[Felvtalk] Little Girl Coco

[Margo]

Just as general information, and only my opinion.

I have many cats. They live in groups, and occasionally one crosses from one group to another, or at least they did. All cats in my house have been FeLV tested at least twice (a minimum of 45 days apart), and all
tested negative by Elisa. Two years ago in March, after blocking and subsequently going precipitously downhill, my Gribble tested positive for FeLV. After a major struggle, we got him back, at least for now. I now only test with routine bloodwork, or when someone is sick. One other cat has come up positive. He previously tested negative 3 times.

My point in all this is that I no longer believe negative means negative. I feel that the virus can become dormant in the bone marrow, and re-emerge to cause active infection. So I figure all I can do is now keep the groups separate, and vaccinate any incomers. Two cats have come in with special needs, and both live with the positives, because they also need monitoring. They are vaccinated.

It's a crap shoot :(

Margo



-----Original Message-----
>From: Lorrie <felinerescue at frontier.com>
>Sent: Sep 30, 2015 4:27 PM
>To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
>Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Little Girl Coco
>
>Kelley,
>-
>My vet told me it is very difficult for FelV cats to give the virus
>to other adult cats. It is a different story with kittens who are
>very susceptible, as their immune systems are not fully developed.
>I've personally found that kittens born with FelV from a positive
>mother almost always die. However, I have 10 adult cats who have been
>with two FelV pos. cats for 5 years and none of them have become
>positive.  FelV is not easily transmitted to adult cats, even when
>they share food and water bowls.
>
>Lorrie
>
>n 09-29, Kelley wrote:
>
>> By the way, various vets have told me regarding mixing vaccinated
>> negatives and positives everything from "FELV is so contagious that
>> if a positive cat licks a blade of grass and your negative cat
>> comes along and licks the same blade of grass they will be
>> infected" to "it's no big deal." So at this point I have to wonder
>> how much good "a vet told me" is.
>> 
>
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