----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 1:25 AM Subject: RE: contagiousness of FELV and other thoughts.../strain
>My parents lost a cat in the early 80's to FELV or FIV (never got it clear). The vet was also so reluctant to tell them anything about these diseases. but remember that there was so much fear then around these strange 'viruses' and it didn't help that feline aids-feline leukemia just sounded too much >like adult AIDS. The FIV was first isolated in 1986 and was named "feline T-lymphotropic lentivirus". They should have kept that name! When the name was changed to "Feline Immunodeficiency Virus" in 1988 to "conform with international nomenclature" for immunodeficiency-linked viruses, many people panicked because they believed people could catch AIDS from cats - of course they can't. Many healthy FIV+ cats were needlessly killed. FIV cats can live near-normal lifespans and the virus is not easy transmitted to other cats - except by bite wounds. >As a social worker, I worked with people with AIDS when the disease first became known and let me tell you, the treatment cats got was about the same treatment that people got!! Most folks were so frightened >about contagion that no one even said the word out loud. Sadly, I remember those days very clearly. The ignorance continues to this day; many healthy FIV cats are still needlessly killed. Ong Chris <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 12:18 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: contagiousness of FELV and other thoughts.../strain I lost my very own first kitty that was a Siamese in 1974 to FELV. The Vets wouldn't be honest with me about his illness. 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. 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. 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
