Hi Marlene,
I'm so glad to hear Pekoe is doing so well. How is everyone adjusting
to Digby's absence? I'm still not over losing my Jazz. I still expect
her to poke her pretty little nose around the corner, or jump on my lap
when I sit down. It's really hit my husband hard, besides Ursula, (his
girl all the way), Jazz was the only cat that really made a fuss over him.
Personally, I see no reason to retest Pekoe. Even if he tests negative,
you won't know what his status is for sure, it could be dormant in his
system anyway. From what I understand, once they test positive on the
IFA, then it's at a stage that's not going to clear. My source on that
could be wrong, this disease is so bloody confusing that nothing would
surprise me about it. Princess Grace has always been the more "sickly"
out of all the kittens, and she's still going strong. I just have to
pay very close attention to her and hit her hard with immune supportive
measures whenever she shows symptoms. She too battled Hemobart early
on, so I'm always on the look out for signs of lethargy and anemia. I
always keep Dox, Interferon (human and feline), and tons of immune
support supplements on hand.
I took Grace to the vet for a "check up" after Jazz passed too. I
didn't have blood work done at the time though. Except for her heart
murmur, (which she's had from the time she had Hemobart), she got a very
good report. It probably wasn't necessary to take her in, but Jazz's
problems snuck up on us so quickly that it had me running scared.
It's good to hear from you,
Nina
Marlene Chornie wrote:
Hi Group,
First of all, I want to thank all of you for your sympathies
expressed when we lost Digby last month. It meant a great deal to
us. Digby "came home" last Friday, which seems to help in the
grieving process.
We're taking Pekoe to the vet tomorrow just for a check-up and
some "baseline" blood work. He had blood work done back in Feb. when
he had the bout with Hemobart and tested FelV+.
I'm still a little "confused" by everything I've read about FelV.
Pekoe was approx. 15 - 16 mos. old when he tested positive - both the
ELISA test and the confirmatory IFA test. Right now, he's appears
healthier than before the Hemobart. My question is, would there be
any point to having him retested (ELISA and/or IFA)? Am I correct in
that if he tested positive on the IFA, then he's always going to be
positive? I'm not thinking that he may be negative now, but just
wondered if he should be retested (for whatever reason)?
Thanks all,
Marlene
