FIV cat incurable stomatitis - any advice?

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Ruthmart
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FIV cat incurable stomatitis - any advice?

Post by Ruthmart »

Hi there,

Just wondered if anyone here had any experience with this.

In January I adopted a cat who soon became ill and turned out to be FIV positive and a coronavirus carrier. The rescue centre didn't test for these viruses.

Since May it's been a continual series of trips to the vet as he has been in so much pain with LPGS/stomatitis he regularly stops eating and has lost weight as a result.

We have been to two different vets for treatment and advice, been through the painful, traumatic and expensive procedure of having all his teeth removed in stages which is supposed to resolve the problem in the majority of cats, but I think FIV cats are the most difficult patients since their immune systems are already compromised. Even after all his teeth had been removed he had flare ups underwent further X-rays and surgery to remove a few root fragments. we have switched him to hypoallergenic grain free diet, tried steroid shots and tablets, antibiotic shots, metacam, various supplements like lysine all to no avail. The steroids are not a good long term solution and we're already seeing rapidly diminishing returns, metacam doesn't seem to give him enough pain relief and the vets seem to have run out of suggestions. We have spent more than two thousand pounds on his surgery and care in the last six months which we can't really afford and it's sad and frustrating that we can't seem to help him.

He otherwise seems healthy but if he won't eat that's clearly a serious problem. I just wish there was more we could do to relieve his inflamed and sore mouth to encourage him to eat. At this stage we can't even give him medicine as he won't take anything by mouth, not even disguised in food, and he is in too much pain for us to get him to take a pill.

I fear we are running out of options. If anyone has any experience with this I would love to hear your suggestions.

Thank you,

Ruth
booktigger
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Re: FIV cat incurable stomatitis - any advice?

Post by booktigger »

I'm sorry to hear this, the only other thing I've heard for gum issues is interferon directly applied to the gums (fairly sure it is injection) - surprised they have gone down the steroid route, it is one of the worst things for gum issues. One of our local rescues has a cat who has just gone to see a specialist in Cheshire due to gum issues, might be worth contacting her via Facebook to see what he suggested - the rescue is called Oldham Cats. Fingers crossed for him.
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greenkitty
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Re: FIV cat incurable stomatitis - any advice?

Post by greenkitty »

Speak to your vet about Interferon, it can be injected into the gums (by the vet) or given orally.
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Re: FIV cat incurable stomatitis - any advice?

Post by Sniper1 »

Been in similar situation and found as much vitamin b administered as possible when possible helped loads we used pure brewers yeast powder from Holland and barret you can't overdose as its water soluble vitiman you can get vitamin b injections
Ruthmart
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Re: FIV cat incurable stomatitis - any advice?

Post by Ruthmart »

booktigger wrote:I'm sorry to hear this, the only other thing I've heard for gum issues is interferon directly applied to the gums (fairly sure it is injection) - surprised they have gone down the steroid route, it is one of the worst things for gum issues. One of our local rescues has a cat who has just gone to see a specialist in Cheshire due to gum issues, might be worth contacting her via Facebook to see what he suggested - the rescue is called Oldham Cats. Fingers crossed for him.

Our new vet has mentioned interferon but it doesn't seem to have a reliable success rate and would be very expensive, possibly unaffordable for us given that we've gone into debt with what we've already spent :-(
Unfortunately our insurers won't pay out for this condition as it's considered dental work....
I'll look up Oldham Cats to see if they have had any suggestions,thank you
Ruthmart
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Re: FIV cat incurable stomatitis - any advice?

Post by Ruthmart »

Sniper1 wrote:Been in similar situation and found as much vitamin b administered as possible when possible helped loads we used pure brewers yeast powder from Holland and barret you can't overdose as its water soluble vitiman you can get vitamin b injections
Thank you - I hadn't heard that one, it's worth a go!
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