Quote:
Originally Posted by garneycat
...It appears he has leukemia, has had it for a long time apparently and the cancer has spread through the blood to his brain.
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Some clarification is needed here......
Feline Leukemia is
not a type of feline cancer (Leukemia in
humans is considered blood cancer). Feline Leukemia is a bit of a misnomen....it's actually a virus which attacks the immune system and could therefore weaken resistance to cancer occurrence.
I am curious about your reference to Garney's brain......the only way to diagnose a brain tumor is through some form of imaging (x-ray/scan)....was this done? On what basis was any connection to his brain made?
I have no idea whether/not Garney will be able to pull through all this. It would certainly require a skilled, knowledgable and committed Vet (and, perhaps substantial resources).
There is one point I'd like to make, however....many Vets consider a diagnosis of Feline Leukemia (FeLV) as a license to euthanize the cat. The fact is, however, that while FeLV is not curable, it can most often be successfully managed, and is considered a chronic condition (as is diabetes). If you are able and willing to pursue treatment for him, I would strongly urge you to join an online group of other people with FeLV cats - those people's collective knowledge and experience often far outstrips that of most "ordinary" Veterinarians. You will find those people 24/7/365 right here
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FeLVPositiveCats/
There is an excellent site devoted to FeLV right here
http://www.felineleukemia.org/ and the owner of that site also runs a support group which can be found here
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/li...neleukemia.org
I can well relate to some of what you're going through. Five years ago I lost the love of my life to FeLV (combined with my own total ignorance of Internet resources and an incompetent Veterinarian)...this was a cat who appeared completely healthy and who suddenly collapsed due to the anemia's progression.. I firmly believe, knowing what I do today that, had I availed of the existing resources back then and insisted on a specific course of treatment, he would not have passed before his time.
I hope you'll keep us posted.