Feline leukemia questions

mel1959

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
Messages
2
Purraise
1
I'm new here. About 2 mths ago a neighbor came across 4 four day old kittens in a rural community. They were inside a monument sign he was wiring at a new shopping center. He contacted me and asked what he should do with them since the temp inside the metal sign was about 85 degrees. He brought them to me, even though the mother may have returned. My reasoning was there would be 4 less feral cats living a hard life and reproducing. I am happy to say all 4 survived with no medical issues. They are now about 9 wks old. They just received their second combo shot and were tested for FIV/FeLk. One of the 4 tested faint positive for FeLk, all were FIV neg. This was the in office test. I was advised to separate 2/2, which was fine because 2 were going to be my daughters pets and I was keeping 2. The little girl that tested positive is with me. I have 3 other older cats that were vaccinated many years ago, but are all FIV/FeLk negative. I have done my best to keep the two little ones from eating, drinking or using the same litter box as the older cats. I was advised by the vet to bring them all in for a retest in 30 days. My questions are: Is it common for 1 sibling to be positive and the others negative? Should I seek out another vet that would be willing to do the more extensive test prior to the 30 days to determine if my little girl really is positive? I am heartbroken that my sweet little girl might have this dreaded disease. I will not euthanize, as I know they can live a relatively happy healthy life even with the virus. My concern is merging them into my home with my adult cats. The vet I am using is a low cost spay/neuter vet with minimal care. I chose this vet because I wanted to have all of them spayed/neutered prior to them going to any homes and I was looking for an economical means of doing that. I am fortifying my little ones with L-lysine and high quality dry and canned food. Any advice or help that anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 

molly92

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
Messages
1,689
Purraise
1,565
Location
Michigan
So, from what I understand about FeLV testing is that it's a little complicated, and a faint positive in a young kitten is definitely not a for sure sign that they have the disease and will be contagious. Another test needs to be administered, like your vet advised, but it would be useless to do it before a month has passed. It's called an immunofluorescent assay. It will test whether the infection is present or whether the kitten's own immune system has taken care of it already. The first test, likely an ELISA test, just tests for exposure to the virus.

After the IFA, which seems likely to come out negative, it's usually best to wait another 30 days and do one more IFA just to be absolutely certain the virus is gone. It takes quite a bit of contact for cats to actually transmit the virus to each other, usually through exchange of saliva from grooming and sharing food bowls. Also, adult cats are much more likely to have built up a natural immunity to the virus so their chances of contracting it are even lower than a kitten.

Just in case, I would still probably keep the kittens mostly separated from your other cats until you have the final set of negative results in a couple of months. Worst case scenario, the IFA results end up being positive for one or more of the kittens, then you could talk to your vet about getting the rest of your vaccinated against FeLV. Vaccines for cats carry risks, though, so it would not be something to have done before you get the test results back. If they're not interacting with the kittens for extended periods, they're not at risk.

From what I've heard, false faint positives on the initial test aren't uncommon, so since all but one of the siblings tested negative, it seems like the odds are good! You have to be cautious and play the waiting game for a bit, but hopefully in a couple months you'll be all clear.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

mel1959

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
Messages
2
Purraise
1
Thank you for responding, Molly92. I'm not certain, but I believe the vet intends to retest all 4 kittens with the ELISA test again. Is this acceptable or should I seek out another vet and request the more extensive test?
 

molly92

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
Messages
1,689
Purraise
1,565
Location
Michigan
I wasn't sure, so I did some digging and I think this thread will be helpful, specifically StephenQ's response: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/299373/conflicting-feline-leukemia-test

So doing the second ELISA seems like a good option. You can also ask for the IFA test to be done at the same time, and if both are negative, that should be pretty conclusive. If the ELISA is still positive and the IFA is negative, it seems like neither of those are very reliable results, so the testing would have to be done again in another 30 days and then it might be time to ask about the PCR test so you can have really definitive results.
 
Top