RE: article about feline leukemia by Dr. Susan Little

[Chris]

I ditto all the posts about older cats suddenly showing up positive—my Tucson was neg on first & only Elissa at age 8 weeks or so—showed pos 6 years later & was tested only because I had a sharp vet who did test when I brought her in because I knew she wasn’t feeling well.  She had never been really sick other than an eye problem, and just sometimes being a little fussy & finicky & throwing up a little more than the others.  My 3 others were all groomed by her, shared dishes, toys, litter boxex, etc. & have all tested neg for the last 1 ½ years.  I am keeping them all together as I could not keep Tucson isolated & I would not put her down or give her away.  She has had problems with low white blood count but immuno regulin (two series) have brought that count up both times.  She’s had UTI’s but amox. took care of that.  I have pos stray I took in  (before I knew he was +) & he has never shown any symptoms for the almost four years I’ve known him.  All 5 of my cats are strays who I know would have long ago died if they hadn’t found me so I do the best I can.  This is a very strange disease (as are all viruses) and the issue of what I call ‘false negs’ in kittens is still a mystery to me.  I think because of the unkowns much of the historical written material out there is very conservative.  I cannot help but make an anology to human HIV.  When AIDS patients starting coming down with rare form of pneumonia (name escapes me at the moment), it was first thought that HIV virus caused it.  Turns out that the virus for this particular pneumonia is present in the nasal cavities of most humans and that it becomes lethal only when the immune system is damaged.  My own thought, is that the FELV virus which has been around for thousands of years is probably harbored in my more cats than we think & that some get it & some don’t!  I would not willingly expose a kitten to a pos. cat but adult strays who are vaccinated, well I’m sure they’ve been exposed out there,,,   Chris [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cherie A Gabbert Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2005 10:39 AM To: felvtalk@vlists.net Subject: Re: article about feline leukemia by Dr. Susan Little   Thank you for posting the article, but now that verifys my concern about shared dishes and litter boxes. I have been told different things, one is the virus can not live outside the body for a long period of time (15 minutes) and weakens as time passes, and I am also told, in this article too that shared dished and grooming can is the most common way of transmission. I am confused, can anyone help me muddle through the facts. Cherie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Lisa and all who are interested,      I wrote to Dr. Susan about the possibility of her writing an article for us and/or the website about feline leukemia and I got this response today: Hi Anne: I wrote an article some time ago with basic information about FeLV: http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/health/FeLV.html But I just don't have time to update it or write anything more indepth due to my travel and lecture commitments right now. You are certainly welcome to continue to forward questions from the list and I will do my best to answer them. Dr. Susan Chapter Author, A Home Veterinary Guide, in: The CFA Complete Cat Book http://www.cfainc.org/catalog/books.html#completecatbook Feline Reproduction Manual: http://catvet.homestead.com/ReproCD.html __^^__^^__^^__^^__^^__^^ Susan Little, DVM Diplomate ABVP (Feline) Bytown Cat Hospital Ottawa, Canada http://catvet.homestead.com __^^__^^__^^__^^__^^__^^ Anne and Jimi Too Cool, Simms, Sophie and other furry friends in MI