Felv+ Cat With Severe Stomatitis

[hxmoyu]

Hello,

Back in February I rescued a feral cat who turned out to be FeLV+. I have 10+ other cats already so upon rescuing her I immediately started looking for someone or some place that could take her, I called every local shelter/organization but unfortunately no one would take her because of her diagnosis, so for the past few months she's been staying on a room in my house and I take every precaution I can to make sure the virus doesn't spread to my other cats.

Pantera (named like that by my vet) has severe stomatitis. Her front teeth and gums all look fine but her molars were taken out last month and unfortunately the back of her mouth on each side (were the upper and lower part join) hasn't healed at all, it's extremely red and inflamed and the vet thinks it might be tumors because they look considerably bigger than they did before.

She has been on constant antibiotics and she just had interferon injections last week, but she continues to be in a lot of pain. Two nights ago she eagerly started eating and not even 10 seconds later she screamed horribly and started running around the room yelling in pain, I felt so bad for her and just talked calmly to her hoping she would feel better. I took her to the vet yesterday morning and she had some painkiller injections to help, she was still in some pain but did manage to eat throughout the day. This morning the pain is stronger again, she ate a little but is afraid of the pain and just stares sadly at the bowl of food, occasionally giving it a few licks but she'll either scream in pain or grimace and stop eating.

My biggest problem is that she is still very much a feral cat, she let's me pet her and rubs up against my leg and hands but at the slightest movement that she doesn't like, she'll hiss and bat my hand away, she won't let me hold her at all so giving her medications is extremely difficult, I have to hide them in her food which unfortunately I can't do now when she can't even it, so I'm at a loss on what to do.

I've been considering a full mouth extraction since I've read it can help a lot, and my vet did mention that when Pantera first started getting treated for this, but now I'm not so sure if it will help at all? Like I said, all her teeth/gums look fine except for the severe inflammation on the back of her mouth where her molars were previously removed (they healed properly after the surgery). Would removing all her teeth help fix the back of the mouth, or since everything else looks fine it wouldn't even matter?

I'm so conflicted, I can see how much she wants to eat but the pain often won't let her and I don't want her to suffer. Does anyone have any advice on what to do in this situation? I'd appreciate it a lot.

 

[Willowy]

I don't know what I would do for a FeLV+ cat, as they may have trouble healing from a FME. I have a "failed" FME stomatitis cat, and he gets daily steroids to keep the inflammation down, but I'm not sure if that would be really bad for a FeLV+ cat (not that long-term steroids are good for anybody, but worse than usual). I think you should have a long discussion with your vet about all the issues.

 

[Daisy6]

Have there been any discussions about testing for cancer? That could certainly be a cause of extreme pain while eating, especially if swallowing is what hurt so bad.

 

[hxmoyu]

Daisy6 I'll talk to the vet about a cancer diagnosis, he did say it was a possibility that it could be that so a test might be necessary. She did have some blood work done last month that showed a low neutrophil count, high platelet count and low leukocytes which the vet said was probably caused by the FeLV.

W Willowy We've tried antibiotics and painkillers but not steroids, my vet has suggested steroids for some of my other cats when necessary but he hasn't mentioned them for Pantera, not sure if that's because of the FeLV+ like you mentioned, I'll ask him about it. I do know another lady with an FeLV cat here, she had a full mouth extraction performed by my vet a few years ago and he says that kitty has done really well since then. I'm not sure how bad the symptoms were for that cat though, maybe it wasn't as severe as my girl has it, I'll try to find out any way.

 

[MavAndMax]

Sounds like this baby is suffering a lot. Perhaps you should consider helping this baby cross the rainbow bridge. I know it is hard to think about but if it cannot have an enjoyable life then it should be at peace. This is only my opinion. I hope you find the answers you seek.

 

[Willowy]

Have there been any discussions about testing for cancer? That could certainly be a cause of extreme pain while eating, especially if swallowing is what hurt so bad.

Stomatitis is EXTREMELY painful, so that accounts for the pain. But the constant inflammation of stomatitis can lead to mouth cancer, and probably that's more likely in a FeLV+ cat. It might be best to run some tests.

Yeah, if the vet thinks she's healthy enough for the surgery, and you can afford it, the FME would probably be the way to go.

 

[Daisy6]

Sounds like this baby is suffering a lot. Perhaps you should consider helping this baby cross the rainbow bridge. I know it is hard to think about but if it cannot have an enjoyable life then it should be at peace. This is only my opinion. I hope you find the answers you seek.

I do not agree with this at all. Pantera's oral problem is fixable.

 

[Willowy]

I do not agree with this at all. Pantera's oral problem is fixable.

Yes, BUT cats with FeLV don't have a very long life expectancy. And can have some serious immune issues. So if the FME weren't financially possible, I wouldn't blame the owner if they did have her PTS. Not everyone has the resources for a FeLV+ cat.

But if that's not a problem, there's no reason not to try it.

 

[hxmoyu]

Sounds like this baby is suffering a lot. Perhaps you should consider helping this baby cross the rainbow bridge. I know it is hard to think about but if it cannot have an enjoyable life then it should be at peace. This is only my opinion. I hope you find the answers you seek.

I appreciate your comment, every opinion is valid and if it comes to that, I will definitely consider doing what is best for her.

Daisy6 I think the main problem here is the FeLV which complicates everything, her immune system is weakened and so it is much harder for her to fight off the infection, which is why the stomatitis hasn't let up since I brought her in.

I've known my vet for close to 10 years, he knows I will always doing everything necessary to help my cats get healthy again and he is very understanding in helping me figure things out and how best to proceed. We have of course talked about putting her to sleep if it becomes necessary, but he and I agree that it's a last option if nothing else works. I can see Pantera wants to live, she still plays and loves when I spend time with her, and she is so eager to eat but it's just painful for her. I'll talk to the vet about next steps and hopefully we can figure something out.

 

[hxmoyu]

Yes, BUT cats with FeLV don't have a very long life expectancy. And can have some serious immune issues. So if the FME weren't financially possible, I wouldn't blame the owner if they did have her PTS. Not everyone has the resources for a FeLV+ cat.

But if that's not a problem, there's no reason not to try it.

The FME is no problem for me, if it's necessary I can go ahead and schedule it with the vet. The problem is if the FME will be beneficial at all for Pantera, like I mentioned all her teeth/gums are fine except for the back molars section so it seems like an extreme step to remove all of them, and her FeLV+ diagnosis complicates everything.

I'll bring this up again with the vet and see what he thinks, we are schedule for a second round of interferon next week (although the first one doesn't seem to have helped much), I've also been giving her lysine and lactoferrin hoping it'll help some.

 

[Daisy6]

From that description, I would consider having a feeding tube. That would serve as a bypass to eliminate the painful part of eating temporarily.

 

[nansiludie]

From that description, I would consider having a feeding tube. That would serve as a bypass to eliminate the painful part of eating temporarily.

The thing about that is Pantera is still a feral cat, at least semi feral and if she manages to pull out the tube, can make for a whole lot more worse problems. I had a FeLV cat and he lived for two years with it. I have also had a separate cat with jaw cancer, he too had a will to live but he couldn't comfortably eat anymore. Eating is not only for survival but its also one of the joys in life, especially a cat. I wouldn't advise a feeding tube but that is just my opinion. I surely hope that Pantera can be given some relief and be able to enjoy eating. You are probably already doing this but is her food very soft or pate like in texture? I used to blend my cat's food in a blender, kitten fancy feast with kmr mixed in and an egg yolk to make it a smooth whipped consistency that was lickable.

 

[hxmoyu]

Daisy6 I don't think the feeding tube would work, she has been under my care for a few months now but she still is feral, Pantera will let me pet her but I can't grab her/hold her for long.

N nansiludie After the molars were taken out I started feeding her pate food only, now that the problem is worse I'm blending it completely with some water to make it almost like a drink, my guess is the pain she feels is actually stinging from the food touching the sensitive area.

She had another shot of tramadol over an hour ago and 30 minutes later she eagerly had some food, she was almost done with the serving before she screamed in pain. Once the full effect of the medication hits I'll give her some more food. I do have tramadol drops as well but since it causes foaming at the mouth and she'll barely let me hold her, I haven't tried giving it to her, I need to find a way to do that safely for both of us first.

 

[Daisy6]

Being able to eat that much is progress. Where do you put the tramadol drops?

 

[hxmoyu]

Being able to eat that much is progress. Where do you put the tramadol drops?

She had a tramadol injection earlier today, she was able to eat another time but again she screamed in pain and left the bowl of food half-full in there.

The tramadol drops I have are taken by mouth, I tried them once with another cat and unfortunately it causes foaming at the mouth so it's not a favorite of them, and since Pantera will barely let me hold her, I have no idea how to go about giving them to her.

 

[Daisy6]

IIs it possible to mix tramadol drops with a tablespoon of wet food?

 

[Willowy]

Yeah, for my guy I'd mix his painkillers in with a bit of chicken baby food. Don't make it too watery---that seems to hurt worse. Pudding consistency seems to be the least painful, at least for my cat. One person said her stomatitis cat preferred dry food, because she learned how to swallow it without biting down or letting it touch the sore parts.

You can get meds flavored at a compounding pharmarcy. They can also make it into a paste you rub on the cat's ear. But my boy didn't like that at all. He gets his meds flavored like chicken and mixed in chicken baby food.

 

[hxmoyu]

W Willowy I'm going to try pudding consistency for her food then, I think that makes a lot of sense, watery will move around her mouth and hurt the sensitive areas but the pudding will be easier to swallow and hold in place. I'll also live out some kibble in case she wants to try that instead.

The problem with tramadol is that it's quite bitter, I'm not sure how the food will taste once it's added and I first want her to actually something. I did a test adding some drops of tramadol inside an empty gelatin capsule and it didn't disintegrate like with most liquids, so I'm thinking that could be a way to do it, I just need to find a way for her to swallow the capsule from the food.

 

[Daisy6]

How long does she need to take tramadol?