Would you re-test him?

Paul's keyboard is dying so if there are letters missing I apologize.

OK I just paid off Attitude's 'final' vet bill(they agreed to just send it to me, I didn't want to deal with paying the bill right after the appointment.) It was very reasonable(like $73) and I know they donate at least that in each pet's name to the vet college's pet memorial fund, which they do when your pet crosses the Rainbow Bridge(1 of the many reasons I love my vet, the donations help with research.)

Anyways, if Nuts was your cat would you have them run another FeLV test(ELISA) or just accept his 1 positive test and save the $60. 3 from the litter have tested positive(him, Attitude and Micro-kitten who was PTS'd due to a severe eye infection and URI at 8-10 weeks old she was 1.8 lbs, Runt was larger than she was, Attitude was at least 1 lb heavier) and we assume all are positive.

Either way, he's big(10- 12 lbs of muscle), he's healthy and he is a never ending ball of energy. He just needs a friend(and I want a cuddly long hair) but Paul is standing firm on no more 'dying' cats.

A couple recent pictures taken yesterday and Sunday:





Taryn

Attitude and Nuts were litter mates(and partners in crime) so exposure to Attitude has 0 effect on whether or not he is or isn't positive(wouldn't matter at this point even if they weren't related), they were exposed in utero. As I said Nuts, Attitude and another kitten all tested positive as kittens. The other kitten(Microkitten) was PTS'd immediately at 8-10 weeks old(she was really sick), Attitude as you all know was PTS'd due to FeLV complications and Nuts so far seems healthy. Maude remained negative her entire life, a young kitten can show positive if from a positive mom simply from her antibodies, but an adult testing positive pretty much means they are positive, unlike a young kitten there are no possible maternal antibodies at work.

At this point if he shows any sort of positive he is, same with any other cat that had lived with a leukemia positive cat for a long period of time, if the immune system hasn't cleared it it's permanent. My vet said 12 weeks so that is when Attitude was retested at 12 weeks of age and when Nuts had his only test(neither one was even living inside together or otherwise at this point), both were positive and we were pretty much told it was permanent but hearing some re-test at 6 months to decide permanence has me thinking.

Does this change the opinion on this? Sorry I thought I had said they were litter mates. Attitude being positive is separate from Nuts being positive, they both came from the same source(mother) so neither one infected the other or had any effects on the others positive test.

Taryn

The more I think about it the more I know I screwed all the kittens, not jus Attittude and Nuts. The only glimmer is that when tested both Attitude(who was very obviously positive) and Nuts were still nursing. Heck, when I decided to make both of them inside cats everyone outside was still nursing(everyone was also over 12 weeks old, so they weren't taken from the group 'early.') However by not thinking that maybe I needed to stop them fom getting 'mom juice' I screwed them because they I 'allowed' them to essentially drink FeLV(just like with human AIDS breastfeeding is a great source to get infected.) That said I don't think I could have realistically prevented them from nursing if I tied mom up and duct taped her to the ceiling with her nipples hidden. Biter(and Goldie before she vanished) were more than happy to allow them to keep nursing and they were the only ones who 'allowed' anything and it wasn't their fault, they don't know they're sick and they were being wonderful loving mothers. These kittens were their first and only litter, but they acted like they knew exactly what they were doing and had done it 5000 times before, but they had Mama(their mom) with them(all 3 had kittens within 2 weeks of each other) and I'm sure Mama showed them how it was done(Mama had her kittens about 2 weeks before Biter and Goldie had their 9.) Even now with the kittens you can still see the motherly bond between the kittens and mom and Biter and Mama. I think they(the outside cats, Attitutde and Nuts' nursing ended when I brought them inside) nursed until they were over 16 weeks old, Biter was in no rush to wean them. I can't fault them for being great mothers and having a strong motherly bond with their babies, I have my own 8 year old 'little baby'(I wish I knew how he got so old, seems like just yesterday I could hold all 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches of him in one arm and was taking him home from the hospital) and I know how strong the motherly bond is and there is no way to describe it to anyone who hasn't experienced it. I'm sure the other moms here know exactly what I'm talking about. I had that kind of bond with Attitude, so even furry kids can sometimes count(I don't have it in the least bit with Nuts, so not all furry connections result in this. I love Nuts and spoil him rotten but I don;t have the sort of bond I had with the little black and white puff ball that showed up with no teeth and would sometimes nurse on my finger.)

I just can't help but think if I had prevented it they might not all be positive, keep in mind I didn't even know there was any issue until Attitutde was 6-8 weeks old and at her first vet appointment so they were weaning age by the time I knew so I 'know' chances are it wouldn't have changed anything.

Even now if they were to pop out kittens(they are all spayed so if they have kittens I have issues) I couldn't realistically prevent them from nursing their babies unless I took them away(and I could never do that, I felt bad enough taking Attitude and Nuts to live inside.) So logically I know I hold no blame in this, but I still feel like I should have done something

Taryn