Feline leukemia virus...opinions?

[rentuna]

Hi all. Before I start about this, I want to thank you all on the website for the information, opinions and help ! I am very glad I found this place

We got to the vet a few weeks ago with MR.Catto. They said he has something in his *intestines*..he got laxatives, then next day bang, renal failure. He was on subq for almost 2 weeks, they nearly drove him in to death, I managed to find a big vet clinic to take him there. We were told before this, that he has no chance with the renal faiure, he has to die. They in the end refused to give us meds for anemia and nausea and blood tension , told us it is pointless.
AT the clinic, they got him on real IV and on treatment. He got there everything and stayed there for one week. We visited him every single day. The day we arrived at the clinic, his CREA was past 10 . After one week on constant IV, everything went back to normal! Crea, bun, phos everything back to normal. It was acute renal failure. The clinic suspected that he got intoxicated. We tried to tell the doc, it was impossible, they did 2 urianalysis though and stuff and he was not intoxicated. We took him home! He was feeling well, eating , drinking, peepee ok.. Monday to Friday. On Friday everything from the beginning. Acute renal failure. 4 cysts next (or inside) the right kidney seen on ultrasound. We again left him at the clinic for IV. He got UTI again. New antibiotics. CBD. Now he is eating slowly again and drinking we bring him home tomorrow.
AND we got the diagnosis:

Feline leukemia virus, FELV. I asked them to do all the investigations they can think of that might help get us closer to the root issue. So we got it. We do not know MR.Cattos exact age. He is young. We adopted him in 2021. He was a street cat, he looked like a young cat,like only a few months old. So with the clinic we agreed that he is around 2,5 - 3 years old approx.
They told us,they had 3 cats at the clinic in the past, with FELV, did the treatment but they died. Now, they did not tell us the exact name of the treatments only that it is very expensive.
Anyone here, who did it? with luck?
Also: are supplements for UTI and for his immune system helpful? The clinic told us that we can try but she does not think it will work because this is a deadly virus BUT on the internet I clearly read that it is not deadly in all cases... so I am curious! Every opinion, experience please!! Thank you
(this road was long, tiring and stressful for us and mostly for Mr.Catto )

 

[silent meowlook]

I would have him retested if you can. It will probably be positive again but good to make sure.
He needs antiviral medication. I would ask for that.
I am sure you have checked your house for anything toxic like essential oils, human topical medications, raisins, anything.
It isn’t a great outlook with all that is going on, leukemia positive and renal failure.
I have seen some cats with feline leukemia do a little better with a blood transfusion but it can also have negative effects and if it works it is temporary.
All this is just my experience. There may be new developments that I don’t know of. Make sure the vets you are working with are specialists.
I hope everything works out for your sweet kitty. I am sorry you are going through this.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

So you have Mr. Catto AND Luke with renal failure? This does sound suspicious that there is some toxin there are getting into. Perhaps something around the house you use to clean?

Well anyway, I did find this thread that might be extremely helpful for the FeLV treatment: FeLV Testing, Vaccines, Treatments... what I learned. Maybe it'll help someone else.

 

[rentuna]

So you have Mr. Catto AND Luke with renal failure? This does sound suspicious that there is some toxin there are getting into. Perhaps something around the house you use to clean?

Well anyway, I did find this thread that might be extremely helpful for the FeLV treatment: FeLV Testing, Vaccines, Treatments... what I learned. Maybe it'll help someone else.

No- Mr. Catto is Luke! His "official ,legal" name is Luke but we,everybody calls him Mr.Catto >< sorry if it was confusing !
And thank you! After all that happened, we gone thru all the possibilities, and no toxins at all. Since his infection doesn't want to go away and fell back in to renal failure, the vet was thinking of feline leukemia which came back positive yesterday morning. If I count that he was a street cat before we adopted him, it makes it possible I also had a female cat in foster care last year, I asked ,before I took her in to foster, if she is sick or anything , they told me, they do not know about her being sick.. but I doubt they had done a feline leukemia test for her. Even if my cat happened to get it from her, I can't do anything about it...now. I'm not mad, if anything, I'm mad at myself
Our vet did not really offer any treatment, only the one with interferon but also told us she feels like it would be pointless because she had already 3 cats she treated with interferon and it did not help them :/
So I would like to go with the antiviral drugs which I can't really get In my city, the blood transfusion either. I asked about that yesterday. Closest place I can get transfusion for him is a 1 day with car and unfortunately Mr.Catto it not in a shape to bring him for a long car ride even this 1 hour to the clinic and 1 hour back home is a horror story for him :/

 

[rentuna]

I would have him retested if you can. It will probably be positive again but good to make sure.
He needs antiviral medication. I would ask for that.
I am sure you have checked your house for anything toxic like essential oils, human topical medications, raisins, anything.
It isn’t a great outlook with all that is going on, leukemia positive and renal failure.
I have seen some cats with feline leukemia do a little better with a blood transfusion but it can also have negative effects and if it works it is temporary.
All this is just my experience. There may be new developments that I don’t know of. Make sure the vets you are working with are specialists.
I hope everything works out for your sweet kitty. I am sorry you are going through this.

Thank you! We were offered interferon but they told us, it won't really work...so it's like pointless.. so I came to the conclusion that we need antiviral drugs but I do not have the possibility for it in the clinic here. They told us the antiviral shots would be weekly and 2-3 times a week which would be very stressful and bad for Mr.Catto because already the ride to the clinic 1 hour there and 1 hour back, is very bad for him ,in the actual shape he is.. they said if I could get the antiviral drugs from somewhere, they are happy to help us with dosing and everything.
Blood transfusion would be a possibility if I could take Mr.catto for a long car ride, that's 1 day long there and 1 day long back, regularly but if he doesn't get a little better, it's not going to be possible for him

 

[silent meowlook]

You have to be realistic about what’s best for him. I know there was an oral anti viral medication but I can’t remember the name of it.

 

[rentuna]

You have to be realistic about what’s best for him. I know there was an oral anti viral medication but I can’t remember the name of it.

Yes. I try to look for something that would be comfortable for him. The car rides..for now , are not ok.
I hope I'll be able to find what he needs, soon enough. Then he might have chances. The doc told us, it is possible he could live more years.

 

[silent meowlook]

Are they having you do sub cutaneous fluids at home?

 

[Antonio65]

They told us,they had 3 cats at the clinic in the past, with FELV, did the treatment but they died. Now, they did not tell us the exact name of the treatments only that it is very expensive.

The only meds I heard about to treat or help with FeLV are the LTCi, which it seems only available in/from the US, and potentially your vet could get hold of it if your country or EU regulations allow it.
The other med is the RetroMAD1, which I had read about and it sounds promising. This is one, as far as I know, could be not approved yet and you could only be able to get it through a "parallel" market.
Could one of these two be the one your vet was talking about?

 

[Antonio65]

I also had a female cat in foster care last year, I asked ,before I took her in to foster, if she is sick or anything , they told me, they do not know about her being sick.. but I doubt they had done a feline leukemia test for her. Even if my cat happened to get it from her, I can't do anything about it...now.

If the cat you fostered last year was younger than 6 months old, the test could they did could have given a false result.
When cats are very young and their health situation has to be known for sure, the PCR is the way to go.

 

[Binxie]

Here is some additional info: Feline Leukemia Virus

 

[Joey's mom]

No- Mr. Catto is Luke! His "official ,legal" name is Luke but we,everybody calls him Mr.Catto >< sorry if it was confusing !
And thank you! After all that happened, we gone thru all the possibilities, and no toxins at all. Since his infection doesn't want to go away and fell back in to renal failure, the vet was thinking of feline leukemia which came back positive yesterday morning. If I count that he was a street cat before we adopted him, it makes it possible I also had a female cat in foster care last year, I asked ,before I took her in to foster, if she is sick or anything , they told me, they do not know about her being sick.. but I doubt they had done a feline leukemia test for her. Even if my cat happened to get it from her, I can't do anything about it...now. I'm not mad, if anything, I'm mad at myself
Our vet did not really offer any treatment, only the one with interferon but also told us she feels like it would be pointless because she had already 3 cats she treated with interferon and it did not help them :/
So I would like to go with the antiviral drugs which I can't really get In my city, the blood transfusion either. I asked about that yesterday. Closest place I can get transfusion for him is a 1 day with car and unfortunately Mr.Catto it not in a shape to bring him for a long car ride even this 1 hour to the clinic and 1 hour back home is a horror story for him :/

I can imagine what you're experiencing. I had 2 cats with a fatal disease at the same time. One was kidney failure, the other liver disease. Joey had kidney failure was taken daily to the vet for subq liquids. I had all meds compounded at a local pharmacy to be given all at once. Trying to cut down the stress of forcing mouth open for each pill. I think perhaps trying the antiviral meds first might help. It's interesting when you adopted him, had him vetted, leukemia wasn't tested. Apparently the foster cat wasn't tested from the shelter, but some cats are carriers of the disease and don't show symptoms. I had a leukemia cat and she didn't exhibit signs of illness until later on in life, she also lived with my other cats and they weren't infected.

 

[rentuna]

Are they having you do sub cutaneous fluids at home?

Yes, we do it at home the subq for now. I can't take him for more iv fir a while because both his legs were literally "abused" by now with the lots of iv he got

 

[rentuna]

The only meds I heard about to treat or help with FeLV are the LTCi, which it seems only available in/from the US, and potentially your vet could get hold of it if your country or EU regulations allow it.
The other med is the RetroMAD1, which I had read about and it sounds promising. This is one, as far as I know, could be not approved yet and you could only be able to get it through a "parallel" market.
Could one of these two be the one your vet was talking about?

LTCi is not available in here but I got retromad1 I hope it'll help him. I mean I really hope.... but have no idea if he has any chance...his immune system is very bad. We don't know if he has cancer yet developed or not.. they couldn't check it. I got him also next to the antibiotics and renal supplement, supplement to boost his immune system and rx cranberry to help with the uti and CBD. But he constantly has fever unfortunately and will have to get checked his diabetes tomorrow.. I'm suspicious it's high...again....

 

[rentuna]

If the cat you fostered last year was younger than 6 months old, the test could they did could have given a false result.
When cats are very young and their health situation has to be known for sure, the PCR is the way to go.

It was a 10+ yo cat a cute ,old catlady. But she's still well and healthy now!

 

[rentuna]

Here is some additional info: Feline Leukemia Virus

Thank you!

 

[rentuna]

I can imagine what you're experiencing. I had 2 cats with a fatal disease at the same time. One was kidney failure, the other liver disease. Joey had kidney failure was taken daily to the vet for subq liquids. I had all meds compounded at a local pharmacy to be given all at once. Trying to cut down the stress of forcing mouth open for each pill. I think perhaps trying the antiviral meds first might help. It's interesting when you adopted him, had him vetted, leukemia wasn't tested. Apparently the foster cat wasn't tested from the shelter, but some cats are carriers of the disease and don't show symptoms. I had a leukemia cat and she didn't exhibit signs of illness until later on in life, she also lived with my other cats and they weren't infected.

I'm so sorry you went through similar things to be honest, this puzzle with this all, is still not finished in my head. I just don't understand, it doesn't add up.. like if anything, his very first symptoms could have said its diabetes. Took him to the local vet, they said there are things in his intestines. Got lots of laxatives,obviously nothing came out because those were the 4 cysts from next to hus kidneys.......so we go back a day later, and then they tell us he has renal failure. They refused to give him real iv ,nausea, blood pressure meds. He got iv for only one day. They gave him subq which did not help. Then he got partial seizures and was almost in coma when they said we need to euthanize him. Me and my husband took him after to a vet clinic, where they treated his kidney failure but by then he got diabetic and anemic. They also told us it was acute. Miracle happened, he got better. 5 days later, acute kidney failure again. THIS TIME they didn't test for diabetes ,only kidney function and fiv + fevl. Fevl came back positive. He is doing GOOD while on iv. Since yesterday he has fever ,on and off. He still has antibiotics which I feel like is nor working and I am almost sure his glucose levels are high AF again.. I asked the clinic yesterday to check for it ,but they told me they couldn't because they couldn't take as much blood out... he is not in a good shape now. I have nowhere to take him now so I hope In the morning we can see our vet , check for diabetes , get insulin for it if it's high and new antibiotics...or at least to get back the precious one which at least started to work... we just were able to get the retromad1 too for leukemia and immune booster supplements cuz the clinic previously told us ,that it is pointless.. well in my opinion it is not pointless to try. They said they tried it on 2 cats and didn't work. Then also said ,those 2 cats already had bone cancer and had blood transfusions every 2 weeks.... my little boy is not in that stage,yet... but I need to get his glucose levels checked in the morning ASAP and other antibiotics. He pees foamy !!! I told at the clinic , and they didn't give us back the previous antibiotics ...

 

[rentuna]

Update:
We got a recommendation for a doc in another city. We were able to drive there with Luke ! Yesterday.
I have to tell you all that I was mad. I was mad and sad but of all, angry. It took us and it took Luke LOTS OF ENERGY. They stressed him so much, gave us bad diagnosis, bad treatments ,he almost died because of them.
He doesn't have cysts and doesn't have lymphomas. THEY ARE STONES. KIDNEY STONES. They were kidney stones all along. That'd why kidney failure hit in. They pumped him full with lots of antibiotics, I was begging at the clinic to do an xray, they said they will but never did. They said it is impossible for those to be stones ....
luckily we have now the RIGHT diagnosis with the right treatment. About leukemia? Doc told us SO FAR Luke is not that old , he doesn't have any leukemia symptoms just yet. So our first thing is to treat the kidneys and eliminate the stones AND AFTER we can talk about the leukemia.
The clinic and the previous vet were hell of a lot of money..... AND ENERGY which almost took away my little guy...
We are on the RIGHT ROAD finally. I am happy but angry that I was right all along and none of them wanted to listen to me..

 

[Antonio65]

I'm both sad and happy at the same time for what you've been through.

Sad because they took lots of money from you and misdiagnosed your Luke, they scared the hell out of you just for nothing. They scared you and robbed of your money. Been there, done that.
And the worst thing is that you were were right from the start and they didn't want to listen to you.

Happy because now you can treat Luke for something that is treatable, with less money and stress than for what they told you earlier. And no doubt that Luke will be much better soon

 

[rentuna]

I'm both sad and happy at the same time for what you've been through.

Sad because they took lots of money from you and misdiagnosed your Luke, they scared the hell out of you just for nothing. They scared you and robbed of your money. Been there, done that.
And the worst thing is that you were were right from the start and they didn't want to listen to you.

Happy because now you can treat Luke for something that is treatable, with less money and stress than for what they told you earlier. And no doubt that Luke will be much better soon

Yes and yes !!!
I'm angry because it took Luke so much h energy and stress that in the end he was literally terrified. It took us the energy to try to stay optimistic even though we seen that he's worse day by day...
I am happy that we are on the right road now. I am happy Luke was able to deal with the ride to the another city, on the way home , we even got into a huge storm! But he is a brave little guy and we did the road.
So far I hope, we can deal with the kidney stones. He is eating now and drinking well finally,again. I hope things stay good and we can get rid of the stones and that he slowly regains his energy! He is very strong and brave.