Barbara, Belinda's story is far from unique. I have a 7 year old who I had since a young kitten who tested neg at about 6-8 weeks of age who turned up positive last year. She, Tucson, has been an indoor only cat so I assume, as does vet, that she had virus all along. She's only had a couple of bouts with low white blood count & is a real porko (17 1/2 lbs). Thing is that for all these years Tucson lived with 3 other cats who were never vaccinated for FELV. Two are younger than her and came in to my house as kittens. All shared food, litter box, toys, groomed each other, etc. When I found out Tucson was positive, I had them all tested & they were neg. I had them vaccinated and they are all mixed. I will get them vaccinated every year (my vet won't vaccinate without testing as well) but if they didn't get it in all these years, chances are they won't now.
I also have a 4-5 year old male, Big Boy, who I had been feeding every day outside for 2 + years before I brought him in. He was never sick a day & I was floored when he tested positive. I think that my experience with Tucson taught me a lot about the testing of young kittens (which is when most cats are tested). Elisa test can be neg but if virus has somehow not spread yet, then it might not show up. This is what happened to Tucson. My original vet was very pessimistic about both Tucson's & Big Boy's future but here we are almost 2 years later doing fine. My new vet has a lot more experience with FELV & feels that no one can predict life expectancy. So saying that Tom only has a year & a half is just wrong! Any vet who tells you that would also tell you that mixing is just impossible. It is a personal decision but please consider the experiences of some of the folks on this list who have mixed a lot longer than I have. To tell you the truth, I have this theory that a whole lot more adult cats than we think are FELV+--again, most cats get tested as kittens and never retested again so who's to say which are positive & which are negatives. Its sometimes hard to find a vet who is really knowledgeable about this condition. Most will tell you to euthanize. While my vet may not have latest inteferon info, I do know he is the vet for a local rescuer for FELV kittens & that she is very pleased with him. Maybe you should think about another opinion--just don't believe this nonsense that an adult FELV+ cat only has a year or so left! Chris [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Belinda Sauro Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 1:29 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: TOM Barbara, I don't know who told you that Tom only has a year and a half left but they don't have a clue what they are talking about. Is there a reason for saying something like that? I have 6 kitties, Baiiley is my positive, he found me at 5 months of age and all three vets I took him to after testing positive said to euthanize his, he willonly live three months at best ... well they obviously didn't know what they were talking about. Bailey is 20 years old this May, and very healthy. He's been positive all of his life (atleast since 5 months of age), and has not ever been sick other than a cold here and there and just last year we battled stomastisis (mouth and gum problems) and once we pulled his teeth he has completely recovered and the stomastisis is no longer a problem. All of my guys live together and have since I have had Bailey, NOBODY has ever gotten FeLV from him, I test and vaccinate all of my negatives every year, they just got vaccines about 3 weeks ago and I didn't even test because they ahve all lived together for almost 10 years and nobody is exhibiting any sypthoms and I figure the stress of drawing blood wasn't worth it, I really don't hink anyone will ever get it from Bailey, they are as close as they can possibly be and if they haven't gotten it in 10 years, chances are slim to none they ever will. They eat, sleep, groom and play together and yes occasionally somone gets scratched in play and nobody has every gotten it, it is not as easily transmitted as some very unknowledgable vets would lead you to believe. I just had to say this because I'm thinking you have been misinformed by someone. And if you got your information on the internet most websites on this are very outdated and incorrect. Chances of a healthy, vaccinated cat getting FeLV are almost non-existent, I say this from experience, my own and many others on this list. -- Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties ... http://www.bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candle Light Service http://www.bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com (affordable hosting & web design) http://HostDesign4U.com ----------- BMK Designs (non-profit web sites) http://bmk.bemikitties.com
