Is Feline Leukemia contagious?

My Cousin adopted a stray kitten a few months ago he found crying in a dumpster. He was doing great and was almost a year old, and suddenly he got sick out of nowhere. He was rushed to the vet and turns out he has Feline Leukemia he doesnt have long to live.   He has like 4 other indoor cats and dogs and is wondering if they are at risk for catching this? The cats all slept together and ate same food but were all indoor cats.

I do not know if they had vaccines or not being they were indoor only, the newest might have but I assume he had it as a stray and the vaccines would have done nothing. I'm just surprised he never had the blood test from the start to say he had it?

This was in Hollywood, California, so apparently leukemia positive strays are in his area.

I am very sorry about the little kitten who tested postive for FeLK (feline leukemia).  FeLK is transmitted among cats via slavia, urine, even shared feeding bowls.

Hindsight being 20/20, your cousin should have had Kitty tested before bringing him inside.

Your cousin should get his other cats tested for FeLK.  Here is an article about this virus. 

In your other cat's behalf, the best offense is defense, by which I mean, rigorous attention to secondary infections, like URI.

 I would put all the cats on L-lysine. 

I do not believe FeLK is transmittable to dogs; clearly, it is to other cats.

Other posters with more experience with FeLK will hopefully offer more, well, hope.

Thanks for the info I will pass it on to my cousin!

Adult cats have a fairly high natural immunity to FeLV---about 90%. But of course that still means they have about a 10% chance of contracting it if exposed. Kittens are very susceptible. So if he had any kittens at the same time or after this cat was introduced to the home, they have probably contracted it. If all the other cats were adults, they may have fought it off, depending how strong their immune systems are.

I wouldn't suggest testing the other cats now, as exposure can make them test positive even if their immune system is fighting it. For accurate results, he would want to test the other cats about 3 months after the FeLV+ cat has passed away or has been separated from the other cats.

Willowy said:

I wouldn't suggest testing the other cats now, as exposure can make them test positive even if their immune system is fighting it. For accurate results, he would want to test the other cats about 3 months after the FeLV+ cat has passed away or has been separated from the other cats.

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I'd wait on the testing. As to vaccinations, even if they'd been vaccinated against FeLV, it's only about 70% effective anyway.

Here is more detailed information on the potential outcomes: http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/pages/felv_web.pdf

Hopefully your cousin's other cats were adults. :cross: