Spirit Cat wrote:
>
> I have a question - can anyone tell me why everyone keeps testing
> their cats over and over again? I have done quite a bit of reading on
> the testing issue and am somewhat confused about it what with the
> positives based upon age tested and retested, the negatives, the false
> positives, etc. If your cat tests positive several times in a row and
> then tests negative, do you really feel comfortable that he is "cured"
> and then put him in with everyone else or do you wonder if it might be
> a "false negative" and he might be a latent carrier? I read so much
> conflicting information on these diseases from different veterinary
> "experts" that I am really not sure that anyone knows what is really
> happening with these diseases and with the symptoms of the various
> diseases being so similar, how vets can accurately say, yes, it is
> such and such disease.
>
> I am a bit concerned on a couple of issues - are we testing too much,
> are we vaccinating too much for diseases that even when vaccinated we
> don't have a 100% guarantee that they will be safe from the disease or
> a mutation of the disease. I'm reading more and more horror stories
> lately of people having their animal vaccinated for rabies, taking
> them home and the animal having a reaction to the shot and dying on
> the way back to the vet or having them vaccinated for their annual
> vaccines and then developing cancers at the site of vaccination.
>
> I work exclusively with ferals, ex-ferals and strays that have been
> dumped in my yard. The area I live in has a high incidence of feline
> aids and herpes and leukemia for some reason. I no longer test since
> everyone I was testing was coming back positive for at least one of
> the diseases. Existing in the environment that they do, I figure that
> they will have been exposed to one or all of them. If I did test and
> the test came back negative because of where in the disease they might
> be when tested I don't know if I would really believe that they were
> truly negative since they had been living in this environment.
>
> So my response to this problem is to neuter and spay each one of them
> and either return them to the feral colony or make them a part of my
> "positive" household. I then care for them as needed for the various
> symptoms that they exhibit - immune boosting, lysine, etc.
>
> I guess I question all this testing, etc. because I have in my
> household four cats who tested repeatedly positive for feline leukemia
> and all are healthy, have never exhibited any leukemia, aids or herpes
> symptoms and are over ten years old - not even a sneezd. I have had
> several over the years who tested negative and I lost them to the
> "classic" leukemia symptoms in the prime of their lives.
>
> All I know and I am sure you are all this way, whether the cat you
> have living with you now tests positive or negative, you are going to
> love them and they will spend the rest of their days with you. And
> when they exhibit symptoms, you will treat them with everything you
> have at your disposal. Some of you are lucky enough to have vets who
> are interested and well versed on the diseases, others will spend a
> lot of time on the internet doing their own research and joining
> groups like this one to learn from others. It seems to me that though
> we are looking to our vets for guidance, most of us are taking an
> active, take charge interest in the health of our cats and it may be
> someone like one of us who utimately stumbles across the "cure".
>
> Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees.
>
> S. Cat
> SPIRIT CAT
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Rebecca Sissom wrote:
>
> > That's how I feel about Rio. I was really upset when his test came back
> > positive again, but I'm going to do everything possible to make him happy.
> > Plus, he's GOT to live a long life so he can keep testing every new kitty
> > toy that comes on the market. :)
> >
> > Rebecca
> >
> > ----------
> > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >Subject: Re: A "false positive"/ was Testing
> > >Date: Sat, Aug 26, 2000, 9:23 PM
> > >
> >
> > > Rebecca,
> > >
> > > It's been 15 months since Andy's first positive ELISA and 4 months since
> > > his confirmed IFA positive test. I have to tell myself everyday that
> even
> > > if he drops dead right now, he had 15 more months than he would have if
> > > that child's mother had taken him to "the pound" as she said she would.
> (I
> > > have told the story before- don't know if you heard it but don't want to
> > > bore the list w/ it again :)).
> > >
> > > He is loved and well cared for, more than most cats if I do say so myself
> > > :) and I will continue to do what I can for him as long as he (or I)
> live.
> > > And as the vet tech at my vet's office told me, he could live to be 20
> > > years old for all we know, so I should't cry about it all the time and
> > > treat him as if he is terminally ill. So I don't. And we go one day at
> a
> > > time. That's all any of us can do... until there is a cure!
> > >
> > > Jamie
> > >
For what it is worth, I too personally think we place way too much on
repeating tests when an animal has tested positive for FeLV, and
especially when it has shown classic symptoms of it before treatment.
Cats rarely sero-convert to negative no matter how they are treated. And
in those that do, "IF" you were to do PCR tests on bone marrow stem
cells and certain other cells, you'll find the damned FeLV locked in the
DNA waiting.
Retrovirus infections are forever for all practical purposes. A cat can
sero-convert but have tumors develop years later from the virus, or have
the disease return later when the cat's immune system wares down in old
age or from some other disease.
My first cat DID sero-convert to negative after agressive treatment with
ICR, high-dose Interferon A and AZT, and remained negative for FeLV
until his death 7 3/4 years later at age 15. And his lymphoma never
returned either. But PCR and other testing since developed for HIV,
would have found FelV in his bone marrow despite the negative status on
tests year after year.
What is important is not seroconversion back to negative, but the cat
being able to CONTROL the virus still left in its system for the rest of
its life. To become and remain a long-term non-progressor. Total cure is
a myth as there will always be some retrovirus left somewhere, and it is
the strength and ability of the cat's immune system to keep it in check
that decides the outcome and if the FeLV symptoms will ever return.
It is like chicken pox or other similar viruses in humans, it is there
forever but the immune system is able to keep it in check for the most
part. That is what "cure" has to be seen as with FeLV -- treatment that
first knocks the virus down and stops the symptoms and allows the cat's
immune system to return the ability to, and then keep control of the
virus over a normal lifetime.
That is possible and do able, spending all one's time and emotions
trying to get a perfect "negative" test result on a cat that has been
infected, is at best a lofty goal, and at worst an excerise in chasing
rainbows. What matters is ending the symptoms with treatment and keeping
them from ever returning. The real tests to worry about in a cat once
positive are those that detect presense of active disease symptoms. They
best tell the cat's owners the status of the cat's health.
And a cat going from testing positive to negative doesn't mean as much
as it's hyped off to be, in my personal opinion. Nor is a positive test
always coming back test after test in a cat who had FeLV and was treated
and is now symptom free and healthy the end of the world.
As always;
J Truman
