Joe,
I'm sorry to hear about Sassy. Not one person on this board doesn't
feel an ache of sadness when we see that someone else has lost a
beloved feline friend.
Feline leukemia has so many symptoms, that it's hard to be sure of
what we're looking at sometimes. Only a test to determine whether a
cat is positive or negative can help discern whether a symptom may be
related. The disease would seem to have three main negative branches:
anemia, lymphoma (or other cancer) and depressed immune system. With
a depressed immune system, which is seemingly the most common problem
related to the virus, almost anything, even something relatively
minor, could be related to FeLV, such as cold or flu-like symptoms.
As in HIV/AIDS with people, FeLV can leave cats open to having a
minor cold become a major problem.
I think the more important thing is to encourage guardians/owners to
take steps to prevent the infection or spread of FeLV.
* Keep cats indoors whenever possible. If a cat can be kept
permanently inside, so much the better.
* When they must be outdoor cats, vaccinate against FeLV to protect
them.
* When bringing in a new cat, test the cat before allowing it to
integrate into the household, isolating it until you're fairly
certain that the cat is fine.
These three steps alone would help to prevent many infections, and of
course, keeping a cat inside protects him or her from predators,
other diseases, speeding cars, bad weather, etc.
Take care,
Lance
