Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

[240859]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone as lived this experience and can help me deal with mine. One of our 3 cats has tested positive to FIV He has not eaten for 4 days and we force feed him and give him water with a seringe in the hope of getting his appetite back and keeping him alive. The vet has told us that if by morning he has not eaten at all, we should put him down; That is a horrible thought, one I cannot agree to, unless we've done all that is possible for him. My children are heart broken, we all are. Does anyone remember going through a similar situation?

Thanks,

Helen

[stulchinsky]

Dear Helen,

In addition to the contributions of others in this forum, you can find physician-developed and monitored information on FIV treatment here: http://www.animalhealthchannel.com/fiv/treatment.shtml/

You can also read the stories of others dealing with FIV at this link: http://livingwith.animalhealthchannel.com/feline-immunodeficiency-virus/

Best wishes to you and your pet.

[Jyll]

we think our cat might have FIV and were wondering how much it costs to diagnose?

[Jodi372008]

Hi
i am right now going through the process of finding out if this is what my beloved Georgie has, the blood test are coming in this morning. (In case you don't get this right away today is Sept. 11).
He is so, so, very precious to my children and to me, I haven't been able to stop crying yet, he was my cat more. We got him as a kitten just weaned from a family that was going to take them to the pound. And he had me from that moment, not to mention the rest of my family.
He got sick so fast!!! i mean he was fine one day and sick the next. i had to wait on my husband to get home to get him to the vet. In the mean time, he was lethargic and meowing very softly. But he was in the living room with me, i wouldn't let him out of my sight. Well i got preoccupied with something and he went to our laundry room and when I went to get him, he was having a seizure, before he went into it he let out the LOUDEST scream, not a meow, a scream (worse than a cat in heat) and he went into his seizure. That was the worse thing i ever seen and i've seen some bad things (i used to be a nursing student). I stayed with him so he didn't hit our washing machine or dryer. He was contorting into positions that wasn't natural, there was nothing i could do, except cry. He had vomited some light orangish or pinkinsh snot. When his seizure stopped, I got a towel and picked him up in it. I took him into the living room and sat in my recliner with him on my lap. I cleaned him up a little, cause moving him hurt him, so i just let him lay still in my arms. I talked to him and petted him softly and i cried the whole time. His eyes were blank and his limbs were very limp and he had no feeling when i petted between the pads there was no reflex. About this time I was scared and knew i would lose my best friend. We had no more incidents he just layed there and looked in my eyes as I told him it was ok and that I loved him.

He had another seizure at the vet's and they have him on oxygen and medicine so he's not in pain and at this time I am still waiting for the vet to call with the test result.
By the way, the vet is his and my other animals' vet, and they are very good with the animals. I take comfort that there is always someone there with him and he's not alone.

Thank You for reading my story Jodi

[Daveyo]

Hello

Your cat has neurological damage based on those two seizures. The odds are slim. You mentioned something here about wet FIV. I am just wondering if this is a typo. There is a dry version and a wet version of FIPV.

The speed of FIV itself is fast. It sneaks up on you without warning. Apparently your cat had this disease for some time. It goes in phases. Right now your in the last phase of this disease cycle.

You will need to contact some top researchers in the VET community such as a University that is familiar of FIV and find out if they have something around that can be done. I am more into Canine than into felines. However on the FIPV there is a good treatment for this disease and it is successful, and for some reason anti-malarial drugs is the answer. Don't know about if FIV will respond to anti-malarial drugs. Have not examined this at all.

FIV is similar to HIV in its respects. A whole different ballgame compared to FIPV. Some quick lab work will have to be done to find out if FIV will respond to anti-malarial drugs. The problem for you is time which is limited due to your cats condition. Typically research costs like about 90 dollars an hour. This research can last for many hours or days or weeks or months. Depends on their willingness to get the job done fast enough. So if you want them to find out if FIV can respond to anti-malarial drugs, it might take a few days just for a preliminary answer of yes or no. As of the Dx on it, that is another issue to figure out.

Will your cat live long enough, this is unknown. I don't know what else to tell you.

Daveyo

[Marie1]

I am giving my cat olive leaf extract. They gave me a prescription called cyproheptadine which is supposed to simulate his appeite. It is a little bit but I think his body needs more time on it. I am here if you want to share.