Hi Melody, The first thought that came to mind is if you can possibly take in two FeLV+'s, to keep one another company, since cats in general are supposed to be social creatures. It might help with their stress level, which is a good thing. If you do this, I would adopt two that already know one another and like one another. What a wonderful thing for you to do. The only thing you really need to do is keep the pos and neg's separate so there isn't any exposure. Make sure there isn't much space between the bottom of the door and the floor, where they might scratch one another playing or otherwise. From what we know, the virus cannot live long outside the host's body, maybe a few seconds or minutes. After handling positives or their litter or food/water bowls, get into the habit of washing your hands just in case, as the research is not conclusive as to how easily, or even how, it's transmitted. We do know it can be carried in saliva, but it doesn't always show up there. However, we've found here that it seems to be a very hard virus to pass. A lot of us, including me, believe it can only be transferred from mother to kitten or via deep bite wounds. And vaccinate your negatives. Keep us posted on what you decide to do and introduce your new furbabies to us when they come home!
:) Wendy "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ ----- Original Message ---- From: Forgotten Souls <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 9:08:09 PM Subject: New to group; Questions Good evening, all! I'm new to this group, and came here in hopes I could get some feedback/advice on multicat homes with pos and neg cats. Specifically, I currently have neg cats, and am looking to assist a FeLeuk kitty. We have a nice size home, and have a large spare room that can be easily converted for a FeLeuk cat to be isolated from my neg guys. My major concerns really are what types of precautions will need to be taken to protect the neg cats from contracting it, and protecting the pos cat from any issues as well. I have been doing some extensive reading, and aside from common sense things (dedicated food dish, litterbox, etc, using bleach solutions to sanitize), what else should I be aware of to protect the cats from eachother? Pardon my questions if they come across as silly, I just want the best for these guys and don't want to place any undue harm on anys cats, or commit to something I can't do. How long does the virus actually survive in the environment? Is there anything I should be doing when going between the FeLeuk room and my cats to prevent transmission (change clothes, etc)? If any of you have a set up like this, can you give me specifics on how you are making it work? How contagious and easily does the virus actually transmit from an affected cat? I think this should cover my barrage of questions for now. Any feedback on what to do is greatly appreciated. Thanks, everyone! Melody ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/222
