Lorrie wrote;
"Once this virus is in their bone marrow they will not produce enough red blood
cells, and death is inevitable."
I see this differently. So does The Winn Foundation. They say;
"Finally, some cats can develop latent or sequestered infection. This probably
happens to about 5-10% of cats. These cats, whose virus is hiding in sites such
as the bone marrow, will rarely be contagious and are unlikely to develop
illness. They will not test positive on routine testing."
That is from http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/pages/felv_web.pdf
The AAFP also seems to feel differently;
http://jfm.sagepub.com/content/10/3/300.full
from 2008 says;
"Regressive infection is accompanied by an effective immune response, and virus
replication is contained prior to or at the time of bone marrow infection. Cats
with regressive infection are at little risk of developing FeLV-associated
diseases. FeLV is integrated into the cat's genome, but viral shedding does not
occur (Pedersen et al 1977, Lutz et al 1983, Flynn et al 2000, 2002).
Following infection, regressive and progressive infections can be distinguished
by repeated testing for viral antigen in peripheral blood (Torres et al 2005).
Most infected cats initially become antigen positive within 2–3 weeks after
virus exposure. They may then test negative for viral antigen 2–8 weeks later
or, in rare cases, even after many months (regressive infection). Both
progressive and regressive infections are almost always accompanied by
persistent FeLV proviral DNA in blood. Some infected cats never develop
detectable antigenemia. In this case, real-time PCR is more sensitive than
antigen detection to detect FeLV exposure"
Neither of these sources (and I have others, but those are from the
best known entities) seem to feel that bone marrow involvement is inevitably
fatal.
It is possible that euthanasia is the best option for Polli, but I
don't believe that a cat sero-converting to negative gives an imminent death
sentence.
Just my thoughts,
Best of healing energies to Polli,
Margo
-----Original Message-----
>From: Lorrie <[email protected]>
>Sent: Jun 26, 2013 6:43 AM
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Please keep Polli in your thoughts
>
>Amanda, My thoughts are with you, because I have had many FelV cats over the
>years. Once this virus is in their bone marrow they will not produce enough
>red blood cells, and death is inevitable. Her vital organs will shut down
>and she will slowly suffocate. A transfusion will only buy her a few weeks if
>that long. Gentle euthanasia is the only option. I am so sorry, but this is
>the kindest thing you can do for her.
>
>Lorrie
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