Sorry your kitty has tested positive. Since you are considering vaccinating Bea, are you assuming she is still/originally negative? Perhaps, it was Bea who infected Sylvia, you should test Bea ASAP.
Since I started to take in FeLV cats, I have had two young adults and one kitten manage to throw off the virus and now test negative. Although, my understanding is that once they test positive on the IFA test, converting to negative is very rare. If it was Sylvia who had it in the first place and the kitten has been with her for two months and doesn't have it, she probably won't get it, but I would still vaccinate if she is negative. It takes a series of two shots and about 4 or 5 weeks to develop the full immunity the vaccine gives. There are a lot of things out there that people are using for immune boosters and you can see some of the treatment things on the website, some are available and some are not, forget Staph Protein A, you can't get it. I have tried Immuno Regulin and it didn't help my guys. Best Friends in Utah uses it as a immune booster once a month administered Sub-Q. Since I have it, I have been considering giving it a try. It is very hard to determine if something you are using as an immune booster is actually doing anything. I am presently trying Acemannan on a couple of new positive kittens I have, we will see how that works. The best thing to give them is a good diet, low stress, plenty of love and vet quickly if they appear sick. After losing four to a very fast moving anemia, I check their gums frequently for signs of anemia. Gary -----Original Message----- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Anna Waltman Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 4:12 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] New to FLV and have a cat that just tested positive... Hi everyone, I've been lurking around for the last day or two reading your posts. My darling Sylvia, the first cat I have owned as an adult, just tested positive for FLV on both the in-office and IFA tests. She's one of my best friends and I'm devastated; she was negative as a kitten and has lived inside for most of her life (as a little baby, she was a stray-- I adopted her from the SPCA at five months, and I know she was there for a while before I adopted her). She was given a confident all-clear by my former vet to move with me to Massachusetts and live in a multiple-cat household less than three months ago. Upon moving, it became obvious that Sylvia doesn't like being left alone in the apartment for long periods of time (prior to our move, we lived with my retired parents and their two dogs so she was almost never home alone). I decided to adopt a kitten, Beatrice, a few weeks after we moved in, after Sylvia had gotten comfortable in the apartment. So when Sylvia started meowing strangely and acting a little lethargic, I assumed it was a kitty flu but took her to the vet anyway, just to be safe, and tested her just to be absolutely sure she was still negative. What a horrible surprise. She's been living with Bea for a month or two now and they're best friends; they wrestle all the time, share food bowls, groom each other, etc. I feel sick with guilt about bringing a young kitten into a house with a FLV+ cat, and now chances are I have two positive cats to care for. Our current vet is wonderful, though, and she feels that if we vaccinate Bea ASAP and keep a close eye on Sylvia (treating her problems as they arise), there's a good chance we can keep both of them healthy for a long time. She says she has other patients and co-workers with FLV+ and negative cats living in the same household who never pass it to each other. I'm feeding them a mix of Wellness and Innova ENVO and giving the kitten multivitamins to boost her immune system and help her fight off the exposure. I'm a young graduate student in an MA/PhD program and I don't have a ton of money. These kitties had been the most stable thing in my life and this diagnosis is totally eating me up, from the inside out. I love them to pieces and want to be the best cat-parent I can to my girls (having chronic illnesses myself that significantly increase my risk of certain health problems, I'm as empathic about this as anyone). The horrible potential of this disease breaks my heart every time I think about it. My childhood cat passed away a few months before I got Sylvia, and I can't bear to lose another one like that (he was very sick for a long time before he died, but we don't know what it was. Could've been FLV or FIV; he wasn't tested every year, though he was vaccinated. He was indoor/outdoor and a fighter). What do you wish you had known when your cat was first diagnosed, if anything? If there is any advice people have, I would appreciate it, and as I gain experience caring for my girls I will share what has worked and what hasn't with anyone who asks. Many thanks and best wishes to you and your families, furry and otherwise. Anna _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
