba Plex (works for a few days, then quits). His last
> prescription was for Cefzil, an antibiotic usually prescribed for
> children with URI. As with most everything else he's taken, it seemed
> to help for about three days, then fizzled out.
>
> Last April, Dr. E. started Darcy on Prednisone to alleviate the asthma
> symptoms. He began with a single .5mg tablet every other day; last
> month, the dosage was increased to two tablets every other day. In
> addition, he gets 1/4 tablet of theophyline daily, which he's been on
> since last August. Every morning and evening when he's fed (Darcy has
> no "appestat", so I feed him controlled portions twice a day), I give
> him 6ml of a nutritional supplement recommended by Dr. E. (Classic
> nutritional powder with betacarotine). Also every morning, he gets 1/2
> capsule of echinacea powder, another suggestion by Dr. E. which we've
> been following since the results of the first blood test.
>
> Late last July, Dr. E. felt it would be helpful for Darcy to have his
> sinuses scoped and a series of x-rays taken to see if there might be
> some kind of obstruction inhibiting his breathing. Even though it meant
> subjecting him to anesthesia, I felt the overall benefits would outweigh
> the risks, so I agreed. There was nothing unusual in the sinus
> cavities, but Darcy does have an elongated palate, which can become
> irritated and then magnifies the wheezy breathing sounds. There is a
> surgical procedure that could possibly correct this, but results aren't
> guaranteed and Dr. E. doesn't think the additional risks of subjecting
> Darcy to another anesthesia are justifiable in this case. Darcy's
> recovery from this anesthesia was very difficult, and I won't put him
> through it again unless there's absolutely no other alternative.
>
> Sprinkled throughout all the various and sundry office visits and
> treatments throughout the past two years were assorted alternative
> approaches, including herbal allergy medications and enclosed sessions
> with humidifiers (both warm and cool mist). The results were negligible
> at best and Darcy hated them all. Sometimes I feel as though I'm
> torturing him, and I can't bear the thought of forcing him to endure
> anything more.
>
> Where we are now: Darcy isn't taking any antibiotics, since they don't
> seem to do him any good anyway. He looks wonderful and behaves normally
> in every way . . . but he sounds hideous; his every breath is audible.
> Sometimes his eyes water and his nose runs a little; I'm convinced if I
> could teach him how to blow his nose and use one of my own asthma
> inhalers that his wheezy-noise problem would be solved. (He only
> wheezes when he's up and walking around, not when he's sleeping.) He
> hasn't seen Dr. E. in over a month, but he'll be going in this week for
> a checkup and so I can get new prednisone and theophyline
> prescriptions. I'm going to ask Dr. E. about immunoregulin, and also
> about using small doses of human allergy medication (like Claritin or
> some such) for Darcy. It doesn't hurt to ask.
>
> Meanwhile, Darcy's still loving his life and having a great time. He
> doesn't know he sounds awful, or if he knows, he doesn't seem to care.
> He still very much wants to live, and as long as he doesn't give up, I
> can't give up on him. We'll both know if that ever changes.
>
> /smg