Merlin, I mix the positives and negatives but all my negative are vaccinated and current on their shots. From my stand point that is key to mixing. Also I have not brought any new kittens into the house. Babies are more susceptible than adult cats from what I have read.
It is really up to the individual. You will find some here who mix and some who do not. Once you have a positive cat the outcome can vary. Some have had adults who have shaken off the virus. I haven't been that fortunate. All my positives are rescued dumpster kitties. The 4 positive 4 week old babies I rescued last yr. all died by one yr of age. Of the 4 positives that were older I have lost one. The other three are symptom free right now and are 2+ yrs old. All 8 were born with the virus. I have also rescued negative kitties from this colony if that helps explain that the virus is not as contagious as previously thought. Sharyl --- On Wed, 10/21/09, mary (merlin) marshall <[email protected]> wrote: > From: mary (merlin) marshall <[email protected]> > Subject: [Felvtalk] Leukemia questions > To: [email protected] > Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 5:04 PM > Hi all, > > Thanks to Diana, Chris, Gloria, Laurie, Dorlis and Sheryl > for responding to my questions. You are right, I was > freaking out yesterday. I was expecting Kitty to test > positive for FIV which was no big deal for the rest of the > cats, and when it came back leukemia, I was stunned. I > had to quickly remove Patches and didn't have anything set > up for her. > > We removed Patches from a bad home to get her spayed (two > litters already as a teenage mom) and to get her a good home > since she is so nice and pretty. I kept thinking that > instead of bettering her life, we had potentially given her > a death sentence. Plus having to hang on to her in > pretty fastidious cleaning protocols to prevent infecting my > 12 cats for possibly months and more tests until we could be > pretty sure she was OK to adopt out. All I really knew > was that feline leukemia was contagious and very bad. > A million years ago when I was in college, the cats of a > friend of mine were used to help understand feline leukemia > in the early research in the 1970s and 80s. He had 8 > or 9 cats and all but one of them caught and died from > leukemia. (No they didn't become lab cats. They > assisted like human cancer patients assist with research > into their disease.) > > You all and others have set my mind at ease that she wasn't > exposed. I can go through normal new cat protocols to > introduce her to my cats (all tested, negative and > vaccinated) where she can stay until I get her adopted out. > > My friend is getting her 5 other cats and the foster kitten > tested in about and hour. From what I am hearing in > this group and others, the rest may be OK. I am > concerned about the FIV cat who has a hard time shaking > illness, and the 3 kittens. These cats have impaired > or limited immune systems and would be more > susceptible. If the kittens and the FIV cat are > positive, it is her fault since they started out negative. > > I'm still curious about mixing leukemia positives and > negatives. Some are saying they are doing it and no one is > converting to positive, others are saying yes the virus > spread to negative cats. Is there a standard line of > action? In any case, I am relieved it isn't as > contagious as once thought. I hesitate to tell my > friend its OK to mix her cats if some test negative, since > it was her irresponsible actions of not testing that got her > into the current mess. She is often lax on cat health > issues and I don't want to encourage that. She needs > to be whacked up side the head that irresponsibility can > lead to cat suffering and death. There are some things > you just shouldn't cheap out on. And they will cost > you even more in the long run. > > Merlin > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
