If you have men who will exclude any of God's
creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their fellow
man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 10:16
PM
Subject: FeLV transmission by bite
Hi Everyone!
I haven't been on list in a while, but
I have some real worries I need to share.
In case anyone needs reminding, we
have Cotton, who is a young orange boy, under a year old FeLV+
who we adopted around 5 months ago or so, and 3 established older
cats in our family, Cricket, Miss and Myca.
Initially when Cotton first came he was
stalked and terrorized by Cricket, who would slap at him and hiss and
basically do a lot of posturing and chasing, but there was very little contact
between them. Now that Cotton is older and a little bigger, he has
turned into the aggressor, and he is the one who stalks Cricket and when
he catches her by suprise, he bites her. Cotton and Cricket are
both small cats, but he is much stronger than she is, and she
is a little bit overwt, and much softer than he
is.
I'm so worried about her because I
know he hurts her, and he's been relentless the last few days for
some reason, and she has been hiding, and she seems a
bit depressed. At night I try and massage her while she lays on my
chest kneading my chin. It's our bonding time. But last night she seemed
restless, and I think some of the places I touched were sore.
She has scabs on her where he's bitten her, but she has also put a few
scratches on Cotton. He's got an ugly but clean one on his
shoulder.
Usually we break up the fights before
they get too nasty by getting the squirt bottle, but I fear that not only will
one of them inflict a nasty wound that might get infected, I worry that
Cricket's stress level and her constant exposure to his saliva might lead to
the transmission of the FeLV. She was weakly positive on her
last ELISA, but the vet said possibly due to exposure, and i am to take
her back in for another test this weekend. If she tests positive
again, I will have them draw an IFA to confirm.
The other two older cats were both
negative, and received a booster. I check everyone over very carefully
for new wounds, because I have dealt with an abscessed wound before,
and know they can become a real problem in a short time.
Needless to say Cotton is doing quite
well, he is a little devil (in the most affectionate sense of the word).
His energy level is great, he eats well, poops well, plays long and
hard and bites and scratches his way through everyone in his way. I
believe he has lacked the proper socialization, as he has been slow to
trust and is slow learning his limits in the household. He's constantly
testing his limits. We have tried to teach him manners, but he is
stubborn and wily. It's been so long since we have had a kitten, I
have a rather relaxed, very polite bunch (they sit in line waiting
for another to finish at the food bowl or water), who have worked out
their differences long ago.
I try to make sure Cricket has a safe
place where she can go, which is my bedroom. Cotton is not allowed in
there. We shoo him out whenever he goes in there. Same for
Cotton, when he goes to my son's room for quiet, the other cats are
discouraged from bothering him. At night he is not allowed free roam,
and is confined in there to sleep with my son. I have also used some
Feliway spray, which did help. I am continuing to use
it.
Any suggestions or thoughts on how I
can deal with this? It's hard to be mad at Cotton, since he is so
well, and he's still very much a kitten, but I wonder if neutering might
help if he's well enough? I feel so bad for my poor little
sweetpea, Cricket. I don't want her to live in fear, and not safe
in her own home. She is already the littlest, and has had to work
hard to earn her current status in the household. Cotton has
upset the pecking order.
Please advise.
Sandy
