Hi Iva,
I just wanted to tell you how much I can relate to your dilemma. Last year,
I brought Tommy home and successfully introduced him to his new brother and
sister, only to find out that he was FeLV+. I was given the same two
options - separate or euthanize. I can only tell you what I did. I tried
separating, but like what is happening in your home, everyone was unhappy
about it. I took Tommy to a holistic vet and she told me that separation is
stressful to everyone, and this can make it easier for the virus to take
over and make Tommy sick.
So what I decided to do is NOT separate, keep everyone vaccinated against
FeLV (except Tommy), and keep stress to a minimum. Almost a year later,
Tommy is showing no signs of illness, and he just turned a year old. My
others also show no signs of illness, and I plan to get them tested when
they go back to the vet this year, and boosted for FeLV vaccine if they are
still negative.
I think you said in your other post that they have been living together for
a while? And they are still negative? That tells me that they have mature
immune systems that are capable of fighting off the virus. It is likely that
they will stay negative.
Hope that helps,
Lisa
----- Original Message -----
From: "Iva Lark Emily Seaberg" <melleph...@sbcglobal.net>
To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 1:29 AM
Subject: [Felvtalk] How to long to separate negative/positive kitties?
Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! It was very reassuring to read all
of your posts, especially those with multi-cat mixed households. I spoke to
the vet this morning and she was actually ok with my decision, but she wants
me to keep my positive kitty isolated for now. She didn't say how long,
though I know she is hoping for indefinitely. We are putting Becca on
antibiotics for her oral inflammation and then steroids, which I know will
temporarily decrease her immune system more but could be worth it in helping
her fight the virus back?
Anyway, here is my dilemna. Currently, Becca is isolated in my master
bedroom/bath. All the cats are unhappy about this. The two negative kitties
sit outside the door and reach their paws under to her. They meow at me with
a clear "Umm, Mom we want our sister back." and they try and sneak in there.
She in turn tries to sneak out and is seeming a bit down. She's
exceptionally affectionate when we go in there, more so than usual, but
she's not eating as much and seems almost a bit depressed. She kept me up
all night trying to love on me. I also know it is a small space and can get
lonely. Now, I've read what everyone said about stressing her and I don't
want to do that, so here's my dilemna. How long should she be quarantined
for? The negative kitties JUST got their first vaccine on Friday and won't
be at full protection until they get their boosters in 2.5 weeks. Should I
keep her in there until at least then? Should I just let her out now? I
really
really want to minimize the negative's risk of exposure because I don't
want them to be infected.
I did read the articles everyone mentioned and it was still unclear to me
where in the articles it says that it is safe to expose a negative to a
positive. It still said they could infect, but no odds were mentioned, so
therefore they should be separated. See below:
"Uninfected cats in a household with infected cats should be vaccinated;
however, other means of protecting uninfected cats (eg, physical separation)
should also be used. Constant exposure to FeLV-infected cats is likely to
result in viral transmission regardless of vaccination status."
"In ~70% of adult cats, viremia and virus shedding are transient, lasting
only 1-16 wk. A few cats continue to shed virus in secretions for several
weeks to months after they cease to be viremic. Virus may persist in bone
marrow for a longer period, but even this latent, or sequestered, infection
usually disappears within 6 mo. Some FeLV-exposed cats (~30%) do not mount
an adequate immune response and go on to become persistently (ie,
permanently) viremic. Persistently viremic cats develop fatal diseases after
a variable time period"
What if she's just now in the shedding stage? Is she considered persisently
viremic at this point as she's had gum issues for a few months? Does that
mean she is currently shedding the virus?
I almost wonder if the positives that aren't infecting the negatives aren't
at the viral shedding stage. Is it really safe to expose the other kitties?
Should I keep her quarantined for the next 2.5 weeks or does it really
matter? I'm torn. On one hand I don't want to stress her unnecessarily,
especially when I'm about to have to give her antibiotics twice a day and
steroids twice a day. She is going to hate that. I don't want her to lose
weight either, she's always been a tiny, dainty thing and she doesn't have
any weight to lose! On the other hand I don't want to infect my other babies
and I can't help but worry that to let her out now, before they have full
vaccine protection at least, much less before the steroids have a chance to
calm her virus down would be to stack the odds against them.
I need advice!
Iva
_______________________________________________
Felvtalk mailing list
Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
_______________________________________________
Felvtalk mailing list
Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org