Wow, that's a sad but amazing story, Karen. The compassion you have for those cats is beautiful. Thanks to you and your family for doing what you're doing for them.
The usual recommendation that I've seen is to wait three months after the initial test, then give a second test, which you did. I'm not sure that the 45 day test is necessary, but if my vet wanted to do it, I'd go along with her. It sounds like most of the positives are either kittens or very young, so it's impressive (and wonderful) that they were able to have enough of an immune response to prevent them from being persistently viremic. This is another thing that would be nice to know: why does that happen? I've read that studies have seen certain cell lines (I think) that are associated with regressive infection occurring. It might be in the retrovirus paper. Lance On Jun 12, 2013, at 4:33 PM, Karen Harshbarger <[email protected]> wrote: > Lance, In answer to your questions. We rescue strays that come to our patio > to start with. From there it is kind of long story. We usually get them > spayed or neutered and get them shots and provide shelter for them, but leave > them outside. A neighbor started complaining about them getting in his > garage, so we were forced by our city codes to build a large kennel (10feet X > 16)on our property, so that they could not wonder. We did not like this > situation so we started trying to find them inside homes (as we already have > 5 in our home). Then there were 4 little kittens that squeezed their way in > to the kennel and we had 10 cats in there for about two months or more (kind > of lost track of how long really). So I put out a plea for no kill shelters > to help me and take some. A no kill shelter took said they would take the > kittens, but two wondered off before I could get them there---not to be seen > again until recently back on our patio (but that is another story). Anyway, > this no kill shelter contacted me and told me the little female tested > positive and the male negative, and that I should have the others tested. I > did this about 3 months ago and 5 out of the 6 tested positive. Needless to > say we were heart broken. We knew we had to do more for them because it was > still pretty cold outside even with the heated dog house and insulated > shelters in the pen. So we moved our cars out of the garage and built > another shelter in the garage and set up two heaters. We housed the one > little female that tested negative separate but brought her in also. The we > started taking them to the vet if the so much as sneezed. For a while we > were treating upper respiratory for quite a while and runny eyes. They would > get over it but get it back. Then one of the little males that tested > positive got very sick---that was our beautiful little Tig so we separated > him out. We started him on interferone but nothing helped. He got anemia > very bad got to where he could not eat, drink, get to his litter box, had > trouble breathing, and choaked when I tried to feed him. It got so bad we > rushed to emergency but they said there was nothing they could do for him and > it broke my heart---it still does and not a day goes by we don't think of him > in some way. Anyway, so we became extremely aggressive with the others---if > they did anything out of the norm, we took them to the vet for treatment. > The little female that was tested negative got very sick ----would not eat, > drink, potty and was throwing up. We took her to the vet they gave meds but > did not get better. They were about to do exploratory surgery, but we said > give her one more day---so they gave her fluids and that seem to do the > trick---the next day she started eating and slowly went back to normal. Then > Cole got sick and was throwing up white foam and would not eat, so I was > panicky. The vet gave him an injection and a pill to calm his stomach and by > the next day he started eating but not normal and was just not himself. But > slowly he came back and seems fine so far. In that group is an old senior > cat that has constant loose stools and we can't seem to clear that ---- > changed diet, been to several vets an several medications. But then with the > retest yesterday, we got a negative for all of them----so we are just happy > for a good day. We are hoping that the first test was wrong or that they > fought it off and the next test in 45 days will also be negative. Sorry for > such a long story, but that is how they got exposed, etc. We assume it was > the little female kitten cause she was sneezing and sick and he eyes were so > bad they were swollen. She went straight to the heated house and we felt so > sorry for her---we took her to the vet and cared for her but never thought of > having her tested before allowing her to stay. But she needed our help and > we just gave it with out question. She is now in a foster home with another > feline leukemia cat and seems to be doing fine thanks to the help from the no > kill shelter---so we pray for the best for her also. Karen
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