FELV quarantine - help please

Hello everyone,

Our familly takes care of 27 cats at the moment. We cought them on streets or in the nature - we just try to make an effort to save as many cats as we can. Some of them are placed in our flat, the others live in and arround our cabin.

Recently we have been seriusly hit by FIP, FELV and PARVO virus.

Now straight to my question - we have got 2 FELV possitive cats in our flat, seperated from the others, in quarantine.

Everytime we go to their room, we change all clothes and wash with antibacterial souaps. Do we really have go through this procedure? Is it even possible to infenct a healthy cat without direct contant with the infected one? Is cat-human-cat transmission of the virus a real threat?

Thank you for any advice!

Jan Čížek, Czech Republic

My personal experience is that, while it's good to be cautious, FeLv is not quite the "Black Death" it's portrayed as. We currently have a FeLv+ cat in a "quarantine room" for 4 months now while it is being treated. All objects, especially litter boxes, food and water dishes, that come in contact with him are kept separate from our other 3 house cats. Washed and rinsed in a chlorine sterilizer rinse. Bedding, etc is handled separately. We wash our hands immediately and frequently after handeling him. Fluid contact with the other cats is the biggest threat. Think HIV. If they aren't sharing food, water dishes, litter boxes and aren't getting into fights, the risks for transmission are minimal IMHO. Keeping them isolated reduces the risk even further. I might add that we've had 2 FeLv+ cats that shared our home with our still current 3 house cats for many months with no harm. Not something that I'd recommend, but it does support that the disease is not THAT communicable. Finally, if you can vaccinate the FeLv- cats against the FeLv that would be good too. Oh, and if you haven't fixed them, do it. Keeps the fighting down as a source of transmission, as well as the mother to kitten transmission of the virus.

Thank you a lot!

We are very cautious about that. And all you recomend - we do.

What do you thing about the clothing and shoes changing? Is it necessary?

We did vaccinete all other cats. All 25 of them. :-/

How exactly are you treating your FeLv+ cat? We are using Virbagen. It is very expesive drug, but we put a lot of hope in it - after its great succes/dealing with the "Black Death" (7 month old cat - she is perfectly healthy now).

Jan Čížek

I think you're going to way too much trouble in changing out your clothing and shoes.  This is normally transmitted via bites and/or grooming each other...catto ct, not human to cat. 

Here's an article on it:  http://www.thecatsite.com/a/feline-leukemia-virus-felv

BTW, I greatly admire what you are doing, not just with the FeLV cats, but with ALL the cats in general...that a LOT of cats

in the beginning we would change into hospital "scrubs" and booties before entering the room. We no longer do that. We have a small rug by the door that we stand on before leaving and spray a chlorine/water mix on the bottom of our feet or socks or shoes, whatever has been in contact with the floor. The concern, small though it might be, is that some body fluid (urine, saliva, etc) might have been on the floor and been picked up on our feet. We wipe our feet on the rug then to get the chlorine off as it is pretty damaging to other fabrics and such. Unless there is some body fluid on our cloths we are no longer much concerned with that although we don't just leave them laying around. Once or twice a week we disenfect the room somewhat by using the disenfectant on the floors mostly and other things that may have come in contact with the cat's body fluids.
We have been treating Benjamin with an anti-viral drug called T-Cyte. It's relatively new and also isn't cheap. There is information on the web. I would be very surprised if it were available outside the US at this point. I have a separate post about Benjamin's treatment (Felv Benjamin T-Cyte treatment) that briefly describes what we've done.
I applaude you for your efforts. Really. It's difficult. It's expensive. The chances of success aren't really good. It's an emotional roller coaster. I lost two cats I thought a lot of to FeLv (Squiggy and The Joker). For me it's a revenge mission on the virus.
Good luck to you. Success. And peace to your spirit.

Parvo is that contagious, so if you're dealing with parvo you should utilize the strictest quarantine and disinfection procedures. But FeLV is not very contagious. Most healthy adult cats have some level of immunity to it, so that helps. It's spread through direct and prolonged contact with bodily fluids, or a bad bite can transmit the virus quickly because it deposits the virus deep in the muscle. FIV is even less contagious. So with those you don't have to really take any special precautions, except not sharing food bowls or litter pans.

Cornell seems to be doing the most research on FeLV and other feline diseases so you should look at their site. It's very informative.

Willowy said:

Parvo is that contagious, so if you're dealing with parvo you should utilize the strictest quarantine and disinfection procedures. But FeLV is not very contagious. Most healthy adult cats have some level of immunity to it, so that helps. It's spread through direct and prolonged contact with bodily fluids, or a bad bite can transmit the virus quickly because it deposits the virus deep in the muscle. FIV is even less contagious. So with those you don't have to really take any special precautions, except not sharing food bowls or litter pans.

Cornell seems to be doing the most research on FeLV and other feline diseases so you should look at their site. It's very informative.

Click to expand...

Exactly!

FELV is actually a very weak virus despite it's effects, that does not live outside of the host for more than a few short minutes tops.

Be sure the 2 positives are at least together, or the mere stress of isolation is going to help delay getting well.

Parvo on the other hand, is crazy, scary contagious, and is very, very hearty outside the host, lasting as long as 18 months.

This means clothing is a prime source for spreading, shoes, hands, objects, toys, you name it.

Boy do I have stories of just how shockingly easy it is to spread.......

Vegajan said:

 
Thank you a lot!

We are very cautious about that. And all you recomend - we do.

What do you thing about the clothing and shoes changing? Is it necessary?

We did vaccinete all other cats. All 25 of them. :-/

How exactly are you treating your FeLv+ cat? We are using Virbagen. It is very expesive drug, but we put a lot of hope in it - after its great succes/dealing with the "Black Death" (7 month old cat - she is perfectly healthy now).

Jan Čížek

Click to expand...

The virus does not live outside the host and can only bet transmitted cat to cat.  Washes your hands is enough.

Hi Vegajan and welcome to the forum !

There are also 2 specialized online communities for FeLV cats.....they can help with technical questions, like sanitation and treatments.

1.   https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FeLVPositiveCats/info  
2.   https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/PurringPixieCatResource/info  

I think Parvo - Distemper - must be your #1 concern.

 ...

I wonder.......did you notice this....and, did you understand "fixed" ?

Lyle said:

...... if you haven't  fixed   them, do it. Keeps the fighting down as a source of transmission.........

Click to expand...

"Fixed" = neutered/de-sexed/sterilized.....

Hi,

Thank you for the links.

I did understand the word "fixed," I figured it out from the context. Thanks. :-)

Parvo virus is 100% under control at the moment.

Jan Čížek

to StephenQ
 

Hello,

thanks to you aswell. :-) 

As far as I know, the virus can survive oustide the cat for few hours (maximum). 


Jan Čížek

to Catwoman707

Thank you for information and your advices. :-)

We are as cautious as we are terrified of the Parvo virus.

Jan Čížek

to Willowy

Hi,

Thanks. I will check it out. :-)


Jan Čížek

to mrsgreenjeens

Hi,

Thank you for the link and especially for the kind words - this way of life is really devastating.

Jan Čížek

 

To Lyle

Hello again,

Thx a lot for writing down the whole procedure. You are very kind.

The T-Cyte drug - I will read something about it. If its truly so powerfull, I will do all I can to get it - even swim to US or climb the walls.

I am honestly very sorry about Squiggy and The Joke. Good luck with Benjamin - I really do hope you will succeed treating him. You deserve it, he deserves it, and finally the virus deserves nothing but death.


At last - thank you for the encouringement, your kindes and your warmth!


Jan Čížek

 

to all

Apologies about my english writing. I understand everything -  but I am not much used to comunicate the other way. My spelling is dissaster for example, I am aware of that. :-)

Thank you alll and good luck!
 

Jan Čížek, Czech Republic

Vegajan said:

 
to all

Apologies about my english writing. I understand everything -  but I am not much used to comunicate the other way. My spelling is dissaster for example, I am aware of that. :-)

Thank you alll and good luck!
 

Jan Čížek, Czech Republic

Click to expand...

Actually your English AND spelling are great!

I send you my prayers, you will be blessed for your caring.

Vegajan said:

 
to StephenQ
 

Hello,

thanks to you aswell. :-) 

As far as I know, the virus can survive oustide the cat for few hours (maximum). 


Jan Čížek

Click to expand...

It may live briefly outside the body ( a few minutes) but it really can only transmit cat to cat. see http://www.2ndchance.info/flv.htm

Hello,

maybe there is one more, very serious problem you might help me with. 

PARVO VIRUS - A cat called Connie, i have already mentioned her. We found her new home after raising her from a kitten. Now we know how terrible move we have made. The girl we gave the cat to has no mesurable IQ and very mentaly unstable. She let us know something wrong is going on with Connie after 2 days. Connie was totally apathetetic - didt move, eat, play or pett. All the girl was able to do was crying to the phone. She didnt even take Connie to a vet. So we had to drive in the middle of the night to city far away to take her.

We successfully cured her with loads of Virbagen. Now it has been four weeks since the doctors told us she was ok. But they were not able to tell us what to do next - how to get the poor cat from the quarantine without endangering the other cats.

Does anyone have some experience with this kind of procedure? Any advices? Or a contact to a great vet whom I could contact and question about it?

Today I am about to write some emails to US, German and Canadian hospitals - but I am not sure they will respond.

Please.

I really do need happyend for this cat. I want her to make up for the bad choice we had made.  

Thx for all!

Jan Čižek
Prague, Czech Republic