Hi Michael and welcome On 8/21/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Everyone, > > My name is Michael Roberts. I just received word a few hours ago about one > of my "babies" being diagnosed, so bear with me if this takes me a while to > get out.
Ok, first of all, you don't have a diagnosis or anything else yet. What you have is one positive result on a test that has a 20% false positive rate. You need to get an IFA test to confirm. Recommendation is usually 3-6 months from time of first positive test. http://www.felineleukemia.org/felvhlth.html > > First of all, a bit of background information. I currently have three cats, > all Siamese and all from rescues. The oldest, and the one with the FeLV > diagnosis, is approximately 6-7 years old, and the other two are a little > over two. The first one came from a local rescue shelter here in Tennessee > called Angel Wings, which has since been shut down. The other two came from > VA Siamese Rescue, an organization that my partner and I are still somewhat > active in. We volunteer to transport on occasion and remain in the > newsgroups/email lists. > > I took all three for their checkups today, and the vet asked if we watned > them tested for FeLV, to which we agreed. The test on Grizzabella came back > positive. The test on Penelope was negative, and they ran out of tests, so > Poppy hasn't been tested yet. I did request them to retest Grizzabella > (even though they charged me again), and the blood was drawn and sent out > for Grizzabella's retest and Poppy's test today, and we should have results > by tomorrow. OK, well, Angel Wings was a bad situation with lots of FELV+ cats. I used to volunteer with Siamese Rescue and at that time we combo tested *all* adult cats. I would be surprised if these 2 had not already been combo tested. Do you have their medical records from Siamese Rescue? > > Here's my issue....this is my first time dealing with FeLV, and I don't know > what to do or what to expect. All three of those cats are our children, and > I can't bear the thought of seperating them or giving Grizzabella up because > she's sick, but I don't know how likely it is the other two will contract > the disease, or how to seperate them. I definitely wouldn't "give up" a cat that was sick, anymore than I would "give up" a human child because they had leukemia. I personally would not separate at this point. I would vaccinate and if your other 2 have not gotten it, they probably will not. Healthy adult cats have a ~85% natural immunity to FELV. I'm not sure what to do about > treatment, either. I've heard there's no treatment, then I've heard there's > meds, and diet changes. There are meds, and there are diet changes, and there is treatment. If your vet is not up on these things you need ot find a new vet. http://www.felineleukemia.org/treatmnt.html I'm just not sure what my next step should be. I > noticed there are six stages to the disease, and four different types...I > don't have any of that inforomation yet. I've never heard of this in my life and I've been around this list a while. Where did you get this information? Can anyone give me a heads up and > let me know where we should start with this? Not sure what I need to do, > guys. I know lots of you have a lot of experience with this, and i'd be > interested in any advice you can give. > Take a deep breath and don't make any rash decisions. Love yourself, your partner and your kitties:) Kelley -- Rescuties - Saving the world, one cat at a time. http://www.rescuties.org Vist the Rescuties store and save a kitty life! http://astore.amazon.com/rescuties-20 Please help Caroline! http://rescuties.chipin.com/caroline I GoodSearch for Rescuties. Raise money for your favorite charity or school just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!
