Hello, I have to say this is a very enlightening forum. I have learned so much from you all! I found a stray 2 months ago at work who was in terrible condition, near death, starving, fleas, worms, etc. She had a 'tipped' ear and I found out later she was an Indy Feral cat who was in the TNR program. Don't know whether she was actually 'feral' though, but I doubt it because she has become quite lovable. Had her tested at a low cost clinic and was +. The vet there said her teeth didn't look so good and that was typical in feral cats. When I took her to my regular vet, he somehow neglected to even look in her mouth and he said as a + she'd live a couple months to a year, giving a very grim diagnosis. I tried not to prod at her too much at first since she was in such a delicate condition, but about a week after the vet appt, I noticed she was missing all of her tiny teeth on the top and all but one of the little ones on the bottom. I was horrified and it was then realized that my vet hadn't even looked in her mouth. After nursing her back to health, she has become very healthy except for some sneezing spells every now and then. This does worry me because sometimes mucus comes out. She had extreme uncontrollable diarrhea when I first got her, which after using fortiflora for a month helped a lot, but did not cure it completely. For the last week I have been feeding her a raw chicken diet (I have been feeding my other 3 cats this diet since February with amazing results) and her diarrhea is completely gone. So she's been in my bathroom isolated from my other cats this entire time, and she really does seem to be happy there but I hate to keep them separated. I am getting ready to take her to the vet again to have her teeth checked out because her breath is really terrible (seeing a different vet there though). I am worried about stressing her out by taking her to the vet and I know they will recommend a cleaning which will probably stress her even more, but having an unhealthy mouth would be worse on her than the experience of a cleaning. Right? I have 3 other (negative) cats, 2 are adults and one is about 1 year and 5 months (I guess you'd call her an adult, she did just have her 2nd dose of the felv vax) These 2 vets say they would absolutely NOT mix. My question to all of you who mix is: Have any of your negatives become + ?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Tracey _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org