My vets have tried several therapies on me over the last year.
The first we tried itraconazole and fluconazole, but unfortunately with
very poor results.
In fact, I lost my eye after this therapy.
Later my doctor
did a lot of research over the web and he found that a Persian cat from
the USA was successfully treated with Posaconazole (see
this article for more info), so he decided to try this therapy on
me.
Noxafil
is the name of the drug we used, it's produced by a famous pharmaceutical
company called Shering-Plough.
They were really kind and understanding and gave my vet a free bottle of
Noxafil for research purpose. The result was really good, the fungus seemed
to have disappeared, but unfortunately after a few months it came back with
a vengeance!
We bought one more bottle of Noxafil from Switzerland (it's not available
for retail in Italy) at the price of 788 € (see
receipt here), thanks to the donations of many kind hearted people!
This bottle is now almost over, and since it wasn't working very well anymore
(probably the fungus is now more resistant to posaconazole) we were suggested
by an Australian expert to use a new drug, called Am-bisome
(liposomal Amphotericin B). This drug isn't available for retail in Italy
as well, so we bought the first vial in Switzerland again, and it costed
200 €.
I am administered Am-bisome intravenously and 1 vial is enough for 9 infusions in 3 weeks’ time.
This week I had my last infusion.
I need to rest for 10 days so the amphotericin will stop circulating though my body
and then I'm going to have my blood and kidneys tested and we'll run another CAT
scan to see if the fungus is getting weaker.
It seems the therapy is working so far, my eye is getting better so we expect to
continue the therapy with Am-bisome (which we need to buy next week) and Noxafil,
which is almost over and we need to buy around mid April.
We will continue the therapy until the fungus is totally gone. Forever, we hope.
THIS IS MY CURRENT THERAPY:
NOXAFIL (posaconazole) 0.5 ml twice a day
AMBISOME (liposomal amphotericin B) 5ml intravenous infusion on Mon. Wed.
and Fri. for 10 infusions
LAMISIL (terbinafine) 1/4 of 250mg tablet twice a day
