new here and new again to cats after many years!

hello! my name is bella, and i recently rescued a kitten about 9 weeks ago who had literally been thrown away.  at that time, she was around 7-8 weeks old. she's been vaccinated twice for her kitten series, and has received rabies. now, there's an unaltered stray hanging around [i've posted to lost/found sites and combed the neighbourhood asking after his humans to no avail]. he has an appointment set for the 23rd to be combo tested, vaccinated [if negative], and neutered.  my girl goes in on the same date for her 3rd kitten vaccination, and to be spayed. she will be approximately 4 months old, and he seems anywhere from 6 months on up to a year or so.

i joined this site after finding an article about FeLv+ cat living with a FeLv- cat, and that gave me hopes in the event this boy should test for the virus FeLv.  my girl is young still, and if he were to test +for FeLV, i do not have the space for them to live separated 24/7. there are no sanctuaries here for virus stricken cats that have turned up in my searches in the orlando, florida area.  though i may be getting ahead of things a bit, i want to be prepared for the worst while hoping for the best results!

her age is not ideal if he tests positive [from my understanding, over a year is better for building resistance- though she will have had all her boosters by 4 months]. are there any success stories out there of +/- cats cohabitating?

thank you. i'm an adult on the autism spectrum, forgive any strange [to you] phraseologies!

best,

belle

Welcome to TCS, Chopper! 

Congratulations on the new adoption AND for being so awesome as to look out for the little stray lurking in your neighborhood. He needs someone like you! 

You are smart to be thinking about his possible infection status now as opposed to getting a bomb dropped on you later, and for not bringing him indoors until he has been fully tested and vaccinated so as not to expose your new little one. The good news is, FeLV is not extremely common so there is a good chance he does not have the virus. But, that is of course all speculation until he is tested. 

Have you also been doing research on FIV? Where FeLV is like human leukemia, FIV is similar to human AIDS (though neither is transmittable to humans- only other cats). I do know a lot of success stories of FIV + cats living with non infected ones because FIV is only spread through a penetrating bite. FeLV however, is a little more complicated as it can be passed through shared dishes, litterboxes, and by grooming each other. 

If he is infected with either it's still worth considering keeping him but you need to give it a lot of thought and weigh the benefits with the risks. Believe me, I work with a lot of FIV/FeLV cats and I would love to see one find such a loving home, but you also have to consider the health of your newest resident. 

If he does test positive for either and you don't think you can keep him perhaps there is still more to be done. Florida has the highest number of no kill shelters in the US and there are a lot of TCS users spread all over the State (and I will be in the Tampa area in Mid-Feburary). So, if you can't keep him and don't have any friends and family looking to add a new member maybe we put out the word and try to caravan him somewhere safe? If you get enough people to just give up a couple of hours to drive one leg I'm sure we can get him somewhere! 

For now, just keep caring for him as you have been and keep doing your research and weighing the pros and cons. The vet appointment will give you direction as to what your next step should be!

Sending good vibes that all his tests come back negative and that your girl gets a playmate (two are always better than one)! 

Keep us posted! 

thank you so much for the warm and wonderful reply! yes, i've been reading a lot about the combo tests, and there is a lot of mixed info out there to be found on the results.

i will keep you posted.

hope that you and yours are doing well, and the weekend is being kind to you!

You are right there is a lot of mixed info on FIV/FeLV. Mostly, that people think they need to be automatically put down and that's just not the case. I'm anxious for him to see the vet and find out what the results are!