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Excuse my bluntness, but your vet seems like he
is trying to scare you, rather than give you any sound and helpful advice. The
FELV virus dies VERY quickly when exposed to air, such as in the dry kibble food
dish or a well maintained litterbox.
Very cautious sources claim that the virus might survive twenty-four
to forty-eight hours in a moist environment and so it is possible that it could
be transmitted by litter boxes that are not well maintained and are allowed to
become wet or food dishes containing wet (canned) food, while this would be
EXTREMELY rare, I had to mention it since it MIGHT happen (though I, myself
doubt it). It is POSSIBLE that if the positive cat cleans a negative cat,
and the negative cat immediately cleans the exact same spot before the positive
cat's saliva dries, that could transmit the virus (or if your cats tend to
french kiss each other). In other words, you have to have MOIST bodily fluid
contact directly from cat to cat to get a case of transmission. Saliva is
the most effective route of transmission between cats, other than a mother cat
who is positive giving it to her kittens during pregnancy and nursing.
ALL of these things, I would like to point out, and HIGHLY unlikely to ever
transmit the virus if the negative cats in the household are Healthy Adult cats.
New studies show that FELV is almost never contracted by healthy adult cats,
regardless of how many exposures or types of exposure the cat has. In new cases
of FELV, it is almost always kittens under one year of age, or otherwise
immunosupressed cats that catch it, such as cats that already have FIV. Most
adult cats have developed a strong enough immune system that even if exposed to
FELV, they never catch it, and if they catch it, they mount an effective immune
response, and fight it off. So, if a healthy adult cat is exposed to the FELV
virus, here are the three possibilities:
1. The cat is exposed, but has a strong immune system, and never catches
the virus (most common).
2. The cat is exposed, contracts the virus, fights it off, and later
re-tests negative.
3. The cat is exposed, catches the virus, and is a carrier.
Number 3 has two possibilities under it:
1. The cat has the virus, but never gets sick from it, and there are never
any outside signs of his being infected, other than he tests positive (he
usually is not infectious to other cats, this is called a latent
infection).
2. The cat has the virus, and becomes an active carrier, and gets sick from
the virus, which eventually leads to it's death in may different varying forms
(this is called persistently viremic).
Most websites you will find have older info about FELV on them, and many
still advocate a "test and euthanise" program to eliminate the virus. many
websites have good info mixed with a bit of conservative older info, so take
what you need from anything you find online, and leave the rest. Here are a few
website that have predominately good info:
Many of us here have had mixed households now or in the past, with no cases
of transmission from the positive cats to the negative ones (and I know for a
fact that my positive and negative cats swapped spit all the time, in fact,
Doobie, my negative, used to CLEAN my positive's nose and eyes when they would
run). We speak from years of experience when we say that the infection rates you
read about online or that your vet says are highly exaggerated and out of
proportion with normal circumstances. So are the FELV+ life expectancies on most
websites.
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Chris, That makes me feel better. Thank you. Did you have to do anything other than the vaccinations for the negative kitties? The vet told me that it can be passed if they eat from the same food dish. I assume yours do, and no problems? You are right that the FIV requires a puncture bite, so I am more concerned about the FeLV. Thanks! Erika |
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