Living with Feline Leukemia Virus

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Happy Easter. It’s been a year now since I was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV). After deciding that I wasn’t going to be “put under” to get blood transfusions or abdominal scans, both which would have been several thousands of dollars, we settled on a $30 bottle of prednisone/prednisolone. Two pills a day for a month. Prednisone/prednisolone is a steroid used as an anti-inflammatory, an immune suppressant, and a cancer treatment.

Meowee, within a couple of days it was like a miracle! I went from no appetite, no energy and no future, to a pep in my step and a will to live. A month later my next blood work report showed that my anemia had resolved itself. That was pawesome news! However I am living in a kind of bubble that could burst.

My human has read that some furiends haven’t had as good an outcome using prednisone/prednisolone, and some have even died after starting it. Actually my good report wasn’t all good. I had since developed a heart murmur. Was it caused by the prednisone? Whether it was or not, I had to start taking a daily blood thinner to reduce the chance of having a stroke due to potential blood clots. Blood clots can form due to internal bleeding as a result of having Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) and my bowel habits over the past few years have been highly indicative of having IBD. But since I’m not getting an abdominal scan, we won’t be able to confirm it and see if treatment for that would help or not.

The goal was to reduce chronic inflammation and it worked. Even my frequent furball episodes have subsided by 90%.

If you’re superstitious at all, then you know things happen in threes. Sure enough, because prednisone/prednisolone makes the liver work harder, during my May vet visit they noted that I looked a little jaundiced (yellowing in the skin and eyes). So then I started on a daily liver supplement. After awhile we discontinued that because it was affecting my bowel movements. The vet was agreeable.

Thankfully all these medicines were fairly inexpensive. We don’t have pet health insurance. The vet at the VCA chain of pet hospitals in Canada been very supportive to my human. She reached out about out once a month to check in on me. I’d been back and forth for a few blood tests in the following 8 months and, due to my aggressive distrust of strangers touching me, I had to be sedated 2 hours before I went.

At that stage it was just a matter of tapering off my steroid pills, and monitoring for any worrisome side effects. It seems that it’s not good to be on them for more than 3 months at full dose. One of the side effects is an increased appetite, which is good because I had lost a bit of weight after losing my appetite. The other is that I am a lot more thirsty and therefore drink of lot more water which means I need to urinate a lot more. That’s hard on my kidneys. Good news so far is my kidneys are ok.

All that didn’t stop me from getting out on the boat last summer (more about that coming soon), and this weekend we are once again spending Easter at Bowen Island marina. I’ve already had my Easter treat of prawns, shrimp, and crab, oh meow!

Paw Paw for now =^,,^=

So I have Feline Leukemia Virus.

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How and when did I get that?! I’m a 10 year old “indoor” cat, in my prime, so when the vet called to discuss my blood work back in March 2023, we were totally blindsided when she gave us the bad news. Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV). FeLV is to cats what AIDS is to humans. FeLV only affects cats. Apparently only 2% of cats world wide get it. Not to start an uprise, but it’s only natural to “civilly” question how those stats are calculated.

Further, my bloodwork also revealed that I was severely anemic which is when there’s not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen around my body because I’m not making enough new ones to replace the existing ones that will eventually run out. Apparently this is called non-regenerative anemia. The underlying culprit is most likely the FeLV.

Initially they wanted me to have a blood transfusion. They’d have to put me to sleep in order to do that but they were worried that I might not wake up again, so that wasn’t an option. Transfusions can be risky and cause bad reactions, but even if successful it wouldn’t be a cure. It would give me a fresh new set of red blood cells and extend my quality of life for a few months or so while they did more diagnostic tests. After listening to my humans talk to my vet, I’m pretty sure diagnostics means scans and biopsies, also requiring me to be knocked out while they do it. It also means being in strange places with a lot more strangers touching me, a lot more follow up vet visits, blood tests and drugs. I think the stress of going through all that would be worse for me than just not doing that.

Did you know FeLV is highly preventable? There is a vaccine for it! My human refused it because she thought I wouldn’t get the virus being that I was an indoor cat. So did I get it when I stayed at the kennels? Only 1 of the 2 kennels I’ve been to asked for proof of some vaccines like rabies, but not FeLV. Apparently it’s not easy to get infected just by being around infected cats but I still could have unknowingly been exposed to very fresh saliva, or other bodily fluids, of an infected cat there. To put my human’s guilt at ease, the vet told her I could have been born with it and it’s been dormant all this time. Pawsible, but my 10 years seems a little outside the average of living 1-2 years after being diagnosed as a kitten, or 4-6 years after being diagnosed as an adult. But the way they were talking, it sounded like I only had weeks left.

I’m still here… Paw Paw for now =^,,^=

New to Nanaimo

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Happy Caturday furiends. Time to catch up on what I’ve been doing for the last year…wow but as the humans say, time flies when you’re having fun! That and human mom has a bad habit of procrasinating but in her defense she does have a plateful of projects she took on. No need to get into any of that right now.

So picking up where we left off in June 2021, the next stop after visiting the human’s cousins on Salt Spring Island was the port in the City of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Our spot on the dock felt like we were the center of attention with locals, tourists, and shops lining the harbourside walkway surrounding us. To meow delight, about a boat length ahead of us, was a fish and chips restaurant. Yes it was very tasty!

My humans have friends on nearby Protection Island just a 5 minute dinghy ride away so on Canada Day they left me on Minstrel while they went to visit them. I was cool with that.

Then it was time to go home but a few weeks later we headed north for 2 weeks up the Sunshine Coast to Desolation Sound and surroundings again. Stay tuned!

Paw Paw for now =^,,^=

Sweltering At Salt Spring Island

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crossing straitThis  last week of June the humans felt the need to go on a boating vacation now that they’ve had their shots and the travel restriction are lifting, so away we went over to the Gulf Islands. We knew there was going to be this weather phenomenon called a heat dome, but figured the best place to keep cool would be on the water. However, it’s just plain hot. Record breaking hot! Not a good time to be covered in a thick fur coat I tell you!

The crossing of the strait from the mainland can be rather bumpy, but luckily our crossing was just so flat calm that I didn’t have to worry about getting my sea legs. Our boat Minstrel purred easily along at about 8 knots and it took us about 6 hours to get to our destination. We even saw a few dolphins along the way.

gangesmarinaSo we are here on Salt Spring Island at Ganges Marina. We hadn’t been here before. The climate of the Gulf Islands is more Mediterranean like which makes them very popular. The island is big on tourism and the locals are very furiendly. We have some cousins who live here and since we came without any of our Port Moody Squadron boater furiends, it was a purrfect opportunity to have a good long visit them. The humans went to their house for dinner the first evening, and they came to have dinner on the boat with us the next.

The nights aren’t cooling down as usual either and last night the humans took me out for a dinghy ride to see if that would help. I hadn’t been out in the dinghy for a while and at first I wasn’t too comfortable about the idea. However, after a slow and gentle ride, I chilled out and seemed to enjoy it. The humans forgot my life jacket at home but it doesn’t really fit anyways. As long as they wear theirs!

purrsea-meltingdinghyride

Hope it’s nice and cool where you are and that all is well. Paw paw for now =^,,^=

Throwback Thursday – Mini me on a Christmas Tree

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What a crazy year 2020 has been but it’s all in our hindsight now, right where it belongs thank goodness. I know there’s been a lot of confusion around the amount of time the humans have been home compared to, well, ever. At times I had to hide from all their attention. It could get a little overwhelming but I tried to tell them not to take it purrsonally. On the other paw, they had me meowing out loud with some of the jokes and memes they shared about how others have been experiencing it. I think we bonded more from that and was relieved to know we weren’t the only ones. It’s good to find the humour in life.

Remember in my last few posts during our summer boat cruise I had mentioned that I had to go on a special diet? Yes I am still on it and I’m happy to report my situation has improved. I’m a little embarrassed to meow about it but my number 2 litter box business had become consistently runny. A trip to my vet revealed that I “could have” irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or worse, pancreatitis, but the only way to know would be to get a cat scan. We don’t have pet insurance and that was going to be expensive, so the alternative was to change my food and see what happens. So now I’m eating a novel protein of duck and/or venison meat from specialty pet food stores. No more fancy feast fo meow, but I still get some prawns and crab now and then.

Also do you remember a post I made from a few years back about a painting of meow as a kitten? Well my human artist furiend Lorraine Yigit has done it again: my human commissioned her to put it on a 6″ ball. I am so happy to reveal my new Christmas tree ornament! It’s so good I’m going to get a second one of meow made for next year. Many of my furiends have one of themselves, and maybe you can get one too. What a great keepsake for the humans.

It’s getting closer to midnight now so that means it’s time for a catnap before the humans open their bubbly water and get noisy. I would like to wish you all a healthy & Happy Mew Year! Above all, remember to be safe, be calm, and be kind to each other.

Paw paw for now! =^,,^=

Slo-Mo Monday – Catcation Recap

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Happy Monday furiends. We are home now, my catcation is over. It’s currently quite a bit hotter on land than on the ocean and I’m thinking I want to go back! We will go back but only on the weekends now. The humans are hoping the nice weather will continue, but this weekend looks like rain. It rains here a lot. Good thing we have lots of sunny photos of me to look at.

One thing my human mom hasn’t done much of is taking photos of me in slow motion. One of my Instagram furiends, Peanut from “ImABoatCat” has been purractising high jump for the catolympics and her slo-mo video shows her in good form. I meowed that I wanted to see what I looked like in slow motion too. My human needs more purractise of being ready to take Slo-Mo videos of me when I am, but she did get a couple of starters.

The humans had a two week cruise guide set out by the Port Moody Power & Sail Squadron Cruisemaster, and so far, as I’ve posted in the first week, we went to:

  • Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast,
  • Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound,
  • Squirrel Cove & Cortes Bay on Cortes Island and
  • Campbell River on Vancouver Island.

The second week we left the group and were out on our own which meant we didn’t go to Gorge Harbour, Rebecca Spit, Tribune Bay, or Gibsons Marina. Instead we went back to Prideaux Haven, Pender Harbour, and lastly Bedwell Bay which is an hour away from home.

All the furesh fish and purrawns are store away and I have to understand that my diet will no longer include them, at least for the next couple of months. More on the results of my cat doctor visit coming soon. Don’t worry it’s not that bad, I hope.

Paw paw for now =^,,^=

 

Fishy Friday Kisses in Campbell River

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Meowee furiends, look what my human caught! Meow very own fish! A Spring or Chinook salmon. Sometimes it takes a long time to catch one. Hours and hours even. So understandably I was resting below deck when the big event happened so I missed being there to get my photo with it before it was packed away on ice to keep it fresh. However, after we got to the human’s friends dock, I got to meet it.

Have you ever kissed a fish before? Apparently it’s a thing and I just did it too. It’s an old tradition although sparse on the details. The why’s and wherefurs of the purractise diffurs from one to another but here are a few reasons:

            • To bring good luck
            • To attract more fish
            • A thank you for getting caught
            • Apologize for catching
            • Out of respect
            • Speed up healing from hook (only for catch and release fish)
            • To become a true Newfoundlander
            • Selfie opportunity
            • A dare

Is it safe to kiss a fish? Due to fish being known to host to a variety of microscopic parasites, you could run the risk of getting a viral infection when kissing it. That can be further amplified if the water it was caught in was contaminated with any toxic waste and bacteria, either resulting in an upset tummy and severe diarrhea for several days.

I supurrvised the human as he cut up the fish, and the one he caught the day before, into smaller dinner sized pieces, but when he got out the machine to shrink wrap them to put in the freezer, I headed out to my usual purrch to relax and keep a watch out for any flying thieves. Now we will have fish all year round.

 

Next we are heading for warmer water and less windy areas back in one of our faourite places, Prideaux Haven, for a couple days. Paw paw for now =^,,^=

Motion Monday – On Seagull Watch

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First it was geese, then ducks and a swan, and now I have to safeguard all our freshly caught seafood from these intelligent but pesky birds. They float idly around the boat for hours just waiting for an oppurrtunity to grab and go. Not on my watch they don’t.

One interesting fact my human told me was that “Seagulls can drink both fresh and salt water. Most animals are unable to do this, but seagulls have a special pair of glands right above their eyes which is specifically designed to flush the salt from their systems through openings in the bill.”

I had a checkup by a cat doctor 2 weeks ago and my blood work didn’t indicate a lack or abundance of salt in my system, so I guess I’m normal. However, I have been having a bit of a salt craving and discovered that anything around the anchor chain to be a tasty source. Upon further research by my ever curious human mom, it is actually safe for us kitties to routinely drink salt water since we can tolerate a higher salt intake than humans. While humans have to watch their salt intake, it appears that we don’t have to do the same. Our kidneys are able to excrete sodium at a much greater efficiency than humans.

Today we are in Campbell River visiting the human’s friends. Their house is actually riverfront with a dock and we are tied up to it.  After we pulled up over 200 prawns and left Cassel Falls in Teakearne Arm (the humans were right again about Teakearne Arm) we headed west to Cortes Bay which is a bit south of Squirrel Cove. There human’s friends showed up in their fishing boat to take them fishing. It was a little bouncy out in the wide open water so I volunteered to stay and take care of Minstrel until they came back. Yesterday the humans fished their way across the strait while waiting for the tide to be high enough to get up the river. Again the humans have gone fishing and the wind is still really gusty so this time both me and my human mom volunteered to stay on Minstrel.

Next post I will have some fishy tails to tells you. Paw paw for now! =^,,^=

Friday Furiends – Meet Oliver

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Each time we go cruising I get to meet some new furiends. Mostly dogs but on the odd occasion I hear about other cats lurking below the decks of their boat who rarely make it out on deck so we can get introduced. Today I’d like to introduce Oliver.

Oliver is a 10 month old Yorkshire Terrier. He is very vocal and protective of his boat so even when you look at him he starts yapping away incessantly. His redeeming quality is that he is so darn cute. Oliver’s humans have setup a pee pad on their back deck for him. To me that makes more sense than trying to find somewhere on shore several times a day, that isn’t covered in razor sharp oyster shells, and/or in the pouring rain. Instead the grass-like mat is simply rinsed off in the ocean and ready to use again. Easy peesy.

Oliver likes to chew things. He has a chicken chew toy named Henrietta but he’d rather chew on things that he shouldn’t like the ropes of the fenders or the lines to tie the boat to a dock, or the strap on the fire extinguisher or any of loose piece wood he can find inside the boat. Once he has managed to get a forbidden prize of some sort, off he runs around the deck of his 50 foot Grand Banks boat, with his human mom chasing after him. He is such a little dickens. My human mom chases me around the deck sometimes too but just for fun and a bit of exercise.

We are leaving Squirrel Cove and heading East over to Teakerne Arm this morning. My humans say that’s the best place for prawns… so hurry up and let’s get going!

Paw paw for now =^,,^=

 

 

Throwback Thursday – Squirreled away in Squirrel Cove

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In Squirrel Cove, Cortes IslandLast year I was either too busy eating prawns and sleeping, or out of internet range to post about our adventures and if I don’t post about it soon, then the moment is lost. The humans say I have the attention span of a squirrel!  Well, I have something to say about that….

It was this time last year that we were in Squirrel Cove and we are again today. I don’t know why it’s called Squirrel Cove, but it is. This photo is from 2017 when there were a lot of fires burning in BC and the skies were full of smoke.

So far we’ve been to Pender Harbour and stayed at the dock for the long weekend, then to Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound with 6 other boats for a couple of days. The weather was purrfect for the humans to swim and float around in water they say is the warmest north of Mexico.

My human dad has been trying his hardest to catch me a lot of prawns but so far this time he hasn’t been as successful as usual. Oh well, it might be for the best. I had a vet checkup a couple of weeks ago and I’m on a bit of a restricted diet and we don’t know yet if prawns are ok or not. More on that in another post.

Yesterday the weather was almost too hot but then became a tad unsettled at night and it rained. It’s sunny today but windy and supposed to rain again tomorrow. Then get nice again. Tomorrow we will break away from the group and go to Campbell River to meet some other humans. I’m just along for the ride, and the prawns.

Paw paw for now =^,,^=