Rescued blind mama cat and 5 kittens-- only 1 is faint positive for felv

Hi Everyone-- I'm new here! 

I've done a lot of cat rescue and TNR in the past. We recently moved, and low and behold, a cat with only one eye showed up in our yard (they know how to find us). We fed her, and tried to trap her, with no success. She disappeared for a while, and a few months later showed up with FIVE kittens. 

I was able to get 4 of the kittens by hand. They were about 8 weeks old and went to a local rescue organization-- were tested, vaccinated etc. and now all are adopted out. All 4 tested negative for FELV. 

It took me another couple days and my friend's drop trap, and I was finally able to get the remaining kitten and mother cat. We brought them to our regular vet so that her eye could be looked it. At turns out she's 100% BLIND, probably from being hit by a car at some point. Of course we decided we had to keep her, and decided to keep the kitten as well (we jokingly call him her "seeing eye kitten"). 

The mother cat tested negative for FELV, but the kitten tested a faint positive on the snap test. The vet really thinks it's a false positive, but we have the mother cat and kitten sequestered in our bathroom until the ISA test can be run (we have other cats). 30 days after the initial snap test, they sent out the kitten's blood for the ISA test. That was 10 days ago, and we're still waiting for the results. It's driving us nuts! I've called the vet every day to check for results. I hate to think of what we'll do if he does test positive.

Has anyone heard for a kitten (now 12 weeks old) who is positive for FELV when the mother AND all siblings are negative? How would the kitten end up with the disease? Where could they get it from? I've read so much online, and cant' find any incident of a kitten having it, without the other kittens and mother also having it.

We also rescued 2 kittens and a mother cat from this same neighborhood last year (let the mother out after fixing her-- she was too feral, and got kittens adopted) and all were negative. This is a more rural area that doesn't have a huge cat population. 

Anyway, just looking for some reassurance. I can't wait to let them out and let the blind cat start getting accustomed to living with us!

My vet doesn't believe any tests can be trusted at that young an age.  Since the mother and siblings all tested negative, I wouldn't worry about it.  You are keeping the kitten with the mama cat anyhow, so it's not like you have to prove anything to an adopter.  I would also consider that a false positive test, personally.

Red Top Rescue said:

 
My vet doesn't believe any tests can be trusted at that young an age.  Since the mother and siblings all tested negative, I wouldn't worry about it.  You are keeping the kitten with the mama cat anyhow, so it's not like you have to prove anything to an adopter.  I would also consider that a false positive test, personally.

Click to expand...

Thank you for putting my mind at ease! We're still keeping them segregated for now (I'm such a worrier-- what if this is the ONE TIME a kitten has it but mothers and siblings don't?) but I really am a little less concerned.

Hopefully we're going to hear from them tomorrow. He's seriously an adorable kitten, and the mother is much more comfortable with us and anxious to spread out and explore a bit, too!

The other good thing is that it's not highly contagious.  Basically it requires fluids to be exchanged between the cats, since the virus is very weak and dies within two hours in a dry environment.  Mating and fighting are the main vectors, although its possible to be transmitted through urine or sharing food dishes.  The incidence of transmission will drop considerably if the litterbox is kept from remaining damp between uses. One method is to clean all damp litter out of a standard box after each use; this is quite easy if you use clumping litter.  You could let mama and babies explore the house if you had your other cats in a separate room for awhile and put their litter box and food/water dishes with them.