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Barbara,
You have no idea how long Tom has, and neither does
anyone else. There are people on this list who have had FeLV+ cats live to over
10 years old. It is rare but it does happen. I have one whose age I don't want
to say because I am superstitious and do not want to jinx her, but she is
probably older than you are thinking Tom will live to be.
Also, cats do not die of FeLV. FeLV is like HIV--
it is a virus that diminishes the immune system and makes the cat more
vulnerable to other conditions like lymphoma and URI's and certain kinds of
anemia. So you have no idea how he will die when he dies, or when that will
be.
As far as your negatives go, if you keep them separated
they are safe. I have a negative and 4 positives and keep them in separate
areas. The current wisdom on FeLV is that it does not survive longer than a few
moments in the air, and that cats have to share water, litter, and food for a
while before catching it from each other (before they manage to come into
contact with virus before it has died in air, which is more likely to happen in
a wet substance) or fight. Most people on this list even mix positives and
negatives, just making sure the negatives get the FeLV vaccine every year. I do
not do that because I feel like it is taking a chance, but even that is just a
small chance and there seems to have been very little disease spread that
way. So if you keep them separate, it should be fine. If they are already
in close contact and have been for a while, chances are that those who would
contract it already have.
Finally, I learned from someone recently that there is a
cat sanctuary in Arizona that is exclusively for FeLV+ cats. I never tried to
find it, but I assume you can find it on the web if you look. If you can't, I
would contact Marley's Fund, which is such a group in NC and has a web page, and
ask them if they know of it. Or contact Best Friends in Utah and ask them
if they know about it or of anywhere else in the southwest that you can find him
a home, if you are not willing to keep him.
Michelle
In a message dated 4/9/05 8:34:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
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