FeLV positive mother with kittens

I had unknowingly taken in a pregnant momma cat and had her tested for FeLV/FIV while she was pregnant and she was neg on both of those tests at the vet. Obviously they did the quick tests. She was constantly sick throughout the pregnancy but I thought it was just the pregnancy. Recently she became extremely ill and was diagnosed with FeLV and had to be put down. I still have two of her kittens that are now almost 11 weeks. There are two more with my sister-in-law and one more was adopted. This is all very recent so I don't know what to do. My vet says that there is a 50/50 chance that each kitten will have it. I have informed those that have kittens of this so that they can have their kittens tested. Is it even close to possible we have a better shot at healthy kittens than 50%? My kids are so attached to these guys and I just don't know what to do. Had I known she was positive and that sick I would have put her down then and not brought the kittens into the world to suffer this.

Nothing to really say just sorry to hear about the situation. and do keep in mind kittens may test wrong up till 6 month age

I've read conflicting things online. I've read that most definitely a positive mother means positive kittens. I've also read that the kittens' immune systems can fight off the virus and then they are free of it but I guess that's rare. I'm going to get them tested and wait 3 weeks and test again but if it's going to take up to 6 months to get accurate results is it worth it to test them now?

I have seen and my vet goes on the wait till 6 months old to do first test if possible as you may get false result or it may clear. I haven't tested all my guys just the ones who are sick/could be showing symtoms. First vet NEVER told us about testing so was never offered until I took a cat to the clinic(5 cats or so into owning any). Also if they are positive would that be a euthanize them on spot even if showing no signs? any other cats in your house they can infect? Few more hours and you will have some better replies Maybe some tips on helping bodies be stronger too

No other cats just the babies. I don't know what I'd do if they turned up positive because as it is right now they are the healthiest kittens I've seen. I was just thinking yesterday how wonderful their coats are (they are a mixed himalayan, look like ragdolls) and how well they eat and play. Never would I have thought they'd be harboring some illness, if they are. They have always been inside only kittens and that's what they'd stay. Their mom was only a year old and already very very sick when I got her (looking back) so I'd hate for them to have to suffer the way she did. I guess the stress of pregnancy caused a lot of problems for her but her test was negative or I would have aborted the litter. I feel so bad about bringing a litter of kittens into the world with a positive FeLV mother.

Unfortunately, the odds that these kittens have FeLV is around 95%, not 50%. With that said, I have a 7 year old (Lucky Pierre) who's mother had FeLV, and lost his 3 siblings to the disease. Lucky was strong enough to fight off the virus and he is living proof that kittens can do this.

Most vets will tell you to euthanize all kittens born to a FeLV positive mom. I would have agreed with this advice had I not had Lucky. It takes months for the kittens to fight off the disease, so you will want to have the tests repeated for up to 5-6 months to see if they were able to do so. I wouldn't start any testing until they are about 3 months old. You can get false positives in the mean time until their systems either turn the virus into full blown FeLV or ward it off. Think of FeLV similar to HIV in humans. HIV doesn't have to turn into full blown AIDS. The FeLV virus doesn't always turn into full blown FeLV.

Just as an fyi, the FeLV test that doctors do in their offices do not actually test for the disease, just exposure to the virus. A cat that tests positive means that they were exposed, not that they have it. If a cat was vaccinated and shows positive, they have a 90% chance of fighting it. If a cat was not vaccinated and shows positive, their odds drop to roughly 35%. Most kittens just don't have strong enough immunity systems to fight it off, thus the reason why their mortality rate is so high.

to get you through this.

Okay so should I ask for a different test to be done since I know they haven't been exposed by another cat other than their mother? Since I've been reading online, I've read conflicting things about the two different tests that can be performed. I've read that the test in the office is very accurate whereas the lab test isn't always as accurate but they test for different things like you said. One tests for exposure while the other tests for the actual virus through proteins in the blood? Am I getting this right?

Also, my sister wanted one of these kittens but she lives really far from me so she'd have to drive a long ways to get him home. If she decides to take him even though he has this, would the trip stress cause him to become sick? As of right now they are all very healthy and growing normally. The boy we are keeping for sure came close to death during the weaning process because he refused food but mom was refusing him milk so he got skinny fast and I didn't realize there was a problem until he was very skinny. He did fine with wet food mixed in with his kitten food and plumped up and grew double his size within a few weeks. Their dry food is Natural Balance Ultra and we just use different wet foods one time a day for them.

Should I get the kittens vaccinated if they test negative?

The office test, or Elisa, tests for exposure to the virus only. The lab test, or IFA, tests for the actual disease. The Elisa is a good screening test, but the IFA is the definitive test.

If the kittens test negative, please get them vaccinated, particularly if only 1 of them tests negative. If one is positive and the other negative, the one that is negative can still pick up the disease from the other. The vaccinations aren't 100% effective, but better your odds tremendously.

My advice on moving one of the kittens? Keep them stress free, particularly if they are trying to fight off the disease. I lost a kitten to FIP during a move one time - didn't know he had the disease, moved him across the country, and lost him in 1 week due to the stress of the move.

Should I just skip the in office test and ask for the lab test then? And if they do test positive, would you skip all vaccines or just the FeLV one? If they test negative, how many times should I test them before I vax them or should I vax them on the first neg test?

I will have to break the news to my sister. I don't mind keeping both boys but I'm going to want them neutered asap. Is that possible?

If they all test positive I'd skip the ISA. If they all are positive there is no reason to waste the money on it. 3 kittens from Attitude and Nuts' litter(including them) have tested positive so it's useless for me to waste the money on the ISA, I know they have leukemia I don't need an expensive test to tell me that.

Also, if one of them doesn't have it that means their immune system fought it off and they're now immune to it. Don't waste the money on the vaccine if someone comes back negative. They were exposed in-utero, through mother's milk, grooming and being kittens with their siblings so if they are negative they have had more than significant exposure to be immune.

It isn't necessarily a death sentence, I have 7 very healthy positive cats and then there's Attitude, who is a totally different story. My vet told me if they come back positive at the 12 week re-test then they aren't going to kick it, they are infected for life. I only had the 12 week re-test and both Attitude and Nuts came back as faint positives.

I know if I had a positive pregnant female I'd spay/abort no natter how far along she was or at least take the kittens and hand raise them to lower their chances of exposure through mother's milk(same as human AIDS, if the baby doesn't get it in-utero or through being born then breastfeeding with infect them.)

Fully vaccinate them, just skip the FeLV vaccine(which, at least for my vet, isn't a standard vaccine, you have to request it be given.) The latest word on infected kittens/cats is to fully vaccinate them. Healthy cats can die from the diseases they vaccinate against, I don't even want to see what they could do to a immuno-compromised cat. Attitude and Nuts are both fully vaccinated and they will be again this year. After that, I'll have to see what is the recommended vaccine schedule for healthy cats and follow that.

Except for Attitude's never ending eye infection, she hasn't been that sick at all until recently, since July 26 when she got the URI, until them it was an infected eye(about 3 months now, I think) and a bloody nose(about 2 months, I think) of the side of her bad eye. I think the eye led to the nose which is leading to the URIs and that is why she's so sick now. If I can get her eye back to normal then hopefully it will get her nose back to normal and that will end the URIs. If they are healthy go with it. They don't know they're sick and as long as they are enjoying life why let it dictate anything. Like I said out of 8 positive cats Attitude is the only one who has ever been sick and as I said until recently it had just been her eye, which was no big deal.

Taryn

Trust me had she tested positive I would have aborted the litter. She tested negative when she was about 3 months into the pregnancy so neither the vet nor I had any idea that she had this until 6 weeks after she had the kittens. The virus had obviously done something to her gastrointestinal tract because she would have bloody diarrhea all of the time and her fecal matter smelled worse than anything I've ever smelled in my life. At the end, when she was extremely ill, I couldn't get her to kick an ear problem she had, no matter what we did, her diarrhea was one day all blood and the next day black. So I knew that she was extremely ill at that point. Up to that point, I just thought she had issues with the pregnancy but that was obviously not the cause.

I will have the kittens tested this week. They will be 12 weeks this Sunday so I figured testing now and in 3 weeks would give me decent results. Now I've had people tell me if they test negative to have them vax'd for FeLV. I guess I'll have to discuss that with my vet but I'm thinking you are right and if they are negative their body has fought it off.

I don't know if its the same but last year I took in a kitten at eight weeks old tested positive with the snap test for fiv. My vet said the test looks for the antibodies and my kitten could still have the mothers antibodies in her system. He recomended retesting at six months when she was spayed and she did end up testing negative. Agian this was for fiv so I do not know if it's the same for felv. Sending you and the kittens lots of that they are healthy!

I actually took in 3 strays, a mother cat and her two kittens. Mom tested positive for FeLV and so did one of the kittens (The other kitten is an unknown because her owner did not care to test her, she loves her cat either way so it doesn't matter). This was over a year ago and so far none of my FeLV cats have shown any signs or symptoms. The mother was sick with an URI and it took 6 weeks to get it to go away, but she did not die. FeLV is a bad illness, but if you take proper care of your cat and keep it away from the elements of the outdoors, feed them a healthy diet, and get the checked at the vet regularly they can live a normal healthy life just like any other cat. My two FeLV+ cats actually got a better vet check-up than the rest of my cats (I have 6, 4 FeLV- 2 FeLV+). I don't worry about it spreading to my other cats because there are A LOT of homeless cats in this world, if mine happen to catch it and I have to put it to sleep, I at least know they had a happier life than they would had they not had homes. 

I feed my cats Blue Buffalo food and treats, and I have seen a major improvement in their health. 

FeLV+ isn't a death sentence, it just means you need to pay special attention to your cat and make sure you are prompt with veterinary care when you notice signs and symptoms of an illness approaching. Every cat is going to die of something, all you can do is make sure they are kept healthy and happy for as long as possible.  

We   just had a mom test positive and her 4 kittens test negative, kits are 12 weeks old.

I was told there is no vac for felv only fvl?

lori12563 said:

I was told there is no vac for felv only fvl?

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Sorry about your mom cat.

I'm not sure what you are referring to by fvl ? Do you mean FIV ?
There is a vaccine for both FeLV and FIV. The FeLV vaccine is not a core vaccine but a lot of people do vaccinate for it.

Here's the link to the FeLV vaccine - http://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/FeLV/

There is a vaccine to help prevent the transmission of FIV, but the vaccination is not 100% reliable and will generate antibodies that make it very difficult to determine later whether the cat is infected or only vaccinated. So, it's not recommended

Ohh ty I did mean FIV.