Hi Kelley, I seem to be on every list. I brought a FeLv+ cat in off the street several years ago. Didn't know he was a positive until he was tested. So I isolated him in a room by himself, plenty of good food, toys, etc. and tested after 4 months, 4 different types of tests. He was negative. His immune system had overcome the virus I guess. I was told that this happens often but most people don't have the patience, time or desire to retest so they just kill perfectly healthy cats. Moses (his name) lives with my other cats now, all neg for FeLv and no one has tested positive since.
A friend gave the FeLv vacc. to her cat and the cat developed FeLv, bad case, etc. Maybe the cat had been a carrier, harboring the virus in the bone marrow. Anyway, none of my outside cats have ever gotten FeLv from anyone because everyone is neutered, spayed and friendly to each other. It's not really that contagious although I do isolate when they test positive and do adopt to single cat only homes or cat/dog homes. FIV isn't contagious except from deep bites during mating/fighting so ferals, etc. who are neutered and stop their mating behavior are pretty safe to be mixed with FIV neg. cats. Still, I do isolate tame FIV+ cats in my little FIV+ area since many of my cats are going to eventually go up for adoption and I want to err on the side of no problems. But both my experiences with human vaccs and with animal vaccs have me more wary of vaccs then of the diseases. Incidentally, for all of you who are getting cats spayed, take a lesson from logic. If you yourself were going in for surgery, no MD in his right mind would also give you a vaccination. The simple fact is that anesthesia compromises the body's defenses for a while so adding a vaccine to stress the immune system is a real no-no. Yes, we have to rabies vaccinate feral cats because they are not easily caught twice, once to spay, once to vaccinate. My vet is a pretty good guy. He won't give the rabies shot to any tame cat who is going to be spayed because spaying is major surgery. Neutering is different and he will vaccinate right away against rabies for the males. But I have to bring the females back two weeks later for the rabies shot. He learned a lot from my own experiences and my own research. He's willing to listen to reason. He even took down the poster advertising the FIV vaccination when I explained to him that no matter how much you tell a person that the FIV+ is from the vaccine, most likely the cat will not be adoptable and if lost and not microchipped, rescued and taken to a vet, will be killed. A lot of vets aren't this reasonable so you have to be on top of things, just as you would be with your human kids. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelley Saveika" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 2:19 PM Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] No vaxes? > Hey Lee! I didn't know you were on this list too! > > I have not had a vet push the FIV vaccine on me, maybe I have been lucky. > > We give the FELV, FVRCP, and legally required rabies shot to our adoption > cats. The reason we do this is because we aren't sure adopters won't let > the cats outside, no matter what they say, and I figure that way at least > they will have some protection. > > I also vaccinate my personal indoor-only cats for FELV because you never > really know what your foster cats are carrying - as we know snap tests are > not all that reliable. I do FVRCP once every 3 years. I'd love to skip > rabies altogether, but it is against the law, though they have approved > the > 3 year rabies vaccine now, thank goodness. > > On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 2:01 PM, Lee Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Not only do vets vaccinate cats who should not have anything else to >> stress >> their immune system and not only do they insist on vaccinating >> indoor-only >> cats, old cats and even ill cats, but they are now pushing the FIV >> vaccine >> which will turn the cat FIV+ so if he/she gets lost, picked up by animal >> control or taken to a vet by a rescuer, the cat will test positive for >> FIV >> and most likely be killed. Vaccines are NOT a miracle prevention. Many >> cats get sarcoma at the site of the vaccine. Other cats actually get the >> disease they are being vaccinated for from the vaccine. When I was a >> teen, >> I was vaccinated for Polio and got a mild case of Polio that paralyzed my >> right arm for almost a year. I still have some neurological problems from >> that. None of my personal cats are vaccinated. My adoption cats are >> only >> vaccinated with the FVRCP vaccine and the legally required rabies shot. >> Many of us here in rescue are opposed to other vaccines. >> >> > > > -- > Rescuties - Saving the world, one cat at a time. > > http://www.rescuties.org > > Vist the Rescuties store and save a kitty life! > > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home?tag=rescuties-20 > > Check out our Memsaic! > http://www.memsaic.com/app/launch.cfm?sid=08D2CAB2A6E9 > > http://www.zazzle.com/rescuties* > > Please help with some of our kitties medical needs! > > http://rescuties.chipin.com/kitties-medical-expenses > > "Rather than helping, it's easier to point fingers and say "take them > first > as long as you leave me alone". > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
