Re: New to FeLV (Gia - warning Long)

[Belinda Sauro]

Hi Gia,    While I lived in Missouri for a year I had a similar problem, most of the vets where Large (farm) animal vets and the three I did take him to said he is positive and will die within three months, infect all of your other cats so you should euthanize him.  Thankfully I knew better.  I did originally have him in a bedroom by himself but if your familar with trailers the doors are high off the florr and I found out that my little stinker Joey was sneaking under the door to play with him while I was at work, so it seemed pointless after that so I let him out with everyone.  Him and Joey are the closest to this day.  All of mine at that point were vaccinated and negative. My experience with FeLV started back in the early 90's.  I had 5 cats, all indoor all vaccinated for everything but FeLV because in my thinking at the time they couldn't have it since they were all indoors.  My brain forgot to factor in what they did or were exposed to BEFORE I got them. Frankie my siamese was sickly all his life and like clock work in December would get a URI (every year my vet would ask if she could test him for FeLV and every year I would say no, there is no way he could get it, he is indoor only), usually after a week or two with anitibiotics it would clear up and he always ate well even when sick, he was a hefty 18 pound baby.  In 1992 he was sick as usual and she asked as usual but he was very sick and wasn't eating as well so I took him in and she asked as she always did if she could test and I said fine mostly to get her off my back.  I almost passed out when she told me he was positive.  He had been sick for almost 4 weeks and she said he probably wasn't going to recover this time and said I should euthanize him.  Frankie was my baby, that one you have a special bond with and that was not an option, especially since in my mind he still just had a cold, you don't euthanize because of that.  I told her to give me stronger anitibiotics and I would take him home.  I also had to bring in the rest of my guys to get tested.  3 of his 4 housemates tested positive, Buddie whom I lost to cancer last July was the only one that tested negative and she was the youngest and had in fact been around all of them at 8 weeks of age before her vaccines.  Frankie was very sick and it took 6 weeks but he recovered and lived alittle over 2 more years. I lost Skeeter, at age 7 years in October of 93 to lymphoma intestinal cancer.  I lost Mike, at age 5 years in March of 94 to kidney cancer and I lost my precious Frankie, at age 9 years to anemia in January of 95.  Teenye my 4th turned negative when we had her retested a year later and was negative the rest of her life.  I lost her in 2000 at age 16 to a very rare cancer.  Buddie never tested positive and was negative all her life.  I lost her in 2004 at age 13 to liver cancer.  I believe Frankie was born with it and is one of the rare ones that lived to be older.  Most of my guys at the time we discovered it were big, hefty cats, Skeeter was 20 pounds, Mikie was 17 pounds, Buddie was 13 to 14 pounds, Teenye was a tiny manx and only weighed 7 pounds at her heaviest. FeLV weakens the immune system so other opportunistic diseases can get their foot in, and with their weakened immune system it is so much harder for a positive to fight anything off even a URI can be fatal and is many times because you have vets that say "Oh it's the FeLV kicking in, there is nothing we can do", and offer ZERO treatment when we all know a URI is quite treatable.  Heck many vets once they test a cat and the cat comes up positive, they don't even bother to find out what is wrong with the cat, just recommend euthanasia and if you decline that offer just send you home with the the cat to die.  Well any cat healthy or otherwise stands a chance of dying if they are sick and get no treatment.  In fact many vets once a cat tests positive, EVEN if the cat is currently quite healthy will recommend euthanasia, even today when we do know more about it many vets are in the dark and don't know or care to learn of the advances for treatments that have been made (interferon, steriods, immunoregalan, vitimain-C, COQ-10, healthy food, stress free environment, ect ...). Try hard to find a vet who is more knowledgeable or at the very least one who is willing to learn and try things you suggest.  You can only do the best you can with what you have to work with and as long as anyone does that they have nothing to feel guilty about. I've since learned alot about FeLV and my vet is wonderful, she will try anything I suggest unless she can convince me it is detrimental, Bailey was diagnosed at 5 months of age and I was told to kill him, I said no, and 10 years later he and his housemates are doing well.   :) -- 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