When a cat chooses you: A FeLV survival story
I had this running joke I was saying to my woman when she was asking for a cat: I’d only get a cat when we moved into a castle. The kind with towers, a drawbridge, questionable heating. It wasn’t about cats, really. it was about delay, about not wanting something soft to rearrange my hours.
And then one day, without warning, a small creature jumped into my arms and meowed. You see, three years ago, we adopted a young cat that had been abandoned by neighbours and left on a harsh Polish winter. He was starving and clearly would not survive this cold, being a house cat.
So, in an hour or so, he jumped on my knees and I called him Kolya. Then came the test results. FeLV. Kocia białaczka (PL). The page you don’t want to open when googling late at night.
Three years of no sympomes passed and, in a few days, he bacame extremely ill. There isn’t one path through it. No manual. Just fragments from forums, vet advice, gut feeling, and what’s left of common sense. We started with supportive care. Interferon, DMG, ProBoost. Blood tests, appetite tracking, supplements to help the liver and immune system. The routine was relentless, but necessary.
We also decided, after nights of hesitation, to try RetroMAD1 that someone in a facebook group recommended us. It’s not yet a mainstream thing. It wasn’t first suggested by our first vet. But we read stories and scientific researches made all over the world, and our vet approved it then. We also dug through PubMed, asked around, and spoke to people who'd been there. So, we saw change.
It wasn't sudden. Kolya got worse, a lot worse, before he got better. Anemia showed up. Appetite dropped. There was a week when I was sure we were too late with that felv therapy.
Then it turned.
He started eating again. Sleeping deeper. Watching the balcony like it meant something. His eyes got clearer. Bloodwork improved. We were able to taper off steroids. The weird part? He started behaving like a very strong kitten. Like had not gone through that whole thing.
I don’t know if it was RetroMAD1 alone. It was everything: the interferon shots, the daily DMG drops, the quiet time together, the crying, the scrambled doses, the guesswork. But RetroMAD1 was still central. The others helped; it shifted something.
He still has some problems, f.e. occasionally bleeding gums. Side effect of the virus, apparently. He used to love dry food — now we’re on wet, soft stuff. He complains. I apologize. Then we sit on the couch like two old men with matching health issues.
If you're reading this because your cat has FeLV, know this: I’m not offering answers. But I can say you have options. Treatment might not be linear. Or clear. Yet, it is not pointless. Feline leukemia isn't always a sentence. Sometimes it’s a season.
Don’t trust any resource blindly. Don’t dismiss anything right away either. Read. Ask. Decide.
Kolya is sleeping next to me as I write this. He’s warm and slightly snoring. A few months ago, I wasn’t sure he’d make it through the next day. Now he’s stealing my blanket.
No castle. Just an apartment and a cat I never planned for. And I’d choose this again.
