Robin,
I am sorry to hear about the Elisa and
Immunofluorescence Assay (Antibody) [IFA] tests came
back positive. These are the two (2) that I, myself,
relied on when Peeper tested positive for FeLV.
First he was tested with a generic in-house Snap Combo
FeLV/FIV Elisa test. When that came back positive I
immediately had a "Complete Chemistry Feline Health
Panel" ran.
This particular panel runs a series of seven (7)
different tests.
1.) Superchem
2.) Complete Blood Count (CBC)
3.) T4
4.) Feline Leukemia (FeLV) (Elisa)
5.) Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) (Elisa)
6.) Feline Corona virus (FCV)
7.) Toxoplasmosis (TOXO)
On top of the "Complete Chemistry Feline Health Panel"
I also requested that a Immunofluorescence Assay
(Antibody) [IFA] be ran.
In the end Peeper had a total of eight (8) separate
tests ran not including the original in-house Snap
Combo test.
The official IFA cam back positive. Out of the two (2)
tests (Elisa and IFA) the IFA is the big kahuna. If
the Elisa comes back negative, but the IFA reads
positive, the IFA's results overrides the Elisa. If a
cat tests positive on the official IFA he/she is
positive for life.
Now, with that said, your kitty could remain
asymptomatic for life and just be a dormant carrier of
the virus, but unfortunately, there is no getting
around the IFA results. I am sorry.
Pepper tested positive for the Elisa and the IFA. I
even went as far as to run the "Complete Chemistry
Feline Health Panel" and (IFA) TWICE!
The first set of tests were ran when he was five (5)
months old (in October 2002) and the last set was done
when he was a year and seventeen (17) days old (June
2003.) All tests came back positive and he passed away
on July 3, 2003.
For all of us, it was a pretty quick downhill run.
Take care,
Lora
--- Robin Sarafinchan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Thanks to everyone who has responded to my email.
It's great to hear from others with felv experience.
It's certainly given me lots to think about. My
husband and I love rescuing animals so it's hard for
us to think we may not be able to for who knows how
long but at the same time we would hate to bring in a
new cat who then becomes ill with felv because of our
decision.
So for now we have our 4 together, the three negatives
are vaccinated now, we are feeding them high quality
food and spring water. Our positive cat is quite
healthy.
I guess we will wait to see what happens next. We have
also talked about getting a rescue dog but I worry
that would add too much stress and from all
that I have read stress is not good for a felv
positive.
I keep hoping my positive will turn negative but he
has tested positive Elisa, positive IFA although his
first Elisa test was negative. He has also tested
positive DNA but my vets are skeptical about the DNA testing.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/
