Traeting FiV w/ FiP Thirsty Fountains protocol?

[movinintime]

This is a desperate long shot but I see Fiv & FiP share many things. Both have non-regenerative anemia & WBC counts lowered drastically. If these can be boosted in our FiV cat or other FiV cats this'd be for sure a valiant attempt to treat fiV similar symptoms & those thaT cause MUCH of the dowNfall/progression of FiV.

Does anyone have ideas as to the who, what, where to attempt contacting asap a vet that can try this experimentally even, if on an FiV cat?

The key thing here is ability to boost both RBC's & WBC's -- both of which are very severely lowered in FiV cats.

I just saw this related topic minutes ago & am fascinated the 2 diseases share so much in common. It seems plausible & worthy of looking into by someone in vet medicine re FiV cats if only on A TRIAL basis, yes?

 

[catwoman707]

My education on FIP came from the same vet mentioned in the article, Dr Niels Pederson as well as Dr Kate Hurley, also well known, both at UC Davis Vet School.
I would say these 2 would be an excellent choice to contact in writing.
Interesting thoughts movinintime!

 

[movinintime]

Catwoman, I will call UC Davis on Monday! TY!!!

 

[catwoman707]

You're very welcome!

 

[Maurey]

While it’s worth inquiring about it regardless, the similarity of symptoms between the two have no indication as to the efficacy of a drug against the virus causing them. Antivirals, as the name suggests, target the specific virus, rather than the animal’s symptoms, and will generally have different efficacious to different viruses. FIV is caused by a lentivirus, while FIP is caused by feline coronavirus. They’re very different, and it’s unlikely that the same antiviral therapy will be effective for such distinctly different pathogens.

GS-441524’s mechanism of action is RdRp inhibition, with RdRp being the protein complex coronaviruses use to replicate.
That being said, it’s thought the drug may have a secondary mechanism of action, as it has been found to be a less effective broad spectrum antiviral, with general efficacy lessening with decreasing similarity.

 

[kittenmittens84]

FIP and FIV are very different viruses and unlike with antibiotics where we’ve found broad spectrum ones that are effective against lots of different pathogens, antivirals tend to be specific to one virus or closely related viruses. I don’t believe FIP drugs will be effective against FIV.

Human anti-retrovirals (HIV drugs) would be a lot more likely to work on FIV in cats - I believe AZT (the first semi-effective HIV drug) is sometimes used in cats and can be helpful, but the research is pretty sparse on combination therapy for cats or the use of other anti-retrovirals. Cats tend to stay in the asymptomatic stage of FIV a lot longer than humans do with HIV even without the help of any medications so that probably contributes to the lack of treatments.

 

[movinintime]

TY both for the info! Im hoping there's somethin that need be tried so long as it won't hurt him more. He/I have zero to lose & if it fails to work he's no worse off. Unless, it causes probs even more so. Ok, well I'll call UC Davis on Monday anyway as I'm curious if they have any ideas. I know Interferon Alpha by injection (specialized vets ONLY do it & unsure where?) has been mentioned/researched yet unknown efficacy as far as I know. TY again.