I had 6 negative cats when Buzzy came to me. He tested positive in January of 2008. At that time Casper was about 4 years old. I had all my positive cats vaccinated and released Buzz into the general population in April of 2008. In July I took in another positive and in September still another positive. Buzzy died in November of anemia, a common FeLV problem. I kept all the negative cats up to date on their vaccines. In December of 2009 Casper started sneezing quite a bit. He went through a round of antibiotics and got better for a while but then the sneezing came back and he was on meds again. Some time in February he just didn't seem like himself and I took him to the vet again. That was when they decided to test him for feline leukemia. He was positive, anemic and I lost him in April of 2010. I am fairly sure he started out negative because whenever I bring another cat into the household the first thing I do is take them to the vet to be checked out. Others here have said that in spite of that he was probably positive when I brought him into my home, but he spent about two years with me before he was ever exposed to a FeLV+ cat. I believe that if I had never mixed my positives and negatives Casper would still be alive. I'm sorry to be the one with the bad news, but it is better to understand that there is a risk and that feline leukemia is a horrible and dangerous disease.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Melinda Kerr Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 5:15 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Felvtalk] Mixing OK, I know I am going to get some really strong opinions on this one. What I really want is positive feedback from people who have mixed positives and negatives. My Fuji contacted her FeLV from her mom and it didn't show up on her initial test. We did not know she was positive until a mediastinal mass developed when she was almost a year old. She now receives chemo and is doing really well. Since her first treatment in July, she has never shown any signs of being sick. Today, I "rescued" a stray that I thought for certain would be positive. However, the initial test was negative. I have the cats separated and intend to vaccinate as soon as one of my vets gets the vaccine in. They have been introduced to each other and seem as though they will get along quite well. Fuji is not a fighter and I cannot see her biting him. Neither of my vets seem to think that mixing them will be a problem. I read the old threads and saw that many of you have mixed with great results. I did not see any stories of mixing where a vaccinated negative became positive. I'm looking for stories of success or failure. Please share your stories! Thanks, Melinda, Fuji and Shadow _______________________________________________ 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
