you have to define, "highly symptomatic" cat--if a positive cat gets lymphoma, yeah, the odds are that it's a result of the FeLV infection--same with anemia, but i don't know that there is yet any way to KNOW that any symptomatolgy can be proven to be FeLV-related.
and i think that it's a cop-out that vets have used, just as they've used the best-treatment-is-to-just-kill-them line for all these years to blame everything that happens to any FeLV, or FIV on the virus. so much easier than trying to actually find out what's going on. just as for the past few years, anytime a vet can't figure out what's going on, the diagnosis is FIP. so do i know cats who tested positive--on a single ELISA back when we thought that was enough--then went through a series of really bad illness yet got better with treatment, then years late when retested routinely turned out to be positive on both an ELISA and IFA? yes--a few of them, in fact. do i now think they were actually positive, as in persistently viremic? nope--i think that they were originally tested during the period close to exposure, and had we retested them correctly, they would have tested negative. instead, they just lived with positives (many of whom HAVE been tested the second time to be positive, now that we know better) for years, being cats--being healthy, getting sick, getting treated, getting better..... were their symptoms FeLV-related? obviously not. do i truly believe that there are any treatments out there YET that can cause a truly positive cat to experience an opportunistic infection or immune-compromised disorder due TO the damage from the virus itself, then throw off the virus? no, i do not. i think that if there were, we'd know about it by now. if there were, there would be independent research backing up the claims, there would be peer-reviewed articles, there would be trumpets blowing. what there are, instead, i'm afraid, are companies that take great advantage of the people who want desperately to believe that there is such a treatment out there. but there are no long-term treatments for a lot of things that can happen to our companions, and in many cases, the only symptom is death (thinking of some of the heart-related conditions here)--so i'm not sure how it matters. there just aren't any guarantees for the negatives, either, and if we decide we are gonna stop loving the ones who might die some day, well.... MC On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 12:17 PM, Jane Lyons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Has anyone ever heard of a highly (FeLV) symptomatic cat who, with > treatment, becomes asymptomatic and then > retests negative? > > Jane > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > -- Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... MaryChristine
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