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Old June 26th 04, 01:59 AM
~*Connie*~
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The first doctor is telling you what I have always been told. A negative
result is pretty much assured, where as a positive might be a false positive
from the mom's antigens. HOWEVER.. that being said, let me tell you that it
takes six weeks to incubate. So test when they are at least six weeks of
age, then retest after six weeks to be 100%. Or should I say six weeks past
any possible exposure.

This being said. Getting Felv is not easy. I have had it in my home twice,
and my resident, well established cats have not gotten it. My younger
(under a year) one did. However, he only ever tested positive, he never
came down with symptoms, and with some loving care, high quality food, and
high doses of vitamin C, he now tests negative.


"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Doing a web search I come up with everything from they can be tested at

any
time to it's not accurate till 6 mos. At what age do you usually test
kittens?

There are about 5 doctors at the veterinary practice I take my cats to.

The
vet I usually deal with told me (last fall) he couldn't test kittens until
they were at least 12 wks. old. When I took the most recent litter up to

be
checked (when they had diarrhea and weren't eating) I saw a different
(younger) vet who told me she could test them then (they were 2-3 wks

old).
She did and the results were negative. She warned that there could be a
false positive at that age but if it was negative then they were negative.
The rescue group we're fostering for told me I shouldn't trust the results
because they were so young. So now I'm confused.

The kittens are now 7 weeks old and are itchy to get out of the cat play

pen
I'm keeping them in. I don't want them interacting with my resident cats
unless I'm pretty sure they aren't positive. So do I need to get them
re-tested? Are they old enough yet?


Thanks

W