[Felvtalk] 4 month old kitten with Feline Leukemia

swacht1946 at comcast.net swacht1946 at comcast.net
Sun Jun 28 11:09:30 CDT 2015


First of all Kathleen Oreo needs to be seriously treated for URI – Tobramycin and Terramycin – drops of Tobramycin followed with Terramycin to help keep in the drops for eye issues. Oreo needs to be on an antibiotic to help combat the secondary infections.  You may need to syringe feed Oreo – a gruel of canned – and KMR a milk replacer.  I prefer Breeders Edge from Revival, a great feline milk replacer - they ship quickly.  IF Oreo becomes dehydrated subq fluids will need to be given - 

The thing is being aggressive in treatment and keeping Oreo hydrated and nourished.

As for Oreo being tested at this young age – well it’s not necessarily accurate.  Should be retested no sooner than 30 days from the first test.     sites for info are www.vet.cornell.edu  - www.2ndchance.info/flv.html     LTCI is a product from T-CYTE Therapeutics – another site www.sheltermedicine.com  Koret Shelter Medicine Program 

www.v63.net/catsanctuary  is where this info came from – web site from the UK

If your vet suggests testing a young kitten for FIV with the in-house test – BEWARE!  This is the same for FeLV

Testing a kitten for FIV with the in-house test is a complete waste of time and money – the reason is that the test looks for FIV antibodies which are produced by the body in response to the virus – this is fine in adult cats, but not for kittens, because a kitten born from an FIV mother will inherit the antibodies from its mother but rarely the virus – so although it would test positive for FIV, it would likely not actually have the virus. The kitten will, over several months, lose its mother’s antibodies, and would then test negative for FIV. If it is important to know whether a kitten is actually FIV or not, there is a different test known as a PCR which looks for the DNA of the virus itself. This test is not widely available (Langford Lab, Bristol is one that does it).




      FeLV
      Feline Leukemia Virus

      FeLV is one of the fairly common cat viruses, that is much misunderstood....
     
     

      FeLV (Feline Leukemia Virus)

      The virus is particularly devastating to very young cats who rarely live beyond the age of two when infected. Older cats who pick up the virus can live for years, like several at Catwork.

      How is FeLV caught?
      The virus is present in saliva and spread by close prolonged contact such as mutual grooming or shared food bowls. Biting will obviously also spread the virus.

      Symptoms – The symptoms can be many and varied (some of them similar to FIV)
      There can be a progressive deterioration in condition over time. Clinical signs can include fever, lethargy, poor appetite and weight loss. Respiratory, skin and intestinal problems are sometimes signs of the disease. Cancer tumours develop in some cats.

      What to do if your cat tests positive for FeLV.
      It is important to test a second time, at a laboratory, at an interval of 12 weeks from the first test. 
      This is because, when a cat encounters the virus, it can become temporarily infected, and the cat’s immune system gets to work ‘dealing’ with it. In most cases, the cat’s immune system will win and the virus will be beaten. However, during this period the cat will test positive for the virus. After about 12 weeks, through the more complex test at a laboratory, it will usually be clear if the cat has successfully shaken off the virus. Alternatively, the virus may have taken a hold and that cat will then be persistently infected.






     

From: KATHLEEN BUSO 
Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2015 10:13 AM
To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org 
Subject: [Felvtalk] 4 month old kitten with Feline Leukemia

Hi, I am looking for advice about our little Oreo. We adopted him at 9 weeks from a rescue group. His mom was a stray who was ill when she had her kittens. The kittens were eventually bottle fed and had a rough start in life, but then seemed to recover and were adopted out. About two weeks ago, our Oreo started to show signs of illness. His inner third eyelid came out, and then he started running a fever. I took him to the Rescue's vet, and she gave me antibiotics and some metacam to bring down the fever. She said the mom had been tested for a bunch of viruses, including feline leukemia and came back negative, so there was no reason to test Oreo. A week later, he was worse so I took him to another vet and she tested him and told me he tested positive for feline leukemia. Up until yesterday, he seemed to still have a fairly good appetite but was sleeping a lot and showing symptoms of upper respiratory infection. Today he is uninterested in food and seems much worse. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions that would help, or should I just accept that there's nothing that can be done? We were considering trying the LCTI drug but we live in Canada so we would have to travel into the States to get it. It would be about a 3.5 hour drive there and would be hard on Oreo, as he hates the car. Has anyone used LCTI and had any success with it? Is there anything else I can do for Oreo now, to help him feel better, like steroids? Any suggestions or advice would be very much appreciated.  

Thanks,
Kathleen


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