the stats WOULDN'T have us believe it's that bad, that's the point--70% of adult cats will either NOT become infected or will not stay infected. most feral groups don't even bother testing any more, because the rest of the colony has already been exposed and killing asymptomatic cats isn't going to change that. it's been known for a long time that it takes persistent and prolonged contact to pass FeLV--it's ignorance and scare-tactics (and laziness--it's easier to just kill what you don't understand than to stay up on the current research) that keeps killing positives. the tests test only for EXPOSURE--not for persistent infection.
we haven't a clue on how many positive, actually infected, cats ever even become symptomatic--it could be a very small number. we don't even know how many "positives" really are, since vets can't seem to get the need to retest issue, tho it's been in the professional and educational literature for at least the past ten years. just ten years ago, vets everywhere were telling people that if an outside cat with FeLV breathed on your housecats through a screen, your cats WOULD catch it..... sometimes, it seems we haven't gotten much beyond that point. MC -- Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... MaryChristine Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org) Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
