Desperate for advice on FELV and testing from the experts! :)

So as some of you recognize me as having a cat rescue group, I am confident in saying I consider myself an expert in many areas from the extensive first hand experience with everything I have encountered in rescue.

However, I am definitely NOT an expert, or even all that experienced in FELV, I have only had a handful of positive adult cats come through the group.

WELL!! That's all changing now, and fast....

I had posted my latest feral rescue kitty, Baby here a couple months back.

Baby was extremely ill, horrible URI that apparently she has had for at least a year according to neighbors who would see her and give her some food occasionally.

I had a sneaking suspicion that once Baby got tested I would likely find out she was FIV positive.

She has been here now for 8 weeks, caged in my cat room, medicating her with Clavamox for 4 weeks, then Doxy/Clavamox since and still.

She is much thicker, no more bones poking out, her green nasal discharge is clear now, but I can't seem to get her any better than this.

She has some congestion when she breathes too.

She is spunkier at times, other times she is quiet. She has grown very fond of me though, and purrs like mad when I talk to her and pet her.

As kitten season is upon us, with bottle babies and young kids, my cat room is getting full fast, although I send out the newborns to fosters of mine, been there, just don't have time like that anymore.

But I do have very young kids here, 3 1/2 weeks through 8 weeks.

The 8 week olds are from a time that I went to the shelter to pull 4 adults who's time was up and they were scheduled to be euthanized.

While there helping get them in carriers, in comes the 'cart'...which means waiting their turn to be euthanized.

Of course I pulled them as well.

They turned out to be sweet, wonderful friendly cats, one was adopted, and the other, Valentina was very prego.

Took her to my cat room and she had 7 babies. (lost 2)

She was spayed and is now up for adoptions.

2 weeks ago Baby went to our vet, found she had been previously spayed, and he removed a tumor on her side.

Baby tested positive for FELV....I was and am heartbroken for her. When I rescue a kitty it's my mission to recover them, turn their sick/sad/abandoned, whatever life around, get them well, show them love, find them forever homes.

So the news hurts because her life is so undetermined now.

I chose not to have her pts, but rather continue to get her as well as I can, take it day by day, and at the very least give her some life time, however short it may be, to feel good again, and loved. Not sick, hungry and lost/alone.

Soooo....while I am extremely anal about handling/sanitizing in my cat room, dealing with Baby last in the cat room during my daily time of cleaning, overhauling each cage and spending social time with each kitty, my husband also has really been getting into helping, and has actually been heading out there after work, taking a beer and enjoying the kids, which I love. It seems to be his winding down time now.

Last week Valentina's kids were spayed/neutered.

They came back very faint positives for felv........

Valentina tested negative. That leaves either a false positive test, or contamination from Baby from improper sanitizing.

That's the only possible options here.

I contacted the vet, he is so convinced that they will retest negative that he even entered neg on their certificates, and plans to retest next weekend.

I emailed him again last night and said I was worried sick because Baby is in fact out there, so they may very well be exposed.

While my husband has heard me preach and lecture endlessly about using hand sanitizer and trifectant cleaner, the day after I got the news of the positive result from Baby, I went out in the cat room while he was out there, and busted him! I watched him cleaan Baby's cage, and scratching her neck and so on, finish with her and go right to the kittens cage..I flipped out of course.

So here we are to the present. I am just sick with worry, did I save these kittens twice, only to give them FELV??!!

Good God.

There is so much controversy in the info I have read, and yesterday found a thread from here but a few years back where LDG says that while an FIV test picks up antibodies from the cat and should wait until they are 6 months for an accurate test result, that FELV tests do not.

So my hoping the test was a false positive because of them being only 8 weeks and had antibodies left from momma is unrealistic???

This is going to be one of the longest weeks of my life.

Any advice or opinions on this mess??? Thanks.

The Cornell information says that it's spread through bite wounds, mutual grooming, litterbox/food dish sharing, and mother/baby transmission: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/resources/brochure/felv.html

So it doesn't sound like casual contact from your husband would spread it. Even if he had secretions on his hands, the chance of the viral load being heavy enough to cause the disease would be slim.

Were all the kittens tested individually? SNAP tests do have a lot of false positives, but probably not all 5 in one day! My guess is that Valentina was exposed but fought the virus off, and the antibodies are still circulating in her milk. Are they weaned now, or still nursing? Hopefully the next test will come out negative! Everything says to wait a month before re-testing but maybe the vet knows something else about that.

Willowy, that's what I had thought too, then found a site that states the younger the kitten, the higher the risk, even a one time exposure.

The vet had 8 kittens that day, he batch tested them with 4 tests, all 4 turned up a very faint positive.

That info is my one and only hope, how rare that would be for both litters to test the same.....

I still have this feeling in my gut...a snap test will show exposure, whether they fight it off or not is to be determined later with the other test that gets sent to a lab, I know.

Maybe I am over-thinking this. Just might be right though.

When he cleans Baby's cage, she gets all spunky and feisty with him, chewing on his hands and so on.

If the virus can survive for 3 minutes, which is what I learned from UC Davis symposium I attended, that would be plenty of time, going from one cage to the next........eeekk.

Let's just hope it's that mom was exposed at some point, fought it off, and the kitties have her antibodies.

Any thoughts LDG?

Tell it like it is! I know you don't know anything for sure, until they are retested, but what are you thinking?

Well, I have no experience with FeLV. But I do think Willowy has the most likely explanation for the kittens' faint positive.

I am friends with a rescuers from another country who has been rescuing for ... IDK, actually. 40? 50? years. Helped bring TNR to the US. In discussion a while back, she said she never even separated FeLV cats, and never had the virus spread.

I don't know what testing in a week will show. :dk:

Unfortunately, it may be months before it can be determined whether or not they're infected, or just carrying the antibodies. :heart2:

Thank you

Hun, thought you might appreciate this. It's the guidelines for retrovirus management from the Association of Feline Practitioners. http://www.catvets.com/professionals/guidelines/publications/?Id=323

Says that

Isolation of infected cats using screen or chain link fence barriers is adequate to prevent the transmission of retroviruses. Detergents and common hospital disinfectants effectively inactivate retroviruses. Using sterile or single-use items will deter iatrogenic infections.

Click to expand...

That was very helpful, thank you!

LDG I apologize for possibly making you feel like you had to give me answers regarding this, I googled for info and saw a thread from the cat site and when I went to it, you had mentioned at one time to another member, that testing for fiv is influenced by antibodies, while felv test is not.

So I thought maybe since you are so brilliant in so many areas that perhaps this was one of them. 

As always, I have a great appreciation for you and all of your knowledge and advice.

You always have the right things to offer! 

:lol3: Don't be silly!