Re: Another Important Question

[laurieskatz]

I never had to do one thing for FeLV+ Squeaky. He had no symptoms. Stripes 
had a cold from time to time. They tested positive in 1985, 2 years after I 
adopted them. When they tested positive, Stripes was 11 and Squeaky was 10. 
I was their second guardian and they were always inside and my only cats. 
No one was too excited about it and no one suggested anything special. They 
did fine.
Isabella, after her first sick months has been the picture of health. We do 
give some meds and interferon but are in the process of weaning her off 
meds.
L

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 6:28 PM
Subject: RE: Another Important Question


Here's the thing.... FELV actually is not fatal in it of itself.  Rather, 
it
can cause suppression of the immune system and a cat can then die from
complications of other diseases.  Example--I believe that kittens who are
positive are at higher risk of succumbing to Upper Respiratory
Infections--infections from which they might well recover were their 
immune
system not compromised.  Older cats seem to be more at risk of getting
certain lymphomas, have problems with anemia, etc.  But again, nothing is
certain...

I have 2 FELV+ cats one of whom, Tucson, lived with my 3 negatives for 5
years before I knew she was even positive.  They all groomed each other,
occasionally swatted each other, used the same litter boxes, shared
food/water dishes, toys, etc.  For me, I knew I couldn't separate them and
vaccinated the non-positives and just went on as usual==that was almost 4
years ago and everybody's still fine.  I do give them some higher quality
food, Wellness, but that's more because a couple are real porkos and I was
trying to get away from too much dry food and too many fillers.  My second
FElV+, Romeo, is a stray that I'd been feeding outside for a couple of
years--I never dreamed he was positive as I had never seen him sick.  He's
probably the oldest of my brood and he's had some gum problems which we
handled with antibiotics--not very costly. When I first found out my 
Tucson
was positive, I ran to the vet every two seconds--but after a while, I
calmed down.  Many people on this board take in positive kittens and 
sadly,
those I think, are at highest risk.  I had my Tucson since she was a 
kitten
but clearly, she got through the most critical period and is now her hefty
18 lbs and a cantankerous calico to boot!

I've not done interferon and outside of some relatively inexpensive
supplements that I periodically try to get into their food, I haven't done
much different than if they were all negative.  I know the personality of
these two, and I know that if things do go bad, it would be more hurtful 
to
subject them to too much--they're just those kinds of cats.

Outside cats, clearly, have more problems cause they're much more likely 
to
get worn down, to not be as well fed, to be in the cold, etc.  Inside, 
with
some decent food, they've got a good chance of just living regular lives.
Of course, anything can happen but the way I look at it, anything can 
happen
with my negative cats too.

Christiane Biagi
914-632-4672
Cell:  913-720-6888
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 7:27 PM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Another Important Question


One of the ladies in Iowa to whom I spoke mentioned the possibility
that Binxy may only be a carrier of the disease since she is four yrs.
old and healthy.

So, is there any way (other than the passage of time) to definitively
determine whether she is just a carrier?

And, am I correct in the assumption that being a carrier only would
give her the same life expectancy as any other cat who does not carry
this virus?  Or can a cat convert from being just a carrier to being
actively infected for whatever reason?---just trying to get my facts
straight.

Thanks. Caroline
--

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