A few things-first, thank you for taking in this little one. Its too bad that her adopter declawed her as it means she can't go outside! On the FELV-there are 2 standard tests. There's one the vet does in the office-a pin prick of blood on a test strip-its called the Elissa or snap test. Then there's one done by the vet drawing blood and sending to a lab-its called the IFA. If a cat tests pos on the Elissa it should be retested on the IFA sometime later. It is possible the cat can throw off the virus so you have to give it time between the Elissa and IFA.
Many folks on this board will tell you about their cats who have lived long, healthy lives. My own Tucson is 13 and doing ok. I had another who I brought in from the street after I'd been feeding him for a couple of years. He died several years later from lymphoma and we guessed he was around 8. The thing is that the FELV virus won't actually kill them but it makes them so much more susceptible to infections-URI, UTI, etc. I tend to bring Tucson to the vet a bit quicker than I do my other ones if she has the sniffles or stops eating, etc. They are also more susceptible to gum infections, lymphomas, blood disorders, etc. so you have to keep an eye on that. Best thing you can do is give her some decent food, watch for any sign of problems. As far as the litter box, tough to know. Sometimes they don't like a particular litter. And the stool, you might want to take a stool sample to vet for fecal. I think the Tyleson Tartrate is an antibiotic but am not familiar w. it. I'm not sure about having it on hand to give to her if she gets sick. There are different antibiotics for different things. Folks on the board might have more info. How old is Pumpkin? From: Felvtalk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2013 10:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Felvtalk] stray cat I took in has feline leukemia Hello, cs I'm hoping someone can help me.... We live in the country and have about 8 outside cats. A friend decided to take one home, Pumpkin, and had her all fixed up at the vet with shots, spay and declaw. She found out she has feline leukemia. She kept her for about a month, but I guess she was making a mess as far as using the litter box. I told her I didn't want her to go to an over crowded humane society, so I took her back. She is now in the house, as she is front declawed, and she is not to be around the other cats with her cancer. ons So... I've had her home since just before Christmas, and she's been fine other than not eating a whole lot. Her stool is quiet soft, and I did find a few hard turds in two different sleeping places that she uses. Well now today, she had a ver messy stool on the wood floor in the hallway!! Really shocked me as she's been so good using the littler box. Is this a sign that she is getting sick, the not using the littler box? She has a prescription for Tylosin Tartrate, and she said to give this to her(powder form), when/if she gets sick??? She does seems to sleep most of the day, but I know cats do do that :) She also does purr quite loud!! Must be a good sign. She will play with a string too. So she's been very happy, but now I had to resort to putting her back in the basement with her food and litter. I might end up sleeping down there with her again, as I did when she first came in the house. She has had the run of the house now for weeks, but I just don't trust her since her accident. I've read where infected cats can live quite long, but yet others do not. I certainly would not want to put her thru all sorts of treatments... Thank you for your time:))) I appreciate any input for my Pumpkin! Tricia
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