Friday March 20, 1998 Part 2 15 Messages ====================================== Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 11:40:49 -0600 (CST) From: "Nancy A. Schmall" To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Subject: Re: Gretchen doing good and questions Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Ann, Immunoregulin works best if given in a vein. However, Lynn has had some luck with giving it to Stinker under the skin. nancy -------------------------------------- From: "AZ-HART" To: "felvtalk" Subject: Are Combo Shots Safe? Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 14:30:08 -0700 Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net I have read reference made to people who claim that "combo shots" can cause problems, and that it is better to give shots separately. Specifically, if a cat is to receive a 4in1 shot AND an FeLV shot, some say it should be given as 2 shots and not as a "5in1" shot together? I've always seen my vets giving these shots as combos. Any ideas on this? Irene Hart Arizona Homeless Animals Rescue Team (AZ-HART) http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/azhart Email us at: azhart@sprynet.com -------------------------------------- From: Newtanator Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 17:49:57 EST To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Subject: Re: Are Combo Shots Safe? Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Irene, My vet does not give the felv shot in with anything else either. While he will start the others at 6 wks, he is steadfast about the kitten being 9 wks or 3 lbs before he will even start the felv shots of which there are two, 3 to 4 wks apart. Right now there is furor over childrens vaccinations being given 3 and 4 to a shot. The fear is that the immune system is "confused" by being hit with so many things at once. Personally, I don't want my cat's immune system being confused when it comes to the felv vaccine. I want it to know exactly what it's doing. I think I will stick with it being given by itself. barb -------------------------------------- From: AskforArt Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 18:11:57 EST To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Subject: Re: Are Combo Shots Safe? Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Another reason to separate the shots--vets now suspect that one of the vaccines is causing the injection-site sarcomas, and now have a set protocol for injection site location. That way they will be able to tell which vaccine is causing the tumors. I guess the theory goes this way--we don't know what's killing your cats, but we'll keep on doing it anyway until there are enough of them dead to have a statictically significant study, and then we'll stop. Linda P in Sacramento PS-James, I KNOW, no vet bashing. But this one makes me really mad. -------------------------------------- From: macat@webtv.net (belinda sauro) Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 10:39:44 -0800 To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Subject: Re: felv+ and felv- cats together Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Ann, Hi, I too have positive and negative kitties living together. Before we knew we had this killer amongst us we did not vaccinate for this, because our kitties were indoors, do I regret that now. We discovered the disease in 1992, when my Frankie had a cold that was not clearing up (runny nose, watery eyes). His test came back positive, we took the other 4 in and 3 of them were positive (remember they were not vaccinated at that time). Of the 4 that were +, we lost 3 and Teenye turned negative ( she has been negative for the last 6 years) They since then get the vaccination every year. Then my little Bailey found me, he was and still is +, we found out that Joey had been sneaking under the door to play with him (he was isolated), so we prayed the vaccine would keep them all safe and let Bailey join the rest. That was one and a half years ago, all except Bailey were still negative as of February this year. We didn't get Bailey tested, but we're thinking of testing him one last time because he's symptom free (he's been tested 3 times in the year and a half - always +, but its been over a year since he was tested last. He went through the immunoregalin treatment for about 5 months, but it was so stressful on him we stopped it). I don't know what the future holds, but since Joey had exposed everyone already, there was no reason not to keep Bailey. I don't know what we would have done if Joey hadn't been a stinker, I was already very attached to Bailey he is one of the sweetest cats I've ever had the priviledge of being owned by. We leave our future in Gods hands and pray for the best, so far he's been kind. It's a very personal decision, I wish you the best in making it. Thinking good thoughts for you and yours. Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats... Come see why I'm so happy... www.geocities.com/heartland/estates/7122 -------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 16:52:51 -0800 From: Dana Crow Organization: Magical Moments Preschool To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Subject: Re: Are Combo Shots Safe? Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net interesting thoughts Barb re too many vaccinations at once. I know here in Canada, children are given DPT & polio vaccinations at 2, 4, 6 mos. All of my babes were breast fed & I NEVER got those shots till they were much older. I have always felt that it is too much of a whammy to give one little body at once. Obviously the same goes for little cats. Those poor bodies likely don't know how to respond! Dana -------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 16:56:30 -0800 From: Dana Crow Organization: Magical Moments Preschool To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Subject: FIP Prevention wise? Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net QUESTION?? is it smart to try using the FIP nasal spray on a FelV cat to cut down the chance of getting the disease? How is it spread? Cat to cat? or can it live within them prior to symptoms? I would sure like to do whatever is necessary to help my 3 not get it.Dana -------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 17:01:10 -0800 From: Dana Crow Organization: Magical Moments Preschool To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Subject: Any word re T.V. Publicity??? Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Just wondering (& hoping) if any one had heard anything from any of the shows we wrote to??Now that Oprah is thru with the Beef issue....... Did anyone try 60 minutes or DateLine etc. as they seem to have shorter segments of general interest than some of the other shows mentioned. Dana -------------------------------------- From: "James G. Wilson" To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 20:16:52 +0000 Subject: Re: computer virus alert Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Thanks Kat and Larry for helping to clear this up. Pam, don't worry about this- I see people make this mistake all the time :) In the future, though, everyone please send these kind of alerts to me personally, and I'll forward them if they turn out to be valid. Thanks. Still, Larry brings up an interesting point: > I would tend to agree with Kat. A virus file, to my knowledge, must be > one of three types of executable files: .exe; .bat; or .com. This is all quite true. However, you forgot to mention that there are things called "macro viruses" that are real but do not reside in executable files. They hide inside of MS-Word documents "*.doc". When someone receives one of these infected files and opens it, the virus "comes alive". I, myself, was an unwitting victom of this last year. A professor sent me a document via e-mail, but my virus-scan wasn't up-to-date on these macro viruses. The next morning after opening that document, my computer crashed- and crashed hard. It took me at least five hours to sort out the mess. A scan with updated software found the culprit. Oh well, enough of the computer viruses. Let's work on getting rid of these other viruses that we haven't yet found a way to overcome. Take care, and best wishes. In loving memory of Vyvyan: March 20, 1988 - August 15, 1997 James G. Wilson phaedrus@ctnet.net, phaedrus69@hotmail.com, felv@angelfire.com http://www.angelfire.com/il/felv/ http://www.litchfieldil.com/members/phaedrus/ http://www.fortunecity.com//skyscraper/sterling/20/niu.html -------------------------------------- From: "James G. Wilson" To: felvtalk@MailingList.net Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 20:16:52 +0000 Subject: Re: Are Combo Shots Safe? Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net > PS-James, I KNOW, no vet bashing. But this one makes > me really mad. Actually, this is a bit unfair to vets. There is more to this new controversy than just separating the shots. If your vet is up-to-date (if not, then your bash is justified), then s/he knows to give these shots in the rear hind quarters of the cat just in case the sarcoma develops. The FeLV shot is given in the left hind leg, and the rabies vaccine is given in the right hind leg. The reasoning for this is that, should the sarcoma develop, it can be isolated to that leg and be prevented from spreading. It is when these vaccines are given in the neck area that your claim is valid- there's no way to isolate the sarcoma if it develops there :( The risk of injection-site sarcomas (IIS) is about one in every thousand cats, but the risk of contracting FeLV without the vaccine is much higher. So, the end result is that it is perhaps better to have a cat lose a leg to IIS than to lose a life to FeLV. I hope this helps in understanding this controversy a bit more. Please let me know if you want more info about this. Take care, and best wishes. In loving memory of Vyvyan: March 20, 1988 - August 15, 1997 James G. Wilson phaedrus@ctnet.net, phaedrus69@hotmail.com, felv@angelfire.com http://www.angelfire.com/il/felv/ http://www.litchfieldil.com/members/phaedrus/ http://www.fortunecity.com//skyscraper/sterling/20/niu.html -------------------------------------- From: "AZ-HART" To: Subject: Re: FIP Prevention wise? Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:32:11 -0700 Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Dana, FIP is spread cat to cat, but my vet said it is far less contageous than FIV, which is far less contageous than FeLV. Once they show symptoms (our "Romeo" got very skinny all of the sudden), it hits fast, and there is no cure. You can only make them comfortable until they become ill. They can live for a long time without showing symptoms. I know there is a wet kind and a dry kind. "Romeo" had the wet kind, which causes fluid to build up in the abdomen. But because the tests for FIP are not very reliable, it is not something one usually tests for unless the cat is sick. A positive on a 1-400 tighter does not mean positive, but a positive on a 1-600 likely means positive. Irene Hart Arizona Homeless Animals Rescue Team (AZ-HART) http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/azhart Email us at: azhart@sprynet.com -------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 21:47:27 +0000 To: felvtalk@MailingList.net From: BILL BEAMISH Subject: Re: welcome Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Hi Barb, My daughter Katie is a wonderful help with the cats and kittens and she has been since she was 18 months old! She just thinks I'm a miracle worker and I know as she gets older she'll realize I can't fix everything. It's funny - when I was pregnant with Katie, I went through hell from my family and friends because I had 9 positive cats at the time. They said I was risking my life, the baby's life, I was selfish, all kinds of nonsense. Well, it turns out Katie is the healthiest child I've ever seen! I think she's been sick maybe three times in her life and those were very minor things. After all these years people sometimes still act stupid when they find out I have positive cats living with us. What amazes me is most of the time these are very intelligent, professional people who ask, aren't we afraid of catching leukemia ourselves from the cats and similar questions. I have 22 cats living with us at the moment but not all of those are Felv positive - 13 are positive with FeLV or Fiv, 1 has chronic lung damage from a fire, 1 is a diabetic, 1 has a thyroid problem, 2 have irritable bowel syndrome and the other 4 have just always been with us. The negative cats always get their yearly Felv boosters, including the Fiv positive cats. I have never had a vaccinated Fiv positive cat catch Felv and that has always amazed me since the Fiv cats immune systems are compromised already and I figured they would be the most likely to have a vaccine failure. I have had maybe 4 vaccine failures in 14 years and in all those cases, stress was a factor. In one case the cat was 10 yrs. old and very stressed out about being abandoned by her owner. I am very sad to say Lucy, the cat I lost last week, was a vaccine failure. She was a feral cat I had somewhat tamed down but not completely and she was too stressed to survive here. I had her separated from the others but she was not thriving at all. In fact, my sister thought she was even going to die. So I figured she'd do better with the other cats and the family. I had her vaccinated with both Felv shots before introducing her to the others but within 3 months she showed signs of illness. I feel very guilty about Lucy but thought I was doing the best for her at the time. We own a big old house and it's a double but instead of renting out the upstairs apartment we converted it into a cat apartment for healthy cats who we believe may be able to be placed in new homes. About 6 years ago, we put new linoleum (easier to clean and disinfect) throughout the whole apartment, we put guards on all the windows (so no accidental tearing of screens in summer and falling out of the windows) we put ceiling fans in all the rooms for better circulation of air in summer and Bill even cut out half of the apartment door and put in a heavy screen for air circulation. There is no upholstered furniture for the cats to shred but there are plenty of scratching posts, cat beds, cat condos(double and single) our old wooden kitchen table and chairs, an old TV stand and an old coffee table. On one wall, we built shelfs like stepping stones so the cats can sleep up on them. We have about 30 cats up there at the moment and there is a bed, a condo or shelf for each and every one. Outside of the upstairs apartment door is a big hall where we have large cages to temporarily keep cats in an emergency. For instance, last week somebody threw out a pregnant cat so we took her in, took her to the vet, had her tested (neg.thank God) and we put her in the largest cage to have her kittens. Last Monday she had 1 little baby - just one! Mom and baby are fine and we will find them a good home when the time comes. We never cage a cat for an indefinite length of time. Any cat coming into our home either eventually goes up to live with the healthy cats until we can place them in a new home or they come downstairs to live with us for one reason or another. In the past 6 years, we have taken in, tested, spayed or neutered, given shots to, fixed up when necessary, and then placed in new homes, almost 1,000 cats and kittens. I'm very happy about that and it gives me great satisfaction to know that we saved those cats from almost certain death. I'm really going on here but I wanted you all to know our situation because there were questions about the failure rate of the Felv vaccine and about how contagious Felv is. No matter what some vets will say, I can say from 14 years experience, that an unvaccinated cat would have to have a long, very close encounter with a positive cat for him to catch Felv. And even then sometimes it is not passed. I have a 16 year old "naturally immune" cat living here and exposed for 14 of her years. Fiv is even less contagious. I have NEVER had a cat pass it to another cat and I know because I periodically retest every cat living downstairs with us. In fact, my 13 year old cat Fluffy, who has chronic lung damage, is at the vet's now with a tooth abcess and the vet called this evening and asked if I wanted her retested as long as she's there anyway. I said okay and he just called back about an hour ago and said she's still negative for both Felv and Fiv and she's been exposed for 12 years. I think I've written enough! Sorry its so long. Judy -------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 21:50:50 +0000 To: felvtalk@MailingList.net From: BILL BEAMISH Subject: Re: Hello. Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net I just wrote that big, long letter and forgot to say I spoke with my vet tonight about being listed on your vet list. I am going to talk with her at length on Monday when I pick Fluffy up and I'll let you know then. Judy -------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 22:08:55 +0000 To: felvtalk@MailingList.net From: BILL BEAMISH Subject: Re: Hello. Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net My deepest sympathy for your loss of Moira. I know how much it hurts. Thank you for the information about Acemannan. I told my vet about it this evening and she had never heard of it before! Well, now she does and I'm printing up some more info for her. I just heard about Vit.C for Felv but didn't know the dosage. Thank you for that information. I feed all my cats Iams Lamb and Rice and they seem to do very well on that. I want to give the Acemannan along with the Interferon. I too have some cats that just will not tolerate getting IV injections twice a week and why stress them out when stress does so much damage to them? It would almost be like cancelling out the good the drug would do by stressing them out getting it! My youngest positive cat, Maggie, has been on Interferon for 18 months now and is doing fantastic! Absolutely no signs of illness! She was born with Felv. She was abandoned by her mother at 2 weeks of age and I bottle fed her and only found out she was positive when she was 9 weeks old. She'll be 2 in May and you wouldn't believe by looking at her that she was positive. The best of luck with your cat, Keigan. I hope he does as well as Maggie! Thanks for your welcome. Judy -------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 22:17:04 +0000 To: felvtalk@MailingList.net From: BILL BEAMISH Send reply to: felvtalk@MailingList.net Hi Nancy, Thanks for your encouraging thoughts. I know what you mean. I don't even trust people who don't care about animals because almost always you'll find they also don't care much about their fellow human beings. Judy -------------------------------------- END