I recently adopted an Felv positive cat. What should I expect?

Hello! Three weeks ago I adopted an Felv positive, 1.5 year old kitty from a shelter in Denver.I brought her home knowing that she was positive, that there were risks involved, and wanting to give her the best possible life. She has never been symptomatic, nor is she on medication. She was a stray whom they initially thought to be unadoptable, based on her impending illness, as well as her extremely shy demeanor. Well I will tell you-less than a month has passed and she is a completely different cat. She is playful and sassy, loving and adventurous. We are beyond happy to have her in our lives. However, with that joy has come immense sadness, knowing that she may not live the long, healthy life that she deserves. I have read so many different things on the internet-that she will die between 2-3 years, that she will live to be 20 if I take good care of her...What should I believe? I have fallen so madly in love with this girl!

How much of her future is out of my hands, and how much can I control? We play every night, she is absolutely smothered with love, and I feed her Blue Buffalo "grain-free" wet and dry food. I need to know what to expect--is she merely a latent carrier? Or is it only a matter of time? I can't seem to find any straight answers. Please help!

Oh, and she also drinks a lot of water for a cat. We live in Colorado, at 11,300ft elevation, so everyone and everything here consumes more water, but she is my first high-altitude pet! Is this normal? I'll call the vet. 

Thank you all so much.

XoXoXo

Heidi and Tillie

Welcome to the forum, TillieCat!

I'm on the run, so, in the briefest of recommendations for you, here you are:

For almost every chronic feline condition/disease, there are specialized online groups - they have years and years of experience in dealing with the conditions, have thousands of members, are in-the-know about the very latest in treatments....if I had a FeLV+ kitty today, that's where I'd be.

First off, I'd recommend that you get yourself a separate email address for this - email is the platform they use, and a separate address will help you better mange the messages.

Here you are http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org

That group is an offshoot of this site http://felineleukemia.org/

Hope to catch up with you later! And, keep us posted here!
 

Bless you for adopting this wonderful little one!   Unfortunately, no one can give you any guarantees that that she will live to be 20...even if she IS only a carrier , which, hopefully, she is .  But, maybe she will .  

I know you have done lots of research already, but here are a couple more things to read:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/feline-leukemia-virus-felv

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/253565/a-different-look-a-felv-fiv-or-the-story-of-howie

As to her drinking lots of water...every cat is different.  All of mine eat raw food, and usually cats on raw don't drink much (if any).  One of mine drinks as much now as she did when she was on kibble .  I think it's just habit for her.  The other two I rarely see at the water dish.  I can't even remember the last time they were there!