ALL my negative cats are vaccinated. I have been mixing my cats for over 10 years.My vet said if I separated them I would only be stressing them out. I vaccinate my negatives every 6 months ON MY VET'S ADVICE. My FIV+ cat never even got it & I had him 10 years. I have had as many as 5 positives & 5 negatives living freely with each other - Grooming, sharing food, water, litter. I have had my negative cats re-tested multiple times over the last 10 years & none of them have ever gotten the virus. Yes, this is a personal choice, & no, I am not telling you to do it, but with the proper precautions you do not have to be paranoid about FeLV. Please search the archives on "mixing" to see how other people are handling the situation. I wish you & all you kitties well. I know it is scary when you come on something you have never dealt with before. I had no idea what I was getting into when I got my first positive. Within 6 months I had 3 of them (the neighborhood I moved into was overrunning with strays). Thank goodness I had such a great vet who didn't freak out about this virus & tell me they had to have another home or be put down. My main goal ever since is to show people they can keep these kitties safely.
Beth Don't Litter, Fix Your Critter! www.Furkids.org --- On Thu, 5/12/11, Lynda Wilson <longhornf...@verizon.net> wrote: From: Lynda Wilson <longhornf...@verizon.net> Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Discordant Results (ELISA+/IFA-) To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 8:38 AM Kasie, You are wise to not bring Grace home in fear of exposing your other cat. You could get your other cat vaccinated for FeLV. However, the FeLV vaccine has only 80% to 85% protection, but it's better than zero. This is one option if nothing else. As you know, there is a chance that she clears the virus. It's good that Grace is IFA negative!! This disease is not black & white. There are too many "if's" for me to ever take a chance in mixing positives with negatives. In fact, I'm in the same boat. I adopted a 3 mos. old kitten last year in Sept. He was neutered in Nov & was born with coccidia along with the rest of his litter ( the Humane Society tested him for FeLV the day he was neutered). The HS vet said he was negative. On March 10th of this year I had to put him to sleep. He had a faint positive on the FeLV test. He was not himself the day prior. When I took him in he was anemic, had a heart murmur and his blood oxygen level was very low. My vet said their was a very slim chance that he would survive even with a blood transfusion. He had too many health issues which compromised his immune system. I also have a 2 yr old male cat at home that has always been an indoor cat. I never knew of this disease, therefore, he was not vaccinated against it. Having fostered then adopting my HS kitten, my adult cat was probably exposed to this virus for the 6 mos that I had my kitten (of course we don't know exactly when he was shedding the virus). So far, my adult cat, Sugar, has tested ELISA negative. I had Sugar tested the day I put the kitten to sleep, then again 30 days later, and again this month. I'm going to test him next month as well. Since all the ELISA tests have been negative, we did not do an IFA test. Every cat's immune system is different. I know people do mix, but I hope at least they are mixing with negatives that have been vaccinated. This is just my opinion. I'm sure that this may work for some, but for newbies like myself experiencing this for the first time, I proceed with much caution. I will not bring home another cat or kitten until I know Sugar is in the clear. He so wants another companion to play with! I will keep Grace in my thoughts and prayers and please keep me posted. I hope she clears the virus so that your cat at home has a new purrfect companion! Best wishes and the best of luck to you!! Lynda _______________________________________________ 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
