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#1
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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. |
#2
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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. |
#3
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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. |
#4
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"Cat Protector" wrote in message
news:iwPVc.123254$sh.7140@fed1read06... If you got the FELV shots then it is possibly a false negative since I have heard this happen before with it. It sounds like the cats had an upper respiratory infection. I have to wonder if your vet is out to make a little money here by giving you another test. I would find a more credible vet and have this re-checked as something doesn't sound right here. He said the shelter is running a different test, which IS the correct thing to do. The "snap" test can produce a false positive sometimes. There really isn't much money to be made in running a test. -- -Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net www.kelltek.com Check out www.snittens.com |
#5
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"Cat Protector" wrote in message
news:iwPVc.123254$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 |
#7
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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. |
#8
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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. |
#9
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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. |
#10
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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) |
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