My 3 neg cat have lived with Tucson, my pos cat, for most their lives and she is 12 1/2 years old. I also had another pos cat, Romeo, who I brought in 2004 (adult cat) & until his death last year, they all lived together. They share dishes, boxes, groom each other, occasionally nip each other, sleep together and none of my neg have ever turned positive. I personally think that FELV is not as contagious as some folks make it out to be.
-----Original Message----- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Stephanie (Merkel) Sherry Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 2:01 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Question About Inegrating Positive and Negative Cats Hi Everyone, I am new to this site and new to the world of FELV. My husband and I recently took in a stray kitten, Magic, who had been coming into our yard and on our porch. We've had her inside and separated from our FELV negative cats for six weeks now and love her dearly. At her first vet appt about five week ago she tested positive on two different snap tests. She also recently tested positive on the IFA test. Magic is about five months old and is healthy (other than FELV), active, growing and gaining weight, loves to play and is the sweetest girl. For now, she lives in our master bedroom separated from our other cats. One of the vets at my practice suggested it was possible to integrate her with our other cats if we had them all vaccinated. She did tell me that the vaccine isn't 100% so there was some risk to our other cats. Right now, I do not feel like is the option for me as it doesn't seem fair to expose my FELV negative to cats to the risk of the vaccine itself or exposure to her. However, I thought I would ask if anyone has gone this route and what their experience has been. The vet who suggested this to me isn't the vet I usually see and I am waiting for my regular vet to come back to work later this week. Assuming we don't integrate her with the other cats, she is currently living in our bedroom. She doesn't seem unhappy and while it's not an ideal set-up for us, it is something we could manage long term. I struggle with what is fair for her - to stay with us where we love her so much, but her space is limited or to find her a home where she can have more space and possibly time with her owners. If she stays with us in our bedroom, should we still vaccinate our other cats as a precaution? Any thoughts or experience anyone has on either of these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Stephanie _______________________________________________ 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
