Hi Cindy,
Oh my, 45 kittens! That's a lot of squirmy, mewing little monkeys! How
wonderful of you folks to give the litter that tested pos a chance this
way. You people are fantastic to care, that's what we all expect
no-kill shelters to do, but so many times logistics of space and money
back otherwise caring people into making very hard decisions. Bless you
guys for your compassion in the face of such circumstances. That
wonderful felv cat from a couple of years ago must be smiling down from
Heaven at how much she's touched you all.
It's true that felv kittens usually don't fair as well as a cat that
contracts the disease later in life. It is also true that many times a
pos test just indicates the presence of the mother's antibodies, (you've
got a good vet there!). I take it you don't have the mother? Testing
her would be a very good indicator. The kittens have a very good chance
of testing negative later. How much later, is open for debate. Most
people wait 3-6 mos to test again, but in a shelter situation, where the
kittens should be up for adoption, that's not really realistic. You
might be surprised that there are people out there that would be
interested in adopting these kittens just to give them a chance at life
that they wouldn't normally receive. Could you place them in homes,
letting people know the possibility of their remaining pos? (Give them
our list info if/when you do!). They'd also have a better chance if
they could be placed in a home-foster. Immune support, close
monitoring, unconditional love and as stress free an environment as
possible, (environmental and other stresses like anesthesia effect their
immune systems and allow secondary illnesses to compromise them), are
really important to keep them asymptomatic. You say that you test when
the cats are s/n. Does this mean that the kittens have been s/n? It's
a good sign if they came through the surgery and they have remained
healthy. Something else to be aware of... Many people are under the
impression that if one kitten tests pos that means that the entire
litter will test pos and they only test one kitten, or do one test with
all the kitten's blood samples mixed in an effort to save money on
testing. I rescued a litter of 6 felv bottle babies and at least one of
the kittens, (the other has never been tested and is very healthy),
tested neg at 8 mos old! When you re-test, make sure you re-test
individually. There are a percentage of cats that are actually pos and
never develop symptoms, some cats test neg because it's sequestered in
their bone marrow, still others test pos and then clear the virus, this
disease is such a crap shoot! As far as I'm concerned, any cat that is
asymptomatic should be given the chance at life, be it long, or short.
I'm so pleased to hear there are people like you and your group out
there that continue to care about individuals in your rescue efforts.
We were just having a discussion about the great state of Texas, you've
gone far to vindicate some otherwise not so favorable press!
Blessings to you, please keep us informed about the babies,
Nina
c arnold wrote:
Hi to all of you - my name is Cindy and I volunteer for a "no-kill"
cat shelter in East Texas. We have many cats and kittens at the
shelter- and have taken in over 45 kittens during this kitten season.
Most have been dumped outside our gate and some have been brought in
by Animal Control.
Before being adopted, our cats & kittens are spayed or neutered,
vaccinated, tested for Felv & FIV, micro-chipped, treated for fleas,
ear mites, etc. We have, like most shelters, very little money
and fewer volunteers. After putting down a wonderful cat a couple of
years ago who tested positive for FelV (2 different tests) - we
decided to never put down a positive who was symptom free again. It
broke our hearts to do it and seemed so unnecessary - regardless of
what the vet said. We now have three FelV positive and one FIV
positive adult cats who are free to live out their lives with as much
comfort as we can provide.
Unfortunately, last week one litter of 10 - 12 week old kittens went
in to be spayed / neutered and they tested positive for FelV. These 5
kittens were dumped at our shelter when they were about 4 weeks old.
They are so wonderful & just full of personality.
Has anyone had any experience with FelV in kittens? Of course we will
retest them in a few weeks - the vet has said that they may just have
antibodies from their mom and will not necessarily develop FelV. If
they do develop it at such a young age, what can we expect? What is
life expectancy? We have caught some grief from a couple of people
who said we absolutely should have them put down - that we just have
so many more to take care of. I know that there are no guarantees -
just looking for info. from anyone who has experienced this.
Sorry this is long. I very much appreciate your input and feel I have
already gained a lot of information from this list.
Thanks for your time,
Cindy
