My cat has serious issues...Please help.

[Glamgirl247]

Hello to all,
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.....It's a long one so have fun.
I have 2 cats, a 6 yr old male (Geep) and a 5.5 yr old female (Olive). Both cats are strays acquired while living in Italy in 2003/04. They have always been up to date on vaccinations, are fixed and have always been indoors. Olive is in great health but poor Geep is another story.
Geep was in good health until about 6 months ago. At first he simply became anti-social. He would pick a hiding spot and stay there for days. He would only come out to urinate or defecate and he would usually do that in the bathtub. At that time we believed that he had an altercation with Olive and that it was a territorial issue. We attempted to reintroduce him into the rest of the household. After several attempts we began to notice he was losing weight and self mutilating by way of scratching his neck excessively. He also decided to hide in the litter pan and eat kitty litter for several days which is when we decided to go to the vet. At the vet he was diagnosed with feline leukemia. The vet gave us no available options for treatment and left us with our death sentence. Olive tested negative and was vaccinated.
My husband and I were not ready to accept this and decided to research any and all options for making Geep healthy again. At this time we settle on ImmunoRegulin. A series of injections known as an immunostimulant therapy. The injections seemed to help. His attitude and health seemed improved and he stopped losing weight. The self mutilation, however, increased. His scratching reached horrifying proportions. At the time of vet visit #2 he had scratched all the fur off his neck and had large open/scabbed sores all the way around his neck. This time we went to a local animal hospital that had a little more experience with cats. The diagnosis was a skin infection and they gave him an antibiotic shot and steroid injection. We returned 2 weeks later for another steroid injection and since he has stopped scratching and his neck has healed...
I would hope this was the end of the story but no, that was just a preface. Currently, Geep has returned to his hiding ways. He selects either a box or the enclosed litter pan. Every other day urinates or defecates inappropriately, behind chairs or on the linoleum floor. (We have two litter pans and they are cleaned regularly) He eats constantly and is very cranky with our other cat especially regarding food. Despite eating constantly, he has not regained any of his previous weight and is currently about 5.4lbs. He has also allowed his coat to become yellowed and unkempt.
Please help. This summer we have spent about $1500 on vet bills and it seems we are back where we started. I cannot afford to keep going to the vet but I also want my cat to be healthy. Thank you for suffering through this incredibly long post.

[growler~GateKeeper]

I'm sorry Geep is having such difficulties

How was Feline Leukemia diagnosed? Was there a FeLk snap test done?

Were there full panel blood & urine tests run? What values were abnormal on those tests?

Did they do a culture & sensitivity test on the urine to check for crystals or infection?

Did they add a Thyroxine aka T4 test?

Some common symptoms of HyperThyroidism are furloss especially from pulling it out, weight loss despite good appetite, yeowling especially at night, cranky

Did they run a Complete Blood Count aka CBC?

Litter eating is often attributed to anemia.

Scratching the neck is often associated with food allergies, a cat/dog can eat the same food for years without issue then one day become allergic to something in it.

What are brand/flavour of food they eating?

[growler~GateKeeper]

Olive should also be tested for FeLk every 3-6 months for the next year to ensure she is not currently infected, though since the virus is shed by a postive cat she may also test positive at a later date

[Glamgirl247]

The first vet did a Felv/FLV Test that came back positive. No info other than that.
The second vet did a skin scrape and fungal culture. Both came back negative.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Some FeLk info:

Feline Leukemia info from Veterinary Partner

FeLk Brochure Cornell University

http://felineleukemia.org/

[chico2]

GG.first off,thank you for bringing these two strays all the way from Italy
I hope there is treatment for Geep,our Growler is one of our cat-gurus,there is not much she does not know about kitty-problems.
One of my cats,had similar problems to yours,ate an awful lot,but still lost weight from 16lb's to 12lb's in no time at all,he was diagnosed with HyperThyroidism.

[Glamgirl247]

So I guess that is my thought/question...Is there really anything more that can be done for Geep or is this all just a byproduct of the feline leukimia?

BTW Thank you for your advice. I love my Geepster and want him to get better.