Hi Allie,
Nice to meet you and welcome. I haven't read your other emails to the
group, but I thought I'd weigh in here with mo.
I mixed. None of my negatives, (all adults, all vaccinated), turned up
positive in the two years that my pos babies lived. I never worried
about separate feeding dishes, grooming, playing, or litterboxes, (they
had already been mixed when I found out they were pos). I did however
stop taking in any young, older, sick cats, or kittens. I still have
one cat from my pos litter of bottle babies, (Tim). He tested negative
and has remained asymptomatic. I haven't had him retested since, I
figure if he ever gets sick, that will be time enough. There is one
other kitten from the litter, Lucky, (litter of 6 I found at the back
door of a spay/neuter clinic when they were only 2 1/2 weeks old), that
was adopted out before we learned about their status. He too is doing
wonderfully well, but lives alone and is an inside only cat. Lucky has
never been tested. It's a tough decision about mixing, I don't want to
live in a separated household, but I worried for a very long time about
subjecting my negs to the possibility of contracting this terrible
disease. Usually when faced with these hard choices, I go with quality
of life over quantity.
Nina
Chris wrote:
Message
Four of my cats lived together for several
years before I found out my Tucson was pos. They had not been felv
vaccinated and two had come in as kittens. None of the other three
tested pos and I vaccinate them every year. I did not even consider
separating as they had all lived together for those years and no one
had contracted felv. They eat together, use the same litter box, play
with the same toys, groom each other, and on and on. I brought in a
stray I had been feeding last year and it turned out he was pos but
totally asymptomatic... So, I now have 5--2 pos, 3 neg and my biggest
problem is that Tuscon hates the latest addition.
Chris
Hey everyone-
I was wondering...my other cat hasn't been tested yet, but will be
tomorrow. However, whether he is positive or negative, we have a
problem. He either has to live with a positive cat or, when my FeLV+
kitty crosses teh bridge, or if he's positive and can't go into
remission (he shows no symptoms of anything, he's a very healthy cat
overall, except for the usual occassional kitty eye goobers and
hairballs), he'll need a companion, since he does NOT do well alone.
I've been looking for someone with FeLV+ cats for adoption in my area
(Chicago), with no avail. That, and the cats I take in tend to be
needy, homeless strays that choose me (who are then taken immediately
to the vet to be tested, have inital rabies and FVRCP vacs and an exam
before they ever meet the other resident cat, since I can only have 2
at a time). And anyway, if he's a neg, I have no plans to cast off my
kitten just because she has this diagnosis.
So how do you guys do it? Everything I've ever read says "remove all
positive cats from the household" or "elect euthanasia if you have a
multi-cat household" as if it were that easy.
I'm aware that some of you keep both positives and negatives
together...so I have some questions and I would really love it if you
guys would share some of your experiences with me:
-How do you do it? Are they separated in any way within your home?
-How do you control the virus in terms of cleaning and separation of
LB's and dishes?
-CAN the virus be contained? What other precautions do you take?
-Does this mean I have to stop bringing treated/vaccinated rescued negs
into my house as long as I have a positive cat, should Leo test
positive?
-In your experience, how quickly and readily does the virus spread?
Everything I've read basically says that if you have one positive, you
can count on having more if you're in a multi-cat household.
-In a household with both negs and positive cats, do you vaccinate the
negs? Why or why not?
I've already gotten some input from Belinda (thank you!) but I just
kind of want to take a survey to see the various outcomes and know all
of my options. If anyone can spare some good vibes that Leo is negative
and Lola's symtoms remain under control at least until we can seek
further treatment options, I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thanks guy! You are a terrific group!
Allie
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