My cat is suffering from severe chronic calicivirus for the past 7 months.
We have removed his teeth and tried managing the symptoms with anti inflammatory medication but for some reason cortisone is the only drug that gives him enough relief to be able to eat and have some interest in life.
However, our vet has explained that cortisone essentially kills all hope of him recovering from his chronic outbreak because it suppresses his immune system.
So now I am in a dilemma - do I continue giving him cortisone (one pill a day of 4mg) or am I allowing the virus to get stronger in this way and should I be looking at alternatives or persevering with anti inflammatory medication instead or even let him go at this point? Our vet can’t think of any other alternatives at this point.
Currently, his psychology is ok with cortisone but he’s always bleeding and drooling a little from his mouth and gags from the ulcers a few times a day. He also seems to be losing some fur. About twice a month he refuses to take his pill (due to loss of appetite and the pill is in his food) and he ends up bleeding a lot and hiding away and even urinating in his bed. This often leads to him receiving a cortisone injection at the vet’s.
My current plan is to keep him going on one pill a day for a couple more months and then try one pill every other day as suggested by another vet. However, I’m not optimistic about it given that even with a pill daily he is having a continuous low key outbreak whereas in the past a daily pill would be more effective.
The thought that his immune system is being suppressed and the virus is doing so much damage to his body is disturbing to say the least and it sounds like cortisone in this case is acting like end of life treatment as I can’t imagine him overcoming this never ending outbreak.
