Hi Gia, Welcome to our list - but I'm sorry you had to find us. You will learn alot from all of the members here - and we have all been in your shoes in the beginning - not knowing anything about the disease and not having very many vets offer anything more than pts (put to sleep) options.
As far as exposure and spreading to your other cats goes: the statistics indicate that only a third of all cats exposed will actually succumb to the disease - a third will contract it but then fight it off, and a third will never catch it at all. The virus itself is rather fragile outside of the body - the saying "when it dries - it dies" pretty much says it all. We have members here who mix their positives and negatives, and we have people who separate them - it's really a personal choice that is made based on everyone's particular situation. We have shared enough knowledge between us, that we have been able to inform our vets of our choice of treatments and we have been able to decide if we need to find another vet who will listen to us or if we can work well with our current vets. I, personally, do not have any FeLV+ kitties anymore, but I stay because of our "community of caring" - you will not find a more responsive, compassionate, understanding and supportive group of people anywhere! Again, so sorry to welcome you here. Kat (Mew Jersey) On Thu, 17 Nov 2005, David Prescott wrote: > Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 00:25:49 -0600 > From: David Prescott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > To: Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Subject: New to FeLV > > Summer 2002: Finally took in stray cat that'd been hanging around for a year > or so. Sweet, beautiful short-haired black kitty with yellow eyes, about 2 > years old - she met the others, got along fairly well. Was absolutely IN > LOVE with my husband. > One Month Later: To vet for check-up, vaccinations, and spay. Passed > physical. Did NOT have FeLV vaccine or test, due to my ignorance and lack of > info from vet. > January 2003: Had been fine up to now, but has she lost weight? Began > vomiting, drooling, labored breathing. To vet immediately. Diagnosis: > FeLV, pneumonia - no air capacity at all left in lungs. Humanely euthanized. > Nothing from vet re: contagious nature of disease nor any questions from > vet re: other cats in household, despite fact that he had spayed/neutered > ALL the others. > Back home. Began (finally) thinking. Called vet back. Asked about other > household cats. Devasted by info given. Immediately began shuttling other > 10 cats to vet for vaccinations. Total bill: $465.00. Told by vet to > "watch" others for about 6 months. Everything fine, until... > November 16, 2005. Elvis, big orange tabby, genius IQ, love of my life, has > lost weight. To (different) vet. Diagnosis: Feline Leukemia. Called vet > back (was at work, husband took) re: other cats. Told: "They've already > been exposed. If they have it, there's nothing we can do, anyway." > > Now that the long story, semi-short has been told...I intend to re-vaccinate > all the others immediately. If you are wondering why I didn't repeat the > vaccine in 2004, all I can tell you is that my cats have NOT been > re-exposed...that they have NEVER gone outside themselves...that my house was > sanitized top-to-bottom, including brand-new litter boxes, food and water > dishes, and bleach everywhere else. (I don't have any carpet, all linoleum > and ceramic tile, so it's easy.) > I have only one excuse: ignorance. It's only now that I have learned to > operate my computer in this very limited fashion, and only now that I see my > devastating error. I did not know that they could been (and obviously, WERE) > infected after nearly 2 years...that it could take so long for the disease to > manifest itself. I thought the danger had passed. Actually, I have no > excuse...I only have my heartbreak. > Can anyone tell me how likely it is that my others have it? Or are likely to > get it? I don't really see any point in testing; my house does not lend > itself to separation of infected/non-infected, plus the emotional toll on > some would be too much. > > Never have I regretted an act of kindness to animals...until now. > > Thanks for listening. > Gia
