----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 12:17 AM
Subject: Re: contagiousness of FELV and other thoughts.../strain
> I lost my very own first kitty that was a Siamese in 1974 to FELV.
Please accept my belated condolences.
The Vets
> wouldn't be honest with me about his illness.
Probably because they didn't know very much about it back then. There was a
lot of paranoia surrounding this disease (originating from purebred
catteries) back then because relatively very little was known about the
virus. The indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFA) was only developed a
year before, in 1973 and the ELISA, a few years after the IFA. The first
ELISAs were notorious for producing false-positives and many, many cats were
needlessly killed. Many cats were also "euthanized" for merely being in
proximity of an intected cat - without even testing!
*Any* disease -from a cold to constipation - if the cat tested positive for
FeLVA, the disease was automatically attributed to FeLV and either left
untreated ("why bother") or the cats were summarily euthanized. A terrible
problem that still exists to this day.
Before he died he had to have his
> chest drained of the fluid buildup, tumor, and the foul smell/breathe/gums
> were bad. Come to think about it, after years of being around other FELV
kitties
> he had all the signs of FELV. I lived at the time right around the corner
> from a Veterinary College. They wanted to euthanized right away but
wouldn't tell > me what was really wrong with him.
In office ELISAs weren't available yet and the IFA was performed only in a
limited number of diagnostic labs. They probably really didn't know what he
had. Some vets just can't stand to say "I don't know". They think it
discounts their credibility. Any vet that never says "I don't know" sure
scares the hell out of me!
He had a bad case of URI is what they told
> me. Yeah right! They knew what it was.
> He died in my bath tub it was one of my saddest days in my life because I
> wasn't with him. I was in school.
> He only lived to be two yrs old.
It breaks my heart when one so young dies. Find comfort in the knowledge
that he was loved. For many cats, their only human contact is their
executioner.
Ong.
>
> In a message dated 12/8/2004 2:41:00 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> I've dealing with this disease since before it had a name -- back in the
60s
> when everyone thought FeLV was a "new" virus. Its actually an ancient
> virus - 1 -10 million years old (interesting story), it was merely
> discovered in 1964.
>
> I lost one cat to this virus a long time ago and another after a 6 year
> battle. I'm presently working with 3 FeLV cats. Btw, the often mentioned
> "2.5 - 3 year lifespan" of FeLV cats is not absolute. Thus the importance
> of subgroups.
>
> I'm happy we cleared up the misunderstandings. I'm looking forward to
> learning a lot from this group and sharing the little knowledge I have.
>
> Ong
>
>
> Terrie Mohr
>
> Check site for available Siameses for adoption!
> More will be posted soon.
>
> http://www.tazzys-siameses-collies.petfinder.org/
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wasiameserescue
>
> http://siamese.meetup.com/38/
> This is for those of you in WA. state and would like to attend.
>
> http://hometown.aol.com/tatorbunz/index.html
>
> http://hometown.aol.com/tatorbunz/myhomepage/petmemorial.html
>
> TAZZY'S ANIMAL TRANSPORTS
> SIAMESE & COLLIE RESCUE
> Owner/Driver
>
>
>
> Petfinder.com
> Adopt a Homeless Pet!
>
> http://www.petfinder.com/
>
>
>
>
> http://www.awca.net/index.htm
> http://www.felineleukemia.org/
> http://www.petloss.com/
> http://www.meezer.com/
>
> http://thesiamesestore.com/
>
> http://tx.siameserescue.org/adopt.html
>
