The place where I am going to take my cats for their FeLV vaccines will not vaccinate without a test, which makes sense given what I've read on the list about not vaccinating positives. I am going to go ahead and wait the full three months before having her tested again, and in the mean time go ahead and vaccinate the others for FeLV if they are negative.
Thanks Catatonya for writing back :)
Gina
catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A retest is not going to be very reliable unless you wait 90 days. That's why I would vaccinate everyone in case anyone's negative.... just my opinion.
Gina WN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:I'm going to retest them all before they get the vaccine. Bob is almost 8 years old, and he's been tested once when he was 4 months old. For some reason no vet ever ever recommended testing him again. If he has FeLV, for some reason he's never shown any symptoms. So far so good. Tigger and Taylor are 13 years old, have been tested twice and have been negative so far.We had Pippin tested on the 9th of June. It would be advisable to retest 90 days from that date right? I was going to retest on August 18th, but perhaps that is too soon. What do you think?
catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Personally I would retest Bob now. (when was the last time he was tested?) I would wait 90 days from that time to test him. I would booster my other guys one time only. If you just recently tested Bob I would vaccinate him and booster him. Then wait 90 days. If he's still positive I wouldn't bother testing, vaccinating, etc.... any more.With my other cats, as I said, if they get sick and we run tests and can't find what's wrong we'll run a leukemia test to see if that's what's happened. But it never has.I do NOT keep up with my negative leukmeia vaccines at this point. I did when I first found out I had a leukemia cat, but over the years, with all the sick cats and none of them 'catching' felv.......... I quit doing it. We are required to give yearly rabies..... but if you have a positive cat you can usually get out of that.My first positive was tested by an incompetent shelter worker as being negative. She was given the vaccine and the booster and it had no ill effect on her.She never got sick until I took her in to be spayed. I was told she was fiv, but the doc ran a combo test just because there was such little difference in price. We found out she had felv......... not fiv. I think she developed a uri while she was there with the spay, the germs, and the stress. But we worked her through it and she lived about 7 years healthy as a horse until she got sick and died.tonyat
Gina WN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Hi Catatonya,I have some questions. Let me give you some background information. Tigger and Taylor have been tested twice in the past for FeLV, seven years between tests, both times negative. Bob has only been tested once when he was around four months old and he was negative. Is there a chance they could be positive after all this time? They are indoor only cats with no known exposure up to this point.Pippin was first tested the day we brought her home and before she had any contact with them. When we brought her home from the vet we had instructions to keep her litter pan, water and food separate and we've done so these past weeks. There has been casual contact but no grooming or biting. And she has not used their litter pans or shared their food or water. Is there still a chance she passed the disease? I was wondering.Also, if Tigger, Taylor and Bob test negative this next test, is it safe to give them the vaccine? I read that it's not good for their immune system to give them the FeLV vaccine if they are positive. But is it true that I might not know if they are positive for several reasons, including: (1) they test a false negative this time or tested false negative in the past; (2) they have not developed the disease yet to a sufficient level that the test comes back positive (3) they have developed the disease, but it's in their bone marrow. Is this correct? I am also aware of the dangers of injection-related sarcoma, but I am thinking the benefits of the vaccine outweigh that even though it's not 100% effective. Input is most welcome.My Bob is a fat cat too! He loves his food :)Gina
catatonya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Sounds like a plan. Just remember that your cats that test negative now could test positive later. It takes a whild for the virus to grow (or whatever) enough to test positive. Your Bob looks a lot like mine........ my Bob is better known as 'fat cat bob'.t
Gina WN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Hi,I wanted to share a little of what my husband and I are going through as we are in a similar situation to yours. We are awaiting the second test for our kitten Pippin. She will be 16 weeks old when she has the second FeLV test on August 18th.We were not sure what we were going to do when we found out she was a "faint positive". My vet did not recommend euthanasia right then, but did recommend she take a second test three weeks later. After we got home, I cried and cried. I just could not sleep that night. So, I started doing some research on the Internet and joined this list. After spending a few days reading information and opinions, I shared the information with my husband and we decided we should wait until she was older to retest.Since then, we have decided to keep Pippin whether she tests positive a second time or not. We love her and she is part of our family, ill or not. I wouldn't trade a moment of the time we've had for any guarantees of tomorrow.So, we are getting our other three cats re-tested and vaccinated (if they are negative.) And, we are going to take it one day at a time and enjoy having her in our lives. Because of the experiences of list members who have mixed +/- cats, I have hope that my others will not contract the disease. But, if they do for some odd reason, my husband and I will deal with it.The only experience I've had is with FIV which is different as far as transmission and disease progression than FeLV. My cat Buddy had FIV and lived until he was 18. I am praying that my Pippin lives as long as some of the cats I've heard about if she has FeLV, but I'm preparing myself for the possibility that she will not.Welcome to the list. My prayers are with you and your furbaby.Gina
kandbz_ mom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:Hello! I recently adopted a kitten...she is now 15 weeks old. The lady I got her from emailed me and said my kittens brother tested positive. We went to the vet for a checkup on Monday and she tested positive for Felv. The vet came out right away and said I may want to think about having her euthanized. I asked if we could wait and then do the other test, the one done at the lab. He said we can, but since she came up positive so young, she probably does have Felv. I am just heartbroken. SHe has no symptoms and is just the sweetest cat ever. I have to get my other two cats tested for it. My cats are 7 and 3 yrs old. They have never been tested for Felv because they don't automatically test here. When you take a cat or kitten in for a "checkup" they just routinely give out the vaccine and don't test unless you ask for it. You would think that as fast as this disease spreads, they would be testing EVERY kitten/cat. I'm worried that my other two cats are going to have it now, too. Does anyone know, would I have to have all three of them euthanized if that were the case?? I'm still learning about this disease from reading things on the internet. Would it be possible to keep her??Any advice would be helpful and appreciated.Thanks.__________________________________________________
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