Cherie,
I'm so sorry to hear you lost Snowball. You have my deepest
sympathy (I just lost one on 12/28).
Different cats react to FeLV in different ways. Some are naturally
immune and never test positive for exposure to the virus. Some will test
positive for exposure, are a little sick for a little while, fight it off, get
the virus out of their bodies entirely and are immune forever. Some get
sick for a little while, their immune systems get it under control and the
virus and body find a balance where both exist without significant harm to
each other and the cat can live a long time (even a normal life span)
in good health - unless some significant stress comes along
like a major surgery, a drastic change in the family dynamic (being
bullied by a new cat or grieving for a lost friend), or some kind of
infection like ringworm (which overwhelms the immune system and lets the virus
run unchecked). And, sadly, - tragically - some get sick from their
initial exposure and die very quickly from one of the many ways it can show up
- like Snowball.
I know you're hurting right now, but try not to wait too long to tell
your son. When I was 9, we adopted a pure bred siamese (Abby) and kept
her inside only, but we also had a big red tabby and white shorthaired guy
named O'Malley. O'Malley was a big burley tom who was very gentle
and would play with Abby for hours. One time, they were batting at
each other over the edge of the top stair, and Abby socked him (keep in mind,
she was only about 10-12 weeks old and maybe weighed 3 pounds - he was
easily 18 pounds) and he "fell" down 3-4 steps. She was so proud of
herself for knocking him down. He was a very special
guy,
One day, I called him in the morning to bring him in, and he didn't come.
O'Malley was an indoor/outdoor cat and had been killed on
the road one night (indoor only cats were an oddity to my parents back in
the early 70's, and Mom was allergic to them, so they were outdoors
mostly - we lived on a hill, but only about 10 feet off of a major road
connecting two biggish towns. We had at least 3 kittens every
summer - one each for me and my brothers - and we ended up losing about 30
cats and kittens by the time I was 9 to cars). Mom and Dad knew how
attached I was to O'Malley and because they found him before I did, they tried
to hide his death from me. It hurt worse to find out accidentally that
O'Malley had died after I'd been reassured that he'd probably been picked up
by someone coming to the carryout (that we owned in front of our house)
thinking he was a stray. I'd known about the other cats getting hit, and
I'd found too many of them - anytime we called them up to feed them and one or
more didn't show up, we immediately checked the road (I still catch myself
doing that now, even though I live in a plat now and it's rare for any of
mine to get outside - old habits die hard). Mom and Dad knew how
attached I was to O'Malley and they didn't want me hurting over his
loss. They meant well, but I had a hard time believing them when they
told me about anything happening to our animals after that. I would've
really liked to have known he'd died when he died - instead of finding out
months later. Even if I hadn't been allowed to see him after he'd died,
it would've been helpful to see a fresh grave to get some
closure.
