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Cat positive to Felis Leukemia test
Hello everybody I'm from Italy, I already posted a message on the italian cat newsgroup, but I'd really like to submit the same problem also to you. I live with my family in a flat. My building is surrounded by small garden. At the beginning of August I've found there a cat, aged 2-3 years (no more), male, already neutered. It was definitively family-owned and then most probably abandoned. But he's charming, kind, cute! He's a very, very good fellow with a fantastic behaviour! ...I cannot really understand why abandoning such a lovely cat. I asked around, but nobody came to seek him during the last month... In the meanwhile he decided to stop permanently into the garden. I was almost convinced to keep it and bring it at home. There I already have a cat (male, neutered, 4 years), who lives inside my house and never leaves it. So, I first brought the "new" one to the vet. He initially said it was ok... No intestinal parasites, no flu, etc. Then he suggested to test him for FIV/FeLV. He ran the ELISA test and found the cat positive to Leukemia. That was really sad news. My cat at home is negative to both feline aids and leukemia so I asked about vaccination, but the vet warned me that it is not 100% sure and there's about 1-2/10.000 possibilities that the vaccine may give health problems (may also develop a tumor). I do not really want to take those risks. Nevertheless the vet suggested me to wait about 6 months and repeat the test or take a more accurate one. There's a slim chance that the cat might result negative, as the ELISA test can only determine if there's a presence of antibodies in one cat organism, but tells nothing about his effective illness or status of virus spreading (if any). If the cat will result negative, said the doc, then I could bring him into home safely. In the meanwhile, I'm giving hospitality to the "newcomer" inside my garage... I don't keep my car inside it, it is large enough (about 20mq), with a safe and almost humidity-free enviroenment. We feed the cat regularly and he can rest with doors closed overnight so he can sleep well, undisturbed by other animals. He seems to enjoy the situation: during the day he's very playful and at a first glance he always appears to have a very good health! What worries me are the two following perspectives, on which the doctor was a little unclear: 1) I know that there's no definitive cure for FeLV, although some cats may survive and develop a self-immunity. While in other cats, who still don't die, the illness goes in a latent state and then it may not be detected by the ELISA test. A more accurate and expensive test in laboratory perhaps could? I believe yes... but is there actually a chance that this cat could definitively and permanently result negative one day and forever? During these 6 months, can I give him something to strenghten its immunitary system? I was thinking about Aloe Vera... Does anyone know which kind and dilution to use? The vet on the other hand didn't propose anything... 2) Assuming the lucky chance that the cat will result fully negative at the end of the 6 months... Will it be really safe to bring it at home where he will meet the other (healthy) cat? Or there will be still a chance to contaminate him somehow? Any help with this matter will be sincerely appreciated. |
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"Ronin" (debris)@(email).(it) wrote in message ... Hello everybody I'm from Italy, I already posted a message on the italian cat newsgroup, but I'd really like to submit the same problem also to you. I live with my family in a flat. My building is surrounded by small garden. At the beginning of August I've found there a cat, aged 2-3 years (no more), male, already neutered. It was definitively family-owned and then most probably abandoned. But he's charming, kind, cute! He's a very, very good fellow with a fantastic behaviour! ...I cannot really understand why abandoning such a lovely cat. I asked around, but nobody came to seek him during the last month... In the meanwhile he decided to stop permanently into the garden. I was almost convinced to keep it and bring it at home. There I already have a cat (male, neutered, 4 years), who lives inside my house and never leaves it. So, I first brought the "new" one to the vet. He initially said it was ok... No intestinal parasites, no flu, etc. Then he suggested to test him for FIV/FeLV. He ran the ELISA test and found the cat positive to Leukemia. That was really sad news. My cat at home is negative to both feline aids and leukemia so I asked about vaccination, but the vet warned me that it is not 100% sure and there's about 1-2/10.000 possibilities that the vaccine may give health problems (may also develop a tumor). I do not really want to take those risks. Nevertheless the vet suggested me to wait about 6 months and repeat the test or take a more accurate one. There's a slim chance that the cat might result negative, as the ELISA test can only determine if there's a presence of antibodies in one cat organism, but tells nothing about his effective illness or status of virus spreading (if any). If the cat will result negative, said the doc, then I could bring him into home safely. Your vet is half right- ELISA positives should be confirmed by an IFA because an ELISA+ doesn't necessarily indicate a marrow-origin infection. An ELISA+ could mean either he's in the process of clearing the virus or developing a persistent infection or he's harboring the virus is some *nonmyloid* compartment (not infectious to other cats)-- or the test wan't run properly (most common). Most cats clear their intial infection and become immune. The part your vet was wrong about is antibodies. The ELISA and IFA for FeLV both test for viral *antigen* not antibodies. The ELISA and Western Blot for *FIV* both test for antibodies because the amount of antigen necessary to cause infection is much to small to be detected by either test. In the meanwhile, I'm giving hospitality to the "newcomer" inside my garage... I don't keep my car inside it, it is large enough (about 20mq), with a safe and almost humidity-free enviroenment. We feed the cat regularly and he can rest with doors closed overnight so he can sleep well, undisturbed by other animals. He seems to enjoy the situation: during the day he's very playful and at a first glance he always appears to have a very good health! What worries me are the two following perspectives, on which the doctor was a little unclear: 1) I know that there's no definitive cure for FeLV, although some cats may survive and develop a self-immunity. The vast majority of cats clear the virus and become immune. Because of his age, I'd say he has an excellent chance of clearing the virus. Resistance develops with age. Cats over 16 weeks are not easily infected. Of course age-related resistance isn't absolute. A large viral load injected directly into the bloodstream from a bite wound or stress or steroid therapy could overcome the cat's resistance. While in other cats, who still don't die, The outcome after infection is probably influenced by the cat's cell-mediated immune response- but probably more by the virus subgroup. All FeLV-infected cats are infected with FeLV-A- which causes immunosupression and is very slow to cause disease by itself. Cats infected with only FeLV-A can and do live many healthy years after infection and are the most likey to clear or extinguish the virus. FeLV-B causes neoplastic diseases (i.e., tumors and other abnormal tissue growths), and FeLV-C causes severe anemia. Only FeLV-A is transmitted contagiously between cats. The other two subgroups are generated within the cat by recombination with FeLV-A and the cat's own FeLV sequences (all cats have them). So, FeLV is not necessary an immediate death sentence. the illness goes in a latent state and then it may not be detected by the ELISA test. A more accurate and expensive test in laboratory perhaps could? PCR of bone marrow cells or bone marrow reactivation test. But these tests aren't really necessary unless you have a large population. Latent infections can't be detected by *either* the ELISA or the IFA because viral antigen isn't produced or released during latency. For this reason, cats with latent infections *are not* infectious to other cats. Most cats- in fact the overwhelming vast majority of cats with latent infections eventually clear the virus. They mount a strong cell-mediated immune response against the virus that drives the virus into latency instead of infection. This strong CMI just gets stronger and eventually extinguishes the virus. However, stress or steroid therapy can reactivate a latent infection before the virus is extinguished. I believe yes... but is there actually a chance that this cat could definitively and permanently result negative one day and forever? Absolutely! Most cats *do* clear the virus. Otherwise FeLV would rapidly deplete the general feline population of the world! Actually, the infection rate has been declining over the past 20 years. The FeLV vaccine is *not* responsible for the decline because it began before the first FeLV vaccine was introduced in 1985. During these 6 months, can I give him something to strenghten its immunitary system? I was thinking about Aloe Vera... Does anyone know which kind and dilution to use? The vet on the other hand didn't propose anything... Forget the Aloe Vera- if you give him anything give him recombinant human interon-alpha (interferon-IFN-a) at about 30 IU a day, 7 days on/7 days off. If you mix it up the dilution yourself its very inexpensive. Just get a script from your vet for a the 3 million IU vial and buy the interferon at any human pharmacy-- its about 1/5 the cost. If you go this route I'll explain how to dilute it down to 30 IU/ml-- its easy. Early treatment with rh-IFN-a might stimulate some early events in the immune cascade-- which might lead to a systemic response that could extinguish the virus before it reaches the bone marrow. There's a new Feline Interferon available in Europe that might be even more effective. 2) Assuming the lucky chance that the cat will result fully negative at the end of the 6 months... Will it be really safe to bring it at home where he will meet the other (healthy) cat? Or there will be still a chance to contaminate him somehow? You don't have to wait 6 months to retest him with the IFA. The virus takes about a month to infect the bone marrow- although it could take 12 weeks in some cats. You can have him retested with the IFA in about a month. Run another ELISA on the same day your vet draws blood to send out for the IFA-- he might clear the virus by then. If the IFA comes back + there's still a chance that he's in the process of clearing the virus and becoming immune- retest him again in another 3 months. I've seen cats take as long as 6-12 months to finally test negative on the IFA-- so a + IFA doesn't always mean the cat is infected for life. Many cats test ELISA+/IFA- These cat's are usually not infectious to other cats. Negative ELISAs are highly reliably because they're incredibly sensitive- but that same incredible sensitivity is what makes ELISA+ unreliable. If he retests negative on the ELISA-- its highly probable that he is indeed negative. Any help with this matter will be sincerely appreciated. I think it may be a good idea to find a vet who knows a little more about FeLV than your present vet. Keep the faith. Best of luck, Ciao, Phil. PS: Do you live anywhere near the Torre Argentina ruins in Rome? I *gotta* adopt one of those cats!!! ;-) |
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