Hi, Diane, Thanks for replying to my first post on this group. The kittens are 5 1/2 months old now. I've been trying to find homes for them since they were 8 weeks old, but no luck :-( I had no clue that some of them had FelV until a friend adopted one, and it became extremely sick. It was tested for FelV and soon died. The others are still fine, they had their shots and other than feeling bad for 24 hours, which most kittens do, they recovered and are running all over.
My vet is good. She has always answered all my questions, given me plenty of time, and she is also understanding about my ordering vet meds online to save money. In fact she will tell me what to use and what dosages to give. The vet I used before got p.o'ed big time about this! There are only 2 vet clinics in our very small town, and I really like the one I use now. I assume she had to cover her butt by giving me a worst case scenario on FelV. One of the things she told me, that didn't seem right, was that felV could be transmitted in ways other than by sharing food & water bowls, grooming or biting.... My cats often escape their quarters, and my vet indicated that a negative cat might walk where a positive cat had been and pick up the virus. This sounded a bit far fetched to me. What do you think? Is she just covering all bases? I am now giving the kittens L Lysine, which I understand will help boost their immune systems, however they are all still together. I have no place to separate them. I have 15 cats at home (they are rescued inside/outside cats) and I bought a building in town which I use as a shelter. There are 33 cats there, so we're full up! These cats are not in cages, they all have individual rooms, but the rooms are full, without being over crowded. I'm working on finding more space where all FelV cats can be separated. Thanks for writing. Lorrie in WV On 09-19, Rosenfeldt, Diane wrote: > Hi, Lorrie -- > > Glad you found this group. You'll get lots of great advice here. > > Firstly, don't beat yourself up too much -- it's too bad about the > kitties you put to sleep, but nobody knew much about FeLV back then, it > would have been universally considered to be a death sentence anyway. > Now, there is so much hope for your positive kittens! > > Admittedly, your vet was probably trying to let you know the worst > of what you're facing, but if all she can offer is grimness, you > might want to consider finding another vet, at least for these > babies. The fact that she didn't suggest euthanasia is a point in > her favor, but the kittens would be better served by someone on the > cutting edge of FeLV. Or, if she's willing to work with you, you > can print off stuff from the files on the felineleukemia.org > website and help her expand her knowledge base. ;-) > > I assume the kittens are not showing signs of disease. If they > aren't, depending on their age, they may yet shake off the virus. > But if they don't, there are still ways to keep them asymptomatic. > FeLV *isn't* an automatic death sentence these days. You'll get > lots of advice here on diet and supplements, and (along with some > heartache) some nice success stories. > > Diane R. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lorrie > Sent: Friday, September 19, 2008 9:34 AM > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Subject: [Felvtalk] New member > > Hello Everyone, > > I'm a new member to the FelV group, but not new to cat rescue > and TNR, which I've been doing for a long time. > > For years I didn't test for FelV, because back in the 1980's I tested > all of my cats for it, and two were positive, so I put had them put > down to protect my other cats. I've felt horribly guilty ever > since, and because of this I quit testing. > > I started testing again about 4 years ago when I began taking care > of a feral colony I discovered in our small town of Terra Alta, WV. > There were always kittens I couldn't find homes for, and if I kept > them, or kept any strays that were dumped at our house I felt I should > have them tested...... None of them were ever positive. I guess I was > just lucky, but now my luck has run out. Several kittens in a litter > I rescued have tested positive for FelV. > > I intend to learn everything I can about FelV, and meanwhile I'll > vaccinate my negative cats with the FelV vaccine. In the 80's it > wasn't too effective, so I hope it's improved.... I'd appreciate > input on the efficacy of the vaccine. > > I understand FelV is contagious, but not highly contagious. From what > I've read it is apparently spread through blood (bites) food dishes, > water bowls and mutual grooming. The virus apparently doesn't live > long outside the cat's body, but in even a few hours other cats could > be infected. The vet didn't tell me to euthanize the positive > kittens, but she did give me a grim outlook :-( > > I'd appreciate hearing from any of you in regard to this. > > Lorrie in Terra Alta, WV > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
