FIV & FeLV +.

ronit

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Hello Everybody

I took one of my cats for a general check up at a proper vet (I live on a greek island and vet here is quite rural, had to travel 3 hr on ferry to capital)   anyway.
I took her there to have a proper check up because she is a very scared cat in general, so did not wanted to do anything that could not be done perfectly.
I rescued her as a kitten, she's around 2 yrs old. When she was a baby she had heavy flu, on and off... and all along now for two years.

She is very difficult to medicate and in general to handle her, but always managed to give her a good course of antibiotics. After some time the flu would be back.
As last week she sneezed a bit of blood I got really worried we travelled to the proper vet.
We did a full bloodwork and chest x-rays as she never had any
The situation could not be worse.
She tested positive for FIV & FeLV. All her other bloodwork is very good, she has a good weight, good eyes and very good condition the vet said. Now the x-ray showed a little flaw in her right lung. He recomended a 30 day antibiotic run this time. Will be a tough one.

But that is not so much what bothers me as the others.

So he said she's not ill, she's a carrier. I had a FIV cat which I lost after a long liver battle. It was very sad for me, he was 5.

I know she might live longer than that as long as the illness will not show.  But in the meantime I have inserted since last May a second kitten in the house to keep her company. He is now 8-9 months old. And never tested. Of course I feel so so sad as I am affraid that he might be infected as well and I have to live with the agony till monday when the local vet returns to do an elisa test for him. 

I wanted to know by experience, what is the percentage of FeLV cats that are carriers and do not transmit the disease ? What is the percentage of cats that the FeLV retracts and dissapears ?

I am very confused and sad. I know a lot of you might think that I am a very irresponsible owner, but I am not.  I do a lot of work for the animal welfare and have helped so many kittens and cats because they are literally helpless. And if I hadn't taken her, she would have died a long ago, no one wanted to adopted her and that's why I ended up keeping her after 1 year of temporary foster,  and the new kitten would have been crushed by a car as he was crossing a busy street back and forth when found. In one hand I'm giving them a life that they could never have on the streets of this island where a lot of people are just cruel and indiferent to animals.  But in the other hand I was not careful enough or smart enough to test her before introducing a second kitten to her.

And now he can be infected as well. I guess there is nothing I can  do to fix this. But devastates me, and I really would like to know if there is  a website that has guidelines like the CRF link... don't know any source with lots of information and experiences, even a sticky thread here, which for some reason I cannot find. 

Thank you a lot for your help and understanding

Ronit

Naxos, Greece.
 

ritz

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I am so sorry you're going through this.

Bless you for taking care of these cats.  Regardless of the outcome, you gave both of them more quality and quantity of life than they would ever have had.

I especially applaud you; I was in Greece in early October on vacation and know the problem with feral cats and dogs.  I accompanied a woman who feeds 100 cats in Athens [Nine Lives] and I visited SAWA's refuge for dogs and donkeys and visited the vet who treats those animals and s/n the cats.  Sad situation, especially since there is almost no TNRing.

People with more expertise than I have will chime in.  But I would give both cats L-lysine. Can you order from Amazon.com, might be in a health/natural store--I know there is at least one in Athens.  Improves the immune system.

You might consider testing the kitten, but unless you are able to keep they isolated from one another, why bother?  Certainly the kitten has been exposed to the viruses, whether he/she catches is obviously unknown.
 

white shadow

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Quote:
... I really would like to know if there is  a website that has guidelines like the CRF link... don't know any source with lots of information and experiences...
Hi again Ronit!

A quick reply for you with some resources:

http://felineleukemia.org/ plus, these people run an online group here http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org

A "quieter" group here http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FeLVPositiveCats/

2 FIV-specific groups: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/fiv-healthscience/ and http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FIVCats/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=2

Relax, forget the "irresponsible" stuff....we all do the best we can with what we have. Bring your questions to those people who work with this stuff 24/7...and, kudos to you for saving these little ones!
 

jlc20m

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i'm so sorry this is going on for you. i recently adopted a kitten from the spca but had two older cats at home that i adopted from a no-kill cat shelter seven years before. i had the kitten and the two adults tested before bringing the kitten home. i'm thankful that all three are free of fiv/felv. again, i'm sorry for your struggles. you are a wonderful person for taking care of these precious kitties abd giving them the care and love they deserve. sitting with you...

jlc20m
 
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ronit

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Thank you all for your help and recommendations.

 I hope that the little one will be okay, and then I guess to save his life I will have to give him away. I'm taking him for blood tests tomorrow and if he's clear I'll separate him for a month. And then another test, and if he is clear, I will have to give him away I guess. Is that the correct thing to do ? I'll ask myself when I'll get to that point....

@ Ritz - Yes, life in Greece for strays is a difficult one, there are too many everywhere, and I try to save as many as possible cause I just can't see them like this, suffering and in the streets, in October is when you notice that tourists are gone and then the large number of cats and dogs gather up all together in the few places left where they can get some food.  Which vet you visited in Santorini ? Maria or Margarita ?

Thanks !

Ronit
 

ritz

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Ronit, I am sorry you have to make this difficult decision.  And thank you for caring.   I have to return a really sweet, affectionate cat I was fostering to the stray/feral colony I take care of because my resident cat's animosity towards the cat was escalating.  The situation wasn't fair to Ritz and wasn't fair to the foster cat.

In fairness to the kitten, I think you have to think about rehoming the kitten if he/she tests negative for FIV/FeLK.  Other experts can chime in and perhaps your vet, but if the kitten has caught either FIV/FeLK, maybe she won't?  Alternatively, can you isolate the cats indefinitely (don't know what your house is like).

I visited Margarita's clinic.  My (twin) sister and I had a hard time finding her clinic, so I dropped in to a human doctor, and he knew exactly who the vet was--"look for the donkey on the building".  While we were there, we visited her 'cattery', there were three cats there at that time, all young, all had vision problems.  I fell in love with this kitten, who while totally blind was the friendliest.

http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums...e 2012/Vetcliniccatisblindandveryfriendly.jpg

This cat was on the beach in Mykonos, another cutie.  Not sure if she'd/he'd ever played before

http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb437/Ritz1954/Greece 2012 Cindy/StrayCatMykonosPlaying.jpg

And this is Margarita and her clinic

http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb437/Ritz1954/Greece 2012/VetNancySantoriniaSAWA.jpg   (the other woman standing up is from Colorado who regularly volunteers at SAWA).  Greek laws make it very difficult for non-citizens to adopt animals and in most circumstances euthanasia for dogs and cats is illegal (I saw one stray dog who was obviously terminally ill; nothing could be done.)
 
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ronit

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And Happy New Year to all !!!

My good news is that my kitten tested negative also the second round. So he got his vaccine. Vet said that after 2 weeks he'll start getting antibodies. He said we do not need a booster in a month, not sure about that, I'm not a vet,..how does it work for you ?

My program is to leave him with my other cat who is a negative on both.

But in case that they do not get along, does anyone know effectively, how safe is to be with a FeLV positive when having the vaccinations? how safe the vaccine is ?

And most important, I've read that they can get it by grooming each other... what about me transmitting the virus from one cat to another by caressing then and getting "nose kisses" ?

Thanks  !

Ronit


 
 
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