First, welcome to the list, aren't these people wonderful? Second, thank you for your love and efforts to save Tom, he sounds like such a wonderful cat. He chose wisely when he showed up at your door. Third, I haven't seen this addressed yet, so I thought I'd comment. You talk about Samson being sick all the time and your being worried about him getting FelV. You're right to be concerned, if Samson has a crummy immune system, his chances are greater than a healthy cat. But, didn't you say that your other four cats have been vaccinated previously? If that's the case, I don't think you have to worry (anymore than you're going to anyway). Tom is probably in much greater danger being exposed to Samson than the other way around! When FelV kitties are stressed, they are susceptible to disease that non-positives would easily fight off. I'm not sure what to suggest, my brain is really fried right now, but I just wanted you to be aware of this.
Nina
Barbara Baass wrote:
*Brenda,*
*I am amazed that your kittty is still around and that non of the others came up positive. I know now through all the messages that I have been receiving that I can not have tom put to sleep when he is perfectly healthly. I do worry about Samson. He is three and has Stomasstisis. He has on going problems and seeem to catch everything, so I will probably still try to find Tom a good loving home at least. I have turned down three people already. None were good people & one wanted all the kitties I had and he wanted to pay me for them and have his agent pick them up. You really have to screen people, as there are a lot of bad ones.*
*You really went through a lot of stress losing three of your so close toghther. It is a very hard thing just to lose one of them. I am so sorry for your loss.*
*Thank you for the information. It is amazing that so many vets are mis-informed.*
** *Barbara*
**
**
*/"Brenda K. Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>/* wrote:
*Barbara....
I have been on this list since 1997, and I mostly lurk in the last couple of years. In November, 1997, I live trapped an orange tabby male who had been hanging around our woods. I took him to my vet to be neutered and check for Feline Leukemia. She did the Elisa test and it came up positive. She estimated that he was at least 2 years old or older. He showed no signs of illness from the felv so had her send in an IFA test to the lab. The IFA came back positive showing that the virus was replicating in his bone marrow. At the time I knew only the veterinary thought process on feline Leukemia which was to euthanize right away to protect my other negative cats.
Having a perfectly healthy appearing cat euthanized made no
sense to me. I told my vet I was taking him back home so that he
could live a love filled life for however long he would live. That was almost 7-1/2 years ago and he (Peri) is still here happy,
healthy and loved. At first I kept him separated from my negative
cats, but after joining this list right after I trapped him and
learning so much about feline leukemia I introduced him into the
rest of house. I had five negative cats at the time. In
February, 2003, I lost my 17 year old cat, Fannie May, from
Dialated Cardiomyopathy. On June 9, I lost my almost 17 year old
cat, Suzy Q, to Pancreatic Cancer which had matastized throughout
her body. Ten days later I lost my 16 year old diabetic cat,
Little Boy. In October, 2004, I suddenly lost Mikey, 7 years old,
from some type of liver disease. None of those kitties were
feline leukemia positive when they died.
I grieved so much from the 3 losses in 2003, that I couldn't adopt another cat right away. Finally, in May 2004, I adopted a beautiful felv- look alike Tortie Point Himalayan female named Baby Kitty. This past February, 2005, with the help of many wonderful animal lovers I adopted two feline leukemia positive cats from Georgia. Lovey is a 1 year old chocolate point Balinese and Merry is a Lynx Point Himalayan. I had them spayed and neutered before they left Georgia. If I had not adopted them they would have been euthanized by now. They were both positive on the Elisa and the IFA. They, too, show no signs of the disease and are already much loved members of our family. So, I have 3 felv+ cats and two felv- cats who groom each other, play, eat out of the same food and water dishes.
I figured that all cats deserve a chance to have a forever loving home no matter how long they might live. I do give the positive cats 1 ml of Interferon daily, plus vitamin c. That is the newest protocol rather than 7 days on and 7 days off. I feed them Wellness dry food except for Peri who has struvite crystal problems and he gets Wysong Uretic dry. They all get treats of wet food and small amounts of people food.
When Peri was first diagnosed and after the IFA test came back
positive, I called Dr. John Hardy the originator of the IFA test. I asked him how contagious feline leukemia was and he said, "When
it dries, it dies." The virus is very fragile outside the host
body and only lasts as long as it is wet. I keep my negative
kitties uptodate on their vaccinations. All of my cats, negative
and positive, get the FVRCP every two or three years. Also, the
rabies vacc. every 3 or 4 years. According to my vet giving the
cat vaccs. to my positive actually helps to build their immune
systems. But, they don't get them all at once. It is spread out
at least 2-3 weeks for each vaccination. My positives, of course,
do not get the felv vaccination.
Anyway, good luck with Tom. I hope you get to keep him and just love him for as long as he lives. He may not live a long live, but then again, he may.
*
*--
Brenda.....
http://www.whiskersandwicks.com
http://www.cheqnet.net/~bksmith
"The only risk you ever run in befriending a cat is enriching yourself." - Colette
Don't Take Your Organs To Heaven. Heaven Knows We Need Them Here.*
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