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FeLV question
- Thread starter jezah
- Start Date
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
I said FeLV NEGATIVE. As in mom doesnt have it. The chances are still good? I mean the babies supposedly have antibodies against the virus anyways right? So if they didnt get it from the mom(cause she doesnt have it)and they have antibodies to protect them from it from other kitties....how would they have it?
One of our experts should be around soon to answer your question. Since this isn't a chat site sometimes you don't get an answer right away.
It's good that you reiterated your question. Sometimes we don't always read the posts as carefully as we should and answer too quickly.
Hopefully the answer will be a positive one for you and your kitties.
It's good that you reiterated your question. Sometimes we don't always read the posts as carefully as we should and answer too quickly.
Hopefully the answer will be a positive one for you and your kitties.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
I'm not an expert but I have taken-in/fostered 15 kittens from 3 different mothers...all mothers are FelV negative. The good news is that all of the kittens have come up negative too
Unfortunately, most vets. won't test until they are 8 to 12 weeks...at least that's the response I've recieved.
Kittens do not really get protection from their moms. You need 2 rounds of vaccinations then wait 30 days before they develop some level of protection against FeLV. Vaccinations are not 100% effective, and in fact, about 10% of vaccinated cats that have continuous exposure to FeLV will develop the full blown disease. It is higher in very young and very old cats to catch it even when vaccinated.
If you have kittens, do NOT release them with older cats unless you are absolutely confident that they do not have the disease. Kittens have a very high mortality rate from the disease, as their systems are not mature enough to fight it off.
And on the flip side....about 95%+ of kittens born to a mom with FeLV will succumb to the disease with the first 18 months of their lives. It is nothing to mess with.
Your best bet if you can afford it: get all of your adult cats tested for FeLV. If they go outside, then simply don't expose the kittens to the adults until you get thru the round of vaccinations plus the 30 day wait period.
If you have kittens, do NOT release them with older cats unless you are absolutely confident that they do not have the disease. Kittens have a very high mortality rate from the disease, as their systems are not mature enough to fight it off.
And on the flip side....about 95%+ of kittens born to a mom with FeLV will succumb to the disease with the first 18 months of their lives. It is nothing to mess with.
Your best bet if you can afford it: get all of your adult cats tested for FeLV. If they go outside, then simply don't expose the kittens to the adults until you get thru the round of vaccinations plus the 30 day wait period.
What's FeLV??
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #11
My adult cats are all indoor, and FeLV negative. I just rescued this momma from the outdoors yesterday. Someone abandoned her and her kittens. The babies are healthy, flea covered....but healthy. The mom is FIV/FeLV negative and healthy if a bit skinny. The mom got Advantage and hopefully that will solve the flea issue. I was more concerned the kittens would give my adult cats FeLV....but with momma being negative....I am hoping chances are good the kittens dont have it. I guess I will just have to take a chance....cause I cant humanely keep the babies cooped up in a cage for another 6 weeks. I cant test the babies anyways until 8 weeks.....-sigh-
Ok...thank you very much for clearing that up.
just a question I was wondering that if her kitten were to have it and be infected by it in how long would she know that her older cat was also infected? I guess My question really is well how long does it take for the infection to take over?
There is a lot of mixed opinions on this one. When you run the Elisa test (sometimes called a stick test) for FeLV, an initial positive reading doesn't indicate that they have it. That test shows that they have been exposed and they have antibodies trying to fight it off. Typically, it is recommended that the test is rerun anywhere between 30 and 90 days to see if those antibodies are still present. At that time, it is recommended that you confirm the diagnose with an IFA test (which actually tests for the virus in their blood). Unless they test positive in their blood, they don't have it. The Elisa tests for antibodies, the IFA tests their blood. The initial test is always Elisa and most vets don't bother to run the IFA (the blood must be sent to a lab).
So basically, an exposed cat will initially show that they are trying to fight it off, and that can take anywhere between 30 and 90 days (depending on which expert you listen to). Tests are positive when they are in this phase. A healthy cat has a good chance to fight it off (about 75% chance, where kittens, seniors and health compromised cats don't fight it off as well).
The last specialist that I talked to on the matter told me that more recent research shows that you can tell positively within about 30 days, but most vets side with caution and suggest that the process to fight it off is more in the 60-90 day range.
Does this make sense?
Interesting, I am in the UK and things are done slightly different here. Some vets use the in house (am guessing that is the ELISA, I always get mixed up), but it needs to be followed up a few weeks later with the test from the lab (there is only one over here that does it), so some vets (mine included), don't do the in house test at all, and just send them all to the lab. I prefer it this way, as there was a recent survey and a lot of the results sent to them were found to be incorrect - can't find the link at the mo, but this is what the site said:
What's new - results of in-house FeLV tests!
We thank our customers for sending in your FeLV positive in-house kits and samples for us to evaluate our new FeLV immunofluorescence (IFA) test.
For interest, here are our results so far:
In-practice or other laboratory test IFA FeLV positive IFA FeLV negative
A 2 0
B 3 4
C 7 2
D 0 3
E 1 3
F 0 6
Total 13 18
As you can see, only 42% of samples which tested FeLV positive in-house or using other laboratory tests were positive by our confirmatory test
What's new - results of in-house FeLV tests!
We thank our customers for sending in your FeLV positive in-house kits and samples for us to evaluate our new FeLV immunofluorescence (IFA) test.
For interest, here are our results so far:
In-practice or other laboratory test IFA FeLV positive IFA FeLV negative
A 2 0
B 3 4
C 7 2
D 0 3
E 1 3
F 0 6
Total 13 18
As you can see, only 42% of samples which tested FeLV positive in-house or using other laboratory tests were positive by our confirmatory test
