Ping Phil: Re Feline Leukemia

Sorry if this is long but here's the background.

A woman asked us to help her find homes for a litter of kittens, their Momma
and an un-neutered male stray that she had taken in. She has let them have
free run of her house and they have been interacting with the woman's
resident cats as well as a colony of strays that she has been feeding in her
yard.

We made arrangements to get the intact inside male neutered and tested
first. He tested positive for feline leukemia. We then had the momma cat and
all the kittens tested. They tested negative. We have removed the momma and
the kittens from the woman's home and have them in foster care where they
are currently isolated from any other fosters. To date none of the other
cats, the woman's own pets or the outside cats have been tested. We have
recommend she get her pets tested but don't know if she has followed
through. We loaned her traps to start working on getting the outside colony
tested and speutered but I don't know if she's trapped any yet.

At any rate, how long do we need to hang onto the momma cat and her kittens
to get them re-tested. We aren't going to try to adopt them out until we are
sure they aren't going to turn up positive later because they were living at
large in the house with the positive male?

Thanks

W

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Sorry if this is long but here's the background.

A woman asked us to help her find homes for a litter of kittens, their
Momma and an un-neutered male stray that she had taken in. She has let
them have free run of her house and they have been interacting with the
woman's resident cats as well as a colony of strays that she has been
feeding in her yard.

We made arrangements to get the intact inside male neutered and tested
first. He tested positive for feline leukemia. We then had the momma cat
and all the kittens tested. They tested negative. We have removed the
momma and the kittens from the woman's home and have them in foster care
where they are currently isolated from any other fosters. To date none of
the other cats, the woman's own pets or the outside cats have been tested.
We have recommend she get her pets tested but don't know if she has
followed through. We loaned her traps to start working on getting the
outside colony tested and speutered but I don't know if she's trapped any
yet.

At any rate, how long do we need to hang onto the momma cat and her
kittens to get them re-tested. We aren't going to try to adopt them out
until we are sure they aren't going to turn up positive later because they
were living at large in the house with the positive male?

Thanks

W

I'm not Phil, but I can tell you what my vet told me when we had Hunter
tested. She said he should be tested again two months after the first test
to be sure he hadn't picked it up in the previous few days.

Hugs,

CatNipped

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Sorry if this is long but here's the background.

A woman asked us to help her find homes for a litter of kittens, their
Momma
and an un-neutered male stray that she had taken in. She has let them have
free run of her house and they have been interacting with the woman's
resident cats as well as a colony of strays that she has been feeding in
her
yard.

We made arrangements to get the intact inside male neutered and tested
first. He tested positive for feline leukemia. We then had the momma cat
and
all the kittens tested. They tested negative. We have removed the momma
and
the kittens from the woman's home and have them in foster care where they
are currently isolated from any other fosters. To date none of the other
cats, the woman's own pets or the outside cats have been tested. We have
recommend she get her pets tested but don't know if she has followed
through. We loaned her traps to start working on getting the outside
colony
tested and speutered but I don't know if she's trapped any yet.

At any rate, how long do we need to hang onto the momma cat and her
kittens
to get them re-tested.

The ELISA Snap can detect *circulating* FeLV antigen in about 2-4 weeks or
less.- I've found waiting a month to be the most reliable. The Snap is much
more sensitive than the IFA so it can detect FeLV antigen a few weeks
earlier than the IFA.



We aren't going to try to adopt them out until we are
sure they aren't going to turn up positive later because they were living
at
large in the house with the positive male?

Thanks

The ELISA Snap negative results are very reliable- its the positive results
that aren't. I'd just retest them all- including the male in a month.
Batch test the kits first- don't test them individually unless you get a
positive on the batch test.

Phil

"Phil P." wrote in message
news:trqik.17$aA5.16@trnddc05...

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Sorry if this is long but here's the background.

A woman asked us to help her find homes for a litter of kittens, their
Momma
and an un-neutered male stray that she had taken in. She has let them
have
free run of her house and they have been interacting with the woman's
resident cats as well as a colony of strays that she has been feeding in
her
yard.

We made arrangements to get the intact inside male neutered and tested
first. He tested positive for feline leukemia. We then had the momma cat
and
all the kittens tested. They tested negative. We have removed the momma
and
the kittens from the woman's home and have them in foster care where they
are currently isolated from any other fosters. To date none of the other
cats, the woman's own pets or the outside cats have been tested. We have
recommend she get her pets tested but don't know if she has followed
through. We loaned her traps to start working on getting the outside
colony
tested and speutered but I don't know if she's trapped any yet.

At any rate, how long do we need to hang onto the momma cat and her
kittens
to get them re-tested.

The ELISA Snap can detect *circulating* FeLV antigen in about 2-4 weeks or
less.- I've found waiting a month to be the most reliable. The Snap is
much
more sensitive than the IFA so it can detect FeLV antigen a few weeks
earlier than the IFA.



We aren't going to try to adopt them out until we are
sure they aren't going to turn up positive later because they were living
at
large in the house with the positive male?

Thanks

The ELISA Snap negative results are very reliable- its the positive
results
that aren't. I'd just retest them all- including the male in a month.
Batch test the kits first- don't test them individually unless you get a
positive on the batch test.

Phil




Thanks for the info.

W