True. I really think anyone bringing new cats who test negative should still retest 60-90 days later to be truly sure. And then during that time the cat could not be exposed to any new cats or to possible positives. That's why I think, too, it's much more common than we know that we have cats that we think contracted the disease from a 'new' cat when they had it all along.
tonya
Chris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Chris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
"unfortunately, it works the other way, too--a
cat could test negative because it was just exposed and it's not
showing up on the snap yet...."
Unfortunately, I believe this is what happened to my Tucson & only served to
show me that out of all those cats that people get as kittens, there are
probably a whole lot who really are pos--not to mention, how many people who
have indoor-outdoor cats have them checked every year! Kind of makes it
impossible to really adress 'life expectancy' questions for FELV+. Bottom
line, this disease has been around forever & we have all had cats who we
loved dearly without ever knowing if they were pos or not!
Chris
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of TenHouseCats
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 4:13 PM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: This is what the vet said...
i don't think you "have" to wait 30 days, but unless you have some
idea of when the cat was exposed, a positive test may mean
nothing--just as a negative may not, for that matter--80% of healthy
adults seem to throw off the virus, so knowing at what stage you're
testing is the only way to know if a test is likely to be reliable...
a cat could be positive on the snap, negative on the IFA--and in 3
months, test differently...... this just points up the need for
retesting, which is an unrealistic thing for most
rescues/shelters..... unfortunately, it works the other way, too--a
cat could test negative because it was just exposed and it's not
showing up on the snap yet....
--
MaryChristine
AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats
MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ: 289856892
