Kris,
There have been other kitties on the list that were diagnosed later in
life. I can remember one case where the cat in question was an inside
only cat with no known association with cats having felv. One
possibility is that they are "carrying" the disease sequestered in their
bone marrow without displaying symptoms, (they can also test neg using
ELISA, under this circumstance). Then, one terrible day, it rears it's
ugly head. The cat becomes sick, does not recover as expected, is
tested, and gets a pos result. How very shocking that must be. One of
my rescued felv litter kittens, Tim, tested neg and this could be what's
going on with him. I choose to consider him my miracle boy anyway.
There is something called a PCR test that is suppose to be better at
diagnosing felv, (there is debate about it's effectiveness because of
possible errors in evaluating/running the test) and there is a bone
marrow test that is more invasive that can be done.
Nina
gwork wrote:
She hasn't been retested since the beginning of all this (almost 6
years ago), but it's my understanding that once the virus enters the
marrow, it's a lifetime deal. Sort of like herpes. The body has
already past the point at which it is able to defeat the virus, and
has lost. The thing that seems to be so unique in our situation, as I
don't know of one other person yet who has experienced it, is that
Spaz was asymptomatic and not diagnosed until 8 years of age.
Everyone else is receiving their diagnoses during kittenhood or very
early adulthood, when the susceptibility is apparently higher.
Kris
