Faint Positive For Feline Leukemia

[DorisD]

My husband and I found a kitten yesterday who came up as a faint positive on the snap test for feline leukemia. Our regular vet is closed on Thursdays, so this vet was new to us. He sent the kitten's blood to a lab for further testing. I've been reading up and hope someone can confirm what I'm thinking.

The office test was a blood test which, I understand, has a 1 in 50 chance of being a false positive. The lab test is an ELISA that, I think, will be done on serum. If that's negative, can I count on its accuracy? We have 6 indoor cats to think about and want to be very careful. If the serum test is positive, I'll ask our regular vet for an IFA test. Am I right in thinking that should be done after the kitten is 6 months old in order to be most reliable? He seems to be about 4 months old now and in general good health, other than a ferocious case of ear mites.

My husband asked the vet about the prognosis if he is truly positive and we were told he would have 3-6 months to live. That just sounds wrong to me. Opinions?

We're committed to the little guy, whose new name is Sweet Potato, no matter what, but hope he doesn't have to live in isolation. So, we're trying to educate ourselves as much as possible and anything you can add to help with that will be much appreciated!

 

[Shar371]

I got a run-down on FeLV when my Midnight was tested positive this past September. Here's what I've got... If it was the little blood test with the blue dots (SNAP/ELISA) and it showed a faint positive, and he's a new kitten, it's possible he was exposed and he can still fight off the virus. The follow up course of action is to re-test in 6 weeks. If he's got symptoms of FeLV (that is to say, the disease is "active"), then it's in his bone marrow and that's when things get hairy.

My understanding was that the SNAP test = ELISA = "The Blue Dot" test done for rapid read in a vet's office. The lab test (IFA) will only detect the disease if it's "active" and in the bone marrow.

Exposure doesn't necessarily mean that the disease "takes"... that is, your kitten can still fight it off entirely, or the disease can remain dormant... potentially for several years. That's what happened for my Midnight. No one tested her, but she had FeLV in its dormant state from kitten-hood (rescued off the street at around 3 months, indoor-only, and single-cat household ever since). At around 4 years old, it became active, and is now running rampant in her system. It can also remain dormant for far longer, but that means that your other cats could be exposed.

Even with active FeLV, the life span can be longer than 3-6 months. Average is cited as 2.5 years from diagnosis.

That said, my understanding could be totally wrong. Here's the link my vet directed me to for info; Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV)

Good luck with Sweet Potato!

 

[DorisD]

Thanks, this is helpful information! It's good to hear that Sweet Potato still has a chance of fighting this off, but even if he doesn't it's not quite as grim as the vet indicated.

What has me a bit confused is that the vet didn't order the IFA, but another ELISA. This wasn't our usual vet and he wasn't very direct in his communication. I guess I'll wait for the new results and take it from there with our regular vet.

Thanks again for the response and we'll be sending positive thoughts to you and Midnight!

 

[DorisD]

Well, the second ELISA test also came back positive. We'll wait a couple months (until he's about 6 months old) and test again to see where we are. There's apparently still some chance his immune system can fight this, so we'll try to give him the support he needs to do that. Fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, for a feral kitten found in a field, Sweet Potato seems pretty accommodating. After over 24 hours of looking at us with suspicion and assuming his food was poisoned, he fell for some Sheba broth and is now willing to be picked up and petted. I guess he's decided we're not so bad after all.

 

[DextesKitties]

Doris I know it's been a long time. Do you mind sharing what happened to Sweet Potato? Did the positive test result continue? Is he still with you? If he declined at what age and what were the symptoms? Anything you can share is appreciated. I manage a rescue and we just received news that 5 kittens (3 months) are positive.

 

[fionasmom]

OP has not been back since the day of the original post, so you probably will not get a reply.