Feline Leukemia - need suggestions for postive cat living with negative cat.

3 weeks ago I adopted two 4-5 month old kittens (male and female from
same litter) from an animal shelter. They had already been
spayed/neutered and the shelter said that the tests for all 3 deadly
cat virus (includ FeLV) came back negative. At the time the cats were
sniffling a little, but I was told they were getting over a "cold" (I
later learned cats don't get colds and that they were getting a
respitory infection but I digress). I took the 2 cats to the vet for
a checkup but since they had just gotten shots a short time ago and
they were sick I was told to bring them back in two weeks.

During the two weeks the female's stools were constantly soft and both
were sneezing. The male's sneezing was more violent (often shooting
out bloody snot) and more often and he had congestion problems
(especially when the AC was on). Today I brought them to the vet and
the vet decided to do a blood test even though both cats had
previously tested negative. Well the FeLV ELIZA test came back
positive on the female, but negative on the male. The vet recommended
a retest in a month.

Well, the male and female have been sharing food, water and litter
boxes since I got them (and probably before that). They have been
(playfully) biting each other and sneezing on each other a lot. This
means most likely that the male is already infected and will become
positive at some point.

So now I'm stuck with a problem. The vet officially recommended
separating the two in my house, but he and I both agreed that isn't
feasible. The alternative is to get rid of one of the cats, but
because they've been together so long neither of them could be placed
in another house with cats nor could they go back to the shelter
(where the positive cat would most likely be killed). Remember both
were already sick to begin with.

So my question is, what should I do now? Should I give up the
positive cat (which might recover) to save the negative cat (which may
already be infected) or just stick to the norm and hope things work
out? Or is there another solution that I'm not seeing?

Any suggestions?



P.S. -
They are indoor cats and have not come in contact with other cats
since leaving the shelter so my assumption is that she was infected at
the shelter so I contacted them. They want to run their own ELIZA
blood test and if that comes back postive then run a IFA test (free of
charge). I'm not sure what would happen after that.

If you got the FELV shots then it is possibly a false negative since I have
heard this happen before with it. It sounds like the cats had an upper
respiratory infection. I have to wonder if your vet is out to make a little
money here by giving you another test. I would find a more credible vet and
have this re-checked as something doesn't sound right here.

"Morac" wrote in message
om...
3 weeks ago I adopted two 4-5 month old kittens (male and female from
same litter) from an animal shelter. They had already been
spayed/neutered and the shelter said that the tests for all 3 deadly
cat virus (includ FeLV) came back negative. At the time the cats were
sniffling a little, but I was told they were getting over a "cold" (I
later learned cats don't get colds and that they were getting a
respitory infection but I digress). I took the 2 cats to the vet for
a checkup but since they had just gotten shots a short time ago and
they were sick I was told to bring them back in two weeks.

During the two weeks the female's stools were constantly soft and both
were sneezing. The male's sneezing was more violent (often shooting
out bloody snot) and more often and he had congestion problems
(especially when the AC was on). Today I brought them to the vet and
the vet decided to do a blood test even though both cats had
previously tested negative. Well the FeLV ELIZA test came back
positive on the female, but negative on the male. The vet recommended
a retest in a month.

Well, the male and female have been sharing food, water and litter
boxes since I got them (and probably before that). They have been
(playfully) biting each other and sneezing on each other a lot. This
means most likely that the male is already infected and will become
positive at some point.

So now I'm stuck with a problem. The vet officially recommended
separating the two in my house, but he and I both agreed that isn't
feasible. The alternative is to get rid of one of the cats, but
because they've been together so long neither of them could be placed
in another house with cats nor could they go back to the shelter
(where the positive cat would most likely be killed). Remember both
were already sick to begin with.

So my question is, what should I do now? Should I give up the
positive cat (which might recover) to save the negative cat (which may
already be infected) or just stick to the norm and hope things work
out? Or is there another solution that I'm not seeing?

Any suggestions?



P.S. -
They are indoor cats and have not come in contact with other cats
since leaving the shelter so my assumption is that she was infected at
the shelter so I contacted them. They want to run their own ELIZA
blood test and if that comes back postive then run a IFA test (free of
charge). I'm not sure what would happen after that.

If you got the FELV shots then it is possibly a false negative since I have
heard this happen before with it. It sounds like the cats had an upper
respiratory infection. I have to wonder if your vet is out to make a little
money here by giving you another test. I would find a more credible vet and
have this re-checked as something doesn't sound right here.

"Morac" wrote in message
om...
3 weeks ago I adopted two 4-5 month old kittens (male and female from
same litter) from an animal shelter. They had already been
spayed/neutered and the shelter said that the tests for all 3 deadly
cat virus (includ FeLV) came back negative. At the time the cats were
sniffling a little, but I was told they were getting over a "cold" (I
later learned cats don't get colds and that they were getting a
respitory infection but I digress). I took the 2 cats to the vet for
a checkup but since they had just gotten shots a short time ago and
they were sick I was told to bring them back in two weeks.

During the two weeks the female's stools were constantly soft and both
were sneezing. The male's sneezing was more violent (often shooting
out bloody snot) and more often and he had congestion problems
(especially when the AC was on). Today I brought them to the vet and
the vet decided to do a blood test even though both cats had
previously tested negative. Well the FeLV ELIZA test came back
positive on the female, but negative on the male. The vet recommended
a retest in a month.

Well, the male and female have been sharing food, water and litter
boxes since I got them (and probably before that). They have been
(playfully) biting each other and sneezing on each other a lot. This
means most likely that the male is already infected and will become
positive at some point.

So now I'm stuck with a problem. The vet officially recommended
separating the two in my house, but he and I both agreed that isn't
feasible. The alternative is to get rid of one of the cats, but
because they've been together so long neither of them could be placed
in another house with cats nor could they go back to the shelter
(where the positive cat would most likely be killed). Remember both
were already sick to begin with.

So my question is, what should I do now? Should I give up the
positive cat (which might recover) to save the negative cat (which may
already be infected) or just stick to the norm and hope things work
out? Or is there another solution that I'm not seeing?

Any suggestions?



P.S. -
They are indoor cats and have not come in contact with other cats
since leaving the shelter so my assumption is that she was infected at
the shelter so I contacted them. They want to run their own ELIZA
blood test and if that comes back postive then run a IFA test (free of
charge). I'm not sure what would happen after that.

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
news:iwPVc.123254$sh.7140@fed1read06...
If you got the FELV shots then it is possibly a false negative since I
have
heard this happen before with it. It sounds like the cats had an upper
respiratory infection. I have to wonder if your vet is out to make a
little
money here by giving you another test. I would find a more credible vet
and
have this re-checked as something doesn't sound right here.

He said the shelter is running a different test, which IS the correct thing
to do. The "snap" test can produce a false positive sometimes. There
really isn't much money to be made in running a test.

--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
www.kelltek.com
Check out www.snittens.com

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
news:iwPVc.123254$sh.7140@fed1read06...
If you got the FELV shots then it is possibly a false negative since I
have
heard this happen before with it. It sounds like the cats had an upper
respiratory infection. I have to wonder if your vet is out to make a
little
money here by giving you another test. I would find a more credible vet
and
have this re-checked as something doesn't sound right here.

He said the shelter is running a different test, which IS the correct thing
to do. The "snap" test can produce a false positive sometimes. There
really isn't much money to be made in running a test.

--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
www.kelltek.com
Check out www.snittens.com

in article , Morac at
wrote on 8/21/04 4:10 PM:

3 weeks ago I adopted two 4-5 month old kittens (male and female from
same litter) from an animal shelter. They had already been
spayed/neutered and the shelter said that the tests for all 3 deadly
cat virus (includ FeLV) came back negative. At the time the cats were
sniffling a little, but I was told they were getting over a "cold" (I
later learned cats don't get colds and that they were getting a
respitory infection but I digress). I took the 2 cats to the vet for
a checkup but since they had just gotten shots a short time ago and
they were sick I was told to bring them back in two weeks.

During the two weeks the female's stools were constantly soft and both
were sneezing. The male's sneezing was more violent (often shooting
out bloody snot) and more often and he had congestion problems
(especially when the AC was on). Today I brought them to the vet and
the vet decided to do a blood test even though both cats had
previously tested negative. Well the FeLV ELIZA test came back
positive on the female, but negative on the male. The vet recommended
a retest in a month.

Well, the male and female have been sharing food, water and litter
boxes since I got them (and probably before that). They have been
(playfully) biting each other and sneezing on each other a lot. This
means most likely that the male is already infected and will become
positive at some point.

So now I'm stuck with a problem. The vet officially recommended
separating the two in my house, but he and I both agreed that isn't
feasible. The alternative is to get rid of one of the cats, but
because they've been together so long neither of them could be placed
in another house with cats nor could they go back to the shelter
(where the positive cat would most likely be killed). Remember both
were already sick to begin with.

So my question is, what should I do now? Should I give up the
positive cat (which might recover) to save the negative cat (which may
already be infected) or just stick to the norm and hope things work
out? Or is there another solution that I'm not seeing?

Any suggestions?



P.S. -
They are indoor cats and have not come in contact with other cats
since leaving the shelter so my assumption is that she was infected at
the shelter so I contacted them. They want to run their own ELIZA
blood test and if that comes back postive then run a IFA test (free of
charge). I'm not sure what would happen after that.

Me, I would just keep them both and treat them symptomatically for the span
of their lives. I also, would not be so sure of anything until I got the
retest in a month. False positives are not unheard of.

in article , Morac at
wrote on 8/21/04 4:10 PM:

3 weeks ago I adopted two 4-5 month old kittens (male and female from
same litter) from an animal shelter. They had already been
spayed/neutered and the shelter said that the tests for all 3 deadly
cat virus (includ FeLV) came back negative. At the time the cats were
sniffling a little, but I was told they were getting over a "cold" (I
later learned cats don't get colds and that they were getting a
respitory infection but I digress). I took the 2 cats to the vet for
a checkup but since they had just gotten shots a short time ago and
they were sick I was told to bring them back in two weeks.

During the two weeks the female's stools were constantly soft and both
were sneezing. The male's sneezing was more violent (often shooting
out bloody snot) and more often and he had congestion problems
(especially when the AC was on). Today I brought them to the vet and
the vet decided to do a blood test even though both cats had
previously tested negative. Well the FeLV ELIZA test came back
positive on the female, but negative on the male. The vet recommended
a retest in a month.

Well, the male and female have been sharing food, water and litter
boxes since I got them (and probably before that). They have been
(playfully) biting each other and sneezing on each other a lot. This
means most likely that the male is already infected and will become
positive at some point.

So now I'm stuck with a problem. The vet officially recommended
separating the two in my house, but he and I both agreed that isn't
feasible. The alternative is to get rid of one of the cats, but
because they've been together so long neither of them could be placed
in another house with cats nor could they go back to the shelter
(where the positive cat would most likely be killed). Remember both
were already sick to begin with.

So my question is, what should I do now? Should I give up the
positive cat (which might recover) to save the negative cat (which may
already be infected) or just stick to the norm and hope things work
out? Or is there another solution that I'm not seeing?

Any suggestions?



P.S. -
They are indoor cats and have not come in contact with other cats
since leaving the shelter so my assumption is that she was infected at
the shelter so I contacted them. They want to run their own ELIZA
blood test and if that comes back postive then run a IFA test (free of
charge). I'm not sure what would happen after that.

Me, I would just keep them both and treat them symptomatically for the span
of their lives. I also, would not be so sure of anything until I got the
retest in a month. False positives are not unheard of.

in article , Morac at
wrote on 8/21/04 4:10 PM:

3 weeks ago I adopted two 4-5 month old kittens (male and female from
same litter) from an animal shelter. They had already been
spayed/neutered and the shelter said that the tests for all 3 deadly
cat virus (includ FeLV) came back negative. At the time the cats were
sniffling a little, but I was told they were getting over a "cold" (I
later learned cats don't get colds and that they were getting a
respitory infection but I digress). I took the 2 cats to the vet for
a checkup but since they had just gotten shots a short time ago and
they were sick I was told to bring them back in two weeks.

During the two weeks the female's stools were constantly soft and both
were sneezing. The male's sneezing was more violent (often shooting
out bloody snot) and more often and he had congestion problems
(especially when the AC was on). Today I brought them to the vet and
the vet decided to do a blood test even though both cats had
previously tested negative. Well the FeLV ELIZA test came back
positive on the female, but negative on the male. The vet recommended
a retest in a month.

Well, the male and female have been sharing food, water and litter
boxes since I got them (and probably before that). They have been
(playfully) biting each other and sneezing on each other a lot. This
means most likely that the male is already infected and will become
positive at some point.

So now I'm stuck with a problem. The vet officially recommended
separating the two in my house, but he and I both agreed that isn't
feasible. The alternative is to get rid of one of the cats, but
because they've been together so long neither of them could be placed
in another house with cats nor could they go back to the shelter
(where the positive cat would most likely be killed). Remember both
were already sick to begin with.

So my question is, what should I do now? Should I give up the
positive cat (which might recover) to save the negative cat (which may
already be infected) or just stick to the norm and hope things work
out? Or is there another solution that I'm not seeing?

Any suggestions?



P.S. -
They are indoor cats and have not come in contact with other cats
since leaving the shelter so my assumption is that she was infected at
the shelter so I contacted them. They want to run their own ELIZA
blood test and if that comes back postive then run a IFA test (free of
charge). I'm not sure what would happen after that.

Another thought, a poster here had an FeLV positive young cat, but with
AGRESSIVE treatment with interferon Mimi tested negative one year later.
Since they are young, it might be worth your time to look into that even
before the retest. I hope that Mary comments here.

in article , Morac at
wrote on 8/21/04 4:10 PM:

3 weeks ago I adopted two 4-5 month old kittens (male and female from
same litter) from an animal shelter. They had already been
spayed/neutered and the shelter said that the tests for all 3 deadly
cat virus (includ FeLV) came back negative. At the time the cats were
sniffling a little, but I was told they were getting over a "cold" (I
later learned cats don't get colds and that they were getting a
respitory infection but I digress). I took the 2 cats to the vet for
a checkup but since they had just gotten shots a short time ago and
they were sick I was told to bring them back in two weeks.

During the two weeks the female's stools were constantly soft and both
were sneezing. The male's sneezing was more violent (often shooting
out bloody snot) and more often and he had congestion problems
(especially when the AC was on). Today I brought them to the vet and
the vet decided to do a blood test even though both cats had
previously tested negative. Well the FeLV ELIZA test came back
positive on the female, but negative on the male. The vet recommended
a retest in a month.

Well, the male and female have been sharing food, water and litter
boxes since I got them (and probably before that). They have been
(playfully) biting each other and sneezing on each other a lot. This
means most likely that the male is already infected and will become
positive at some point.

So now I'm stuck with a problem. The vet officially recommended
separating the two in my house, but he and I both agreed that isn't
feasible. The alternative is to get rid of one of the cats, but
because they've been together so long neither of them could be placed
in another house with cats nor could they go back to the shelter
(where the positive cat would most likely be killed). Remember both
were already sick to begin with.

So my question is, what should I do now? Should I give up the
positive cat (which might recover) to save the negative cat (which may
already be infected) or just stick to the norm and hope things work
out? Or is there another solution that I'm not seeing?

Any suggestions?



P.S. -
They are indoor cats and have not come in contact with other cats
since leaving the shelter so my assumption is that she was infected at
the shelter so I contacted them. They want to run their own ELIZA
blood test and if that comes back postive then run a IFA test (free of
charge). I'm not sure what would happen after that.

Another thought, a poster here had an FeLV positive young cat, but with
AGRESSIVE treatment with interferon Mimi tested negative one year later.
Since they are young, it might be worth your time to look into that even
before the retest. I hope that Mary comments here.

If you got the FELV shots then it is possibly a false negative since I have
heard this happen before with it.

I've heard that, too. If the cat really is positive, though, I would still
keep both of them at this point. If he's had the vaccine, then he has some
protection (not total, by any means) and, as you say, he may already be
infected at this point. Keep both of them and continue to vaccinate the male
as long as he continues to test negative. Keep them as healthy as possible
with a stress-free life. Some cats never get sick from FeLV and some do but
recover. I think it's best that they are kept together. You're probably right
that no one would take either now, under these circumstances.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human." (Loren Eisely)