Dear Carrie: My heart goes out to you for caring what happens to these unfortunate, homeless cats. It is the irresponsibility of others that creates such problems for those of us like yourself who care enough to try and help.
Just because some of the cats have runny eyes and/or noses does not necessarily mean they are FeLV+...it is not unusual for even healthy feral cats to develop minor URI infections, but if you have managed to catch others in the same area who tested positive, it IS an indicator that there probabaly will be others. You would be better to devote whatever resources you have and are willing to devote to these cats towards spay/neuter. Are there any low-cost prgrams in your area that you can make use of? If the breeding behavior is eliminated, the major vector for disease transmission will also be curtailed as it is the fighting among the tom cats for territory and females and infected moms passing it to their unborn nd newly born kittens that is most responsible for the spread of this disease. I don't know what you have to pay there for testing, but my advice to you would be to concentrate on doing TNR (Trap Neuter Release) with as many of the cats as you are able. It is really less important to be testing them than to get them altered so they will not continue to breed. Most of the infected kittens will probably not make it through the first year unless they are trapped and given immunosupportive treatment, and even then many of them will not survive long term. But most healthy adult cats are relatively resistant to infection and many are able to clear the virus if they do become infected. FeLV is not the most contagious and transmissabale virus out there. If you are feeding this colony of cats, the best thing you can do for them, after an aggressive S/N effort is to provide the healthiest food you can for them (which is not dry kibble, though I know that is what is easiest to provide) and include some extra Vit. C or other immune boosting suplements, and worming/flea control meds you can put in the food to help in that regard, but I do know that is asking a lot if there are any number of cats. I agree that it is very frustrating that there seems to be no end in sight and always new cats showing up to feed. It is impossible to save them ALL...you can only do what you can do. If you do catch cats which are seriously ill, unless you are able to hold and try to treat them, it is probably kinder in the long run if they are euthanized. Many FeLV+ cats, given a healthy diet and in a stable, low-stress environment, are able to live for some time with the virus, but once they have crashed and develop serious symptoms such as lymphma or non-regenerative anemia there is little than can be done to help them. The best situation, of course, for an FeLV+ cat is to be indoors and not exposed to other cats who may carry pathogens that will assault their compromised immune system. But there are many instances where FeLV+ ferals manage to do quite well in a managed colony and live a relatively normal life if they are well fed. You might try contacting any rescue organizations in your area to see if they might be able to help you with some of the expense of getting cats spayed/neutered and/or help with trapping. Some groups have low-cost vouchers available. We have one or two organizations in this area that are devoted to helping feral cats exclusively. There might even be help and/advice available from a national organization such as Alley Cat Allies. Bless you for caring. I hope something I've said will be helpful. If you have any further questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask. Sally in San Jose
