In my opinion and my opinion only, some of their info is outdated and incorrect, espeically when it comes to transmitting the virus and how long it survives in the enviornment. Last time I was on their website looking up info the way they presented it in my opinion is by using scare tactics and for that reason many people going to their website for info along with a vet that doesn't know anything realistic about it will opt to take their vets advise and euthanize a positive cat.
I've had people call me and specifically quote stuff they read on Cornell's website and says they had seriously thought about euthanizing the positive they found and then thankfully looked around some more and atleast got enough conflicting info to reconsider.
>From their website:
"FeLV doesn't survive long outside a cat's body—probably less than a few hours under normal household conditions."
Any vet I've EVER asked about this say's it doesn't live anywhere near this long, some think a minute or two, some think seconds, NOBODY thinks up to an hour under any circumstances.
"It is impossible to accurately predict the life expectancy of a cat infected with FeLV. With appropriate care and under ideal conditions, infected cats can remain in apparent good health for many months, although most succumb to a FeLV-related disease within two or three years after becoming infected. If your cat has already experienced one or more severe illnesses as a result of FeLV infection, or if persistent fever, weight loss, or cancer is present, a much shorter survival time can be expected."
Not necassarily true. My Frankie was sick every single year with a URI, pretty bad ones, in December. I finally let my vet test him at about 7 years of age. He was positive, indoor only and I suspect born with it or got it shortly after birth (I got Frankie in a bar when he was about 3 weeks old, couldn't even eat real food yet). He lived to be 9 years old still getting his usual URI in December and finally succumbed to anemia which my then vet had no idea how to treat other than with transfusions which she told me would only work for a while and he would suffer. His HCT was at 6% when he finally displayed any sign to me that there was something wrong. And really the only sign I got that told me something was wrong was that he wasn't staying in bed with me as he usually did every night all of his 9 years. He still weighted 18 pounds, was eating fine, and not really sleeping more or lethargic. He hid it so good by the time we did find it it was pretty much too
late to do anything for him, I lost him the night we diagnosed him.
"Feline leukemia virus will not survive outside the cat for more than a few hours in most environments.
However, FeLV-infected cats are frequently infected with other hardier infectious agents, and these may pose some threat to a newcomer. Thoroughly clean and disinfect or replace food and water dishes, bedding, litter pans and toys. A dilute solution of household bleach (4 ounces of bleach in a gallon of water) makes an excellent disinfectant. Vacuum carpets and mop floors. Any new cats or kittens should be properly vaccinated before entering the household."
As I said before as far as I'm concerned "Feline leukemia virus will not survive outside the cat for more than a few hours in most environments." is not true and almost all the FeLV positives that I'm aware if have died from anemia or some type of cancer and to my knowledge neither of these is contagious. Very few FeLV positive cats in todays world die from URI's or something else similar that a healthy cat probably wouldn't even get. It happens I'm sure though not to the extent that they try to make it sound like and therefore unnecessarily scare people. Anyone who has an outbreak of Panleukemia or something else as contagious that is not limited to FeLV+'s as they are trying to make it look like would go through the appropriate steps to clean their home before brining in any more cats.
I have no positives left in my household and when one of my guys gets a URI, it doesn't spread to all of them, in fact usually nobody else gets it. Even when Bailey was alive and one of the others got a URI, Bailey never got it from them.
I haven't been to Cornell's website in quite a while before today and I see they have revised some of their info but they still as far as I'm concerned have some incorrect info.
--
Belinda
happiness is being owned by cats ...
Be-Mi-Kitties
http://bemikitties.com
Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens
http://adopt.bemikitties.com
FeLV Candlelight Service
http://bemikitties.com/cls
HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting & web design]
http://HostDesign4U.com
------------
BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites]
http://bmk.bemikitties.com
