6m kitten was potentially exposed to FeLV - what to do

tiberria

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On March 19, I adopted a 6 month old kitten from the SPCA.  Her health records indicate that she was spayed, treated for parasites, 1st set of vaccinations, etc and tested FeLV negative (on March 8).  She apparently came in with 12 other cats from a hoarding situation.  She has been settling in really well, and really gets along well with my 9 year old male cat to the point they are sleeping together, etc.  She hasn't quite shaken an upper respiratory infection (that they sent her home with meds for) yet, but is otherwise doing well.

I got a call today from the SPCA shelter advising that they just got in another batch of cats from the same house she came from and one of the cats has tested "faint positive" for FeLV.  They are recommending that I take her back to the shelter to get retested on April 8, because it is 30 days past the initial negative.  They gave me the option of taking her in to be tested next week (at no charge), the option of sending her back to the shelter for an adoption fee refund if I was too concerned about even taking the chance at all or taking her to my vet to get the test run.

What should I do at this point?  She already has been exposed to my existing cat for 2 weeks (and I didn't hold off on allowing that when they were ready) because she had tested negative.  Is there any point in even seperating them at this point, given that (1) it will cause undue stress (2) they have been using the same food/water/litter dishes for nearly 2 weeks now, and my 9 year old probably would have already been exposed by now if she is positive.  I don't see the point of returning her to the shelter at this point either for the same reason.  Do I just wait for a week, get the followup FeLV test run and hope for the best at this point?
 
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tiberria

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More details - apparently there were 24 cats at her original home - 12 in the first batch that my kitten came from and 12 in a second batch.  Out of the 24 cats, 23 tested FeLV negative and 1 tested faint positive.  What is the likelihood that this is even an issue vs the SPCA wanting to use the abundance of caution?  Is the fact that the kitten still has a lingering URI after treatment (some sneezing and coughing occasionally during the day, but clear liquid discharge) a symptom that maybe there's more to it?
 

stephanietx

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It's always good to be cautious.  I'd take the kitty in to be retested. If nothing else, it'll put your mind at ease.
 

stephenq

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On March 19, I adopted a 6 month old kitten from the SPCA.  Her health records indicate that she was spayed, treated for parasites, 1st set of vaccinations, etc and tested FeLV negative (on March 8).  She apparently came in with 12 other cats from a hoarding situation.  She has been settling in really well, and really gets along well with my 9 year old male cat to the point they are sleeping together, etc.  She hasn't quite shaken an upper respiratory infection (that they sent her home with meds for) yet, but is otherwise doing well.

I got a call today from the SPCA shelter advising that they just got in another batch of cats from the same house she came from and one of the cats has tested "faint positive" for FeLV.  They are recommending that I take her back to the shelter to get retested on April 8, because it is 30 days past the initial negative.  They gave me the option of taking her in to be tested next week (at no charge), the option of sending her back to the shelter for an adoption fee refund if I was too concerned about even taking the chance at all or taking her to my vet to get the test run.

What should I do at this point?  She already has been exposed to my existing cat for 2 weeks (and I didn't hold off on allowing that when they were ready) because she had tested negative.  Is there any point in even seperating them at this point, given that (1) it will cause undue stress (2) they have been using the same food/water/litter dishes for nearly 2 weeks now, and my 9 year old probably would have already been exposed by now if she is positive.  I don't see the point of returning her to the shelter at this point either for the same reason.  Do I just wait for a week, get the followup FeLV test run and hope for the best at this point?
To be safe i would separate and re-test.  She will probably be ok but FeLV is serious and highly contagious.  If in the unlikely event the kitten re-tests positive and doesn't shake it off (some can), then it would not be fair to expose your older cat to continued risk (and who would need testing as well).
 

detroitcatlady

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I would suggest getting her tested and seeing what the results are. Having an upper respiratory infection doesn't necessarily indicate anything is wrong, some cats seem to take a while to get over this while others don't but it could be a reason for a vet visit if you find she is not getting over it even after she is done with the meds. It's possible but I wouldn't draw any conclusions before having her tested and seeing the result. I don't know that separating the cats will really help at this point since they have been around each other for 2 weeks already but I would probably keep them separate until you know for sure. Some cats can coexist in the same environment without ever contracting anything from positive cats while others get sick. It's hard to say why this happens, it just does. I also believe that cats can test negative at a young age or early on after exposure and later turn out to be positive but I really do not know for sure how long it takes but that tests are not always accurate the first time and things like this can happen. You may also want to have your resident cat tested depending on the kittens results.
 
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tiberria

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What also sucks is that they do not want to re-run the retest right away, they want to wait a week, because that will make it 30 days from the initial test, and apparently a 30 day period from the last possible exposure is needed to rule out FeLV with a higher degree of certainty.  I would love to just take her to the vet and test it right now, but it's probably a waste of money when I can get it done free (and hopefully conclusively) in a week.

Seperating them isn't an easy option.  I have just a 1 bedroom apartment, and a tiny bathroom is the only place I would have to put the kitten in, and when I tried that the first 2 days, she wasn't happy at all and I eventually had to let her out to come in bed with me.
 

detroitcatlady

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What also sucks is that they do not want to re-run the retest right away, they want to wait a week, because that will make it 30 days from the initial test, and apparently a 30 day period from the last possible exposure is needed to rule out FeLV with a higher degree of certainty.  I would love to just take her to the vet and test it right now, but it's probably a waste of money when I can get it done free (and hopefully conclusively) in a week.

Seperating them isn't an easy option.  I have just a 1 bedroom apartment, and a tiny bathroom is the only place I would have to put the kitten in, and when I tried that the first 2 days, she wasn't happy at all and I eventually had to let her out to come in bed with me.
I can imagine that it is frustrating but there is a reason for the wait. They want to make sure that the results are as accurate as possible - sometimes you can get false negatives. Living in a small space it is always hard to separate. Do you have a living room or just one room and a bathroom?
 

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If there were 24 cats, and 23 tested negative, I'm going to guess the other one is a false positive. Hopefully they've re-tested that cat. False positives are way more common with the SNAP tests than false negatives. So :vibes: that there's nothing to worry about! Also, studies have shown that adult cats have a fairly high natural immunity to FeLV so hopefully even if she did end up being positive, the older cat would still be OK.
 
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tiberria

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So, thinking about the absolute worst case scenario - if she ends up testing FeLV positive, what do I do?  Would it be a reasonable course of action in that situation to just get my 9 year old cat FeLV tested, and if he's negative, give him a FeLV vaccination?  He has not had one before, and my understanding is that vets - at least in Canada - do not give that recommend that vaccination for indoor cats.  If I'm reading internet source on it correctly, even with direct sustained contact, something like 80-85% of cats over 2 years old have built an immunity and won't contract FeLV.  And, then the vaccination would reduce the chance a further ~70-75%?

I would have the option of surrendering the kitten back to the SPCA and getting an adoption fee refund/being able to adopt another kitten, but I don't really want to.  She has a great personality, is extremely well behaved and has bonded really well with my older cat.  Already, in less than 2 weeks, they seem to be closer than he was with the other cat he was with for 9 years (that I had to put down last month).  I frequently discover scenes like this.

 

detroitcatlady

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What an adorable picture! They really are good buddies.

I don't know for sure how long it takes for a vaccination to be effective, but I don't think you are going to need to give kitty back to the shelter, I think you can most likely safety keep them both. I'm not saying that there isn't any chance of the older cat getting sick, but that personally this is what I would do, given the odds. Some people might be reluctant or more cautious, but with all the cats I have taken into my house and had living together, I don't think if I were in your shoes that I would give her back. Especially knowing that they have bonded very well and are getting along, I think giving the kitten back tot he shelter would just stress out your cat and probably be unnecessary at this point, regardless of what the results are.
 
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tiberria

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So, the SPCA called me today and said that they had a mix up with their vet and now want to wait a minimum of 6 weeks from the March 8 test to retest Spyder, which would take it out to April 22.  I won't have a vehicle available to me between April 19-May 4, and asked them if I should get it done a few days earlier vs nearly 2 weeks later, and they said they would recommend waiting until May 5.  Is this normal?  Isn't the typical recommendation to do it ~30 days after the latest possible exposure?  I also asked them if I should give her her FVCRP booster vaccinations that are due this week, or wait for the test results, and they advised to still do the boosters on schedule so they don't have to fully be repeated.

I took her in to my vet this afternoon to get the boosters done, plus a Revolution re-apply (recommended because they still saw signs of ear mites).  I also got them to do a snap FeLV test, since it was only $30 more with me already being in, and more than anything for piece of mind instead of having to wait nearly a month.  I asked the vet if he recommended FeLV vaccination along with the standard vaccinations, and he did not recommend it because she would have no change of contacting it as an indoor cat, and there isn't really a point as a precaution from the exposure, because if she was going to be exposed, she'd be exposed by now.

The FeLV test came back negative.  They are still recommending that I get the SPCA's test done in early May as an additional precaution (and because it's free anyway).  However, at this point what are the realistic odds of there being any issues given that she has tested negative on March 8 and again on April 7?  Am I right in thinking there is almost no concern at this point?

She has also gone from 3 lbs to nearly 5 lbs in just 3 weeks.
 
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Willowy

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False negatives are pretty rare with SNAP tests. Even if she were fighting off the virus I think some antibodies would show up. I think you can be optimistic! :D
 
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