Hi Emily,
Glad to hear that Tofu is doing well. Do you do anything special for him (supplements, food, environmental, medicine)? Regarding your first question, you'll want to check out the AAFP Retrovirus Management Guidelines paper, available here: [1]http://www.catvets.com/guidelines/practice-guidelines/retrovirus-man agement-guidelines We now think that the latent infection is what is known as a regressive infection. Current thinking (via the paper) is that it's unlikely that cats with this type of infection will develop disease. I wonder if some of what's been said in the past about latent infections doesn't refer to cats who are persistently infected but asymptomatic (or mostly so). My cat, Ember, is almost certainly persistent, but she rarely deals with major illness. She's 11 years old, and she's had the virus a minimum of seven years. Regarding your second question, some sources indicate that there are additional virus types that sometimes arise in FeLV+ cats post-infection. These additional viruses are not transmittable, but they are responsible for anemia and lymphomas. I haven't seen any official sources even consider different strains of the primary virus. My ignorant layman's hunch is that, given many factors (like genetic makeup, stress level, age, immune system, general health, nutrition, environment), some persistently infected cats are more vulnerable to disease than others. I see a lot of speculation (like mine above?) online, and I wouldn't put much stock in it. For best info, I think the AAFP paper is the way to go, probably followed by Cornell's current research. They seem pretty busy and aren't always at the edge of FeLV knowledge, but I think they're careful to provide accurate information to the best of their abilities. Hope that gives you some ideas. Lance On Fri, Jun 28, 2013, at 10:13 AM, [2]ad...@fuzzyfriendsrescue.com wrote: I was on this list years ago, when I had my first FeLV cat, Denzel, and I adopted my second, Saki Tofu, from a list member shortly after Denzel died in 2009. Happy to report, Tofu is still going strong, but I haven’t been on the list since then. I currently work at a rescue facility and we have had 4 kittens test positive for FeLV in the past few months. We routinely test every cat and kitten. Previously, our policy was to euthanize any with confirmed positive results (sending off for IFA to confirm). The first on who tested positive last Fall went on to a rescue that takes a limited number of FeLV cats. About a month ago, we had a litter of 4 kittens dumped here, 3 of whom tested positive. We split them all into separate cages to quarantine, then retested after a month and now all are showing negative. My question is, I have read that cats who seem to clear the virus can have a latent infection that will reappear later in life if they develop another illness or have some type of extreme stress. Does anyone have any links to actual studies showing this information? Everything I can find has been anecdotal, and I would like something more “official” for us to determine our policy on how to counsel potential adopters for cats who have “cleared” the virus. My second question relates to my personal cats and strains of FeLV. I have 3 who have tested positive (just lost a 4^th the same day she got the positive test result, she was an indoor feral who was hiding her illness until she was too sick to resist being picked up, by the time I could get her to a vet she was severely anemic and in liver failure, she went into seizures and died in my arms after they drew blood). Saki Tofu is going on 5 years since her positive test result, she is FeLV and FIV positive, the only recurring health issues have been a couple of bouts of overheating if the AC goes out. Annie is a 7 year old declawed DSH whom I adopted (declaw was done years before I got her) 3 years ago. She tested positive in routine testing after I got her, and her only symptoms have been bouts of diarrhea that clear with Iams hairball control food. Finally, I have little Blanche, who is 3 ½, also adopted 3 years ago. She has a problem with swollen paws and has had persistently runny eyes and is very susceptible to URIs. Blanche is in week 4 of fighting a very severe one, she is on her second round of Azithromycin and is finally starting to put weight back on but it is very slow going. They are all presenting quite differently and I am very curious about the strains of FeLV they may have. I am assuming that testing would be pretty pricey but would like to know where it could be done, if any of the labs do it for pets rather than for research animals. Thanks for any input! Emily Hunter Fuzzy Friends Rescue 254-754-9444 Ext 3 Fax 254-754-9959 fuzzy_color_small _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [3]Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org [4]http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.o rg Email had 1 attachment: * image001.jpg * 2k (image/jpeg) References 1. http://www.catvets.com/guidelines/practice-guidelines/retrovirus-management-guidelines 2. mailto:ad...@fuzzyfriendsrescue.com 3. mailto:Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org 4. http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
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