Re: FeLV Vaccination
My vet says the vaccine is 90+% effective. My 6 negatives were vaccinated and all are over 5 years old. My vet and I agreed that mixing my one positve with the others had very little risk. - Original Message - From: catatonya To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 1:12 AM Subject: Re: FeLV Vaccination I would vaccinate my negatives, wait the 2-3 weeks necessary and booster them, wait 2-3 weeks more and let them mix. All this IF the other cats are over a year old. That has always been my protocol and I've never had a negative cat 'catch' the leukemia from my positive. tonya Sue Frank Koren [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Several people here have said that they have their FeLV + kitties living in with FeLV - cats, and the negative cats are not getting infected. I am trying to decide if I should vaccinate my others and let Buzz out of his room. My vet is against it and says the vaccinations are only 60 - 80% effective. The vet does not seem to be up on all that is going on with FeLV, though, and I am considering switching vets. Buzz really doesn't,t mind his room, but he is a social boy and cries when he doesn't want to be alone. I visit him as often as I can and spend at least an hour or so in the evenings in with him, but such minor details as a full time job and the rest of my human and cat family keep me away from being with him as much as he and I would like. It seems as if vaccinating the others and freeing Buzz from his prison room is the best solution, but not if any of the others end up being infected. Their ages range from 2 to 8 years. Two of them, Charlie and Tucker have other health problems and I don't know if that would put them more at risk. Anyway, has anyone ever heard of a vaccinated cat being infected?
To Gloria: Re: Please add to the Bridge List
Gloria, I'm so sorry to hear about your two losses, Angel Moon and Miss Hendrix. I hope you are doing ok. :) Wendy Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has! ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ - Original Message From: Gloria Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2008 8:10:11 AM Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
Re: Brumley is gone
Hi Caroline, I was sad to read of little Brumley's passing. What a wonderful thing you did for him. How loved he must have felt. And even if he was one kitty, there can never be any regret for caring for him as you did, even though is time with you was too short. Bless you for giving your all for this one lone kitty. :) Wendy Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has! ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ - Original Message From: Caroline Kaufmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2008 12:05:40 PM Subject: Brumley is gone Hello all. Sadly I have to report that my sweet foster kitten Brumley is gone. I know that so many of you championed his cause and helped me with his very intensive care that started the minute I took him home from the condo at the store on Dec. 22. I so wanted him to be a success story and in a way, he was. His story was about not giving up, even in the face of impossible odds and other vets writing him off as having FIP and then not wanting to continue forward with alleviating the pain his affected eye was causing him. But my mom and I kept going and by the time we got to our 5th vet, we found someone who was willing to keep working on Brumley and in the meantime, alleviate the pain his eye was causing him- which he did and Brumley's quality of life increased and I thought he might make it. He didn't stop eating and drinking until the 18th of Jan. and that is also when he became ataxic. But he never stopped interacting with his environment and doing the small little things that he wanted to do- like continue to walk around, even tho he fell sometimes- that never stopped him, hang out with the dog whom- he loved, sniff things, curl up on me and purr, bird watch, family wathc, and try to eat soil from the plant, etc. He never stopped purring either until the very end. I was worried that with Brumley I wouldn't know when it was time. And his vet even said to me about 5 different times that he would drag his feet on this one because he loved Brumley's grey and white coloring and the way Brum was such a trooper and would just not give up at all! So I worried that if the vet drags his feet, and I drag my feet, will we keep a cat going who is suffering? But that didn't happen. I don't believe Brum suffered much, if at all. He was perky last night and purring away in a cat box he found the other night- after somehow making it all the way up the steps to the housecats room and climbing in it! He had started to fight me a lot with syringe feeding (which I have done since Jan. 19th) and the subqu fluids- also since the 19th. So I was concerned that the fighting- which he had never done before- was either a good or bad sign. But he was fine last night- he got his two prednisones and it was my typical evening of treating, medicating, feeding, and babying The Brum. But this morning, he was not standing up in his crate and looking around and meowing- which had become his usual morning routine. He was laying flat and my mom thought he had already passed. His little front paws were gripping the crate and I had to pry them off- he was obviously in respiratory distress- as this is my 3 time since Monkee died in my arms in July to see this, so I know the signs b/c I live in fear of them. He was craning his neck like he was trying to breathe and his breathing was rapid. So I threw on clothes and we rushed him out to the emergency clinic- the same one that also took my Possum on the 22 of Jan. Brumley's regular vet wasn't in until 9 today and he had surgeries scheduled, so we couldn't go there. Which I think is good b/c when I saw his vet, I would have started balling instead of being composed and I just think it would have been a mess for both me and him b/c he really liked this cat. The emergency vet said it was grave. Clinically, he was dehydrated (despite my 2x day fluid treatments), his liver was failing, she suspected kidneys were next, she found granulomas throughout his body (other places besides the eye), his temp was down again to 94, and she strongly suspected brain damage. She said he was definitely dying and whether it was dry FIP, Toxo (which she doubted), or she proposed a very severe fungal infection-- either way, none of it was reversible and everything that could be done for the cat had been done. It was definitely time. Which I already knew when I decided to take him out there. I was with him. Brumley was so bad off that the ER vet couldn't get a vein, couldn't get the juglar and had already decided to euthanize with a shot to the heart. He was even less alert than Possum was when we did this with him, so it was definitely the right time- he just crashed so fast and so hard in light of how he was last night. Since the shot went to the heart, Brumley
Re: FIV
(she says, quaking in fear after that IM i sent her) On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 11:17 PM, Kelley Saveika [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My apologies, I recommended the wrong group. FIVCats2 is the right one. On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 9:41 PM, Sherry DeHaan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: MaryChristine,I agree with you that the fiv+ boys are the best.My 3 fiv boys are the sweetest babies and my fiv girl is a sweetie too.I will probably ALWAYS only adopt fiv cats from now on.We have around 70 fiv cats at Sids and I would say that 95% are very sweet.Of course as with any cats you can get grumpy ones too. Sherry *MaryChristine [EMAIL PROTECTED]* wrote: well, let's see--susan hoffman and i the co-moderators of the oldest FIV group on yahoo; which is FIVCats2, for reasons that are way too complicated to go into. i am currently owned by two of the little beasts, and have been living with them since 2002 when i moved into a FeLV/FIV sanctuary. does that count as direct experience? FIV has NOTHING WHATSOEVER in common with HIV: FeLV is much closer in terms of how it's transmitted, it's course, and everything else. the first investigators to isolate it did so in 1987, at the height of the HIV/AIDS panic, and gave it a name that has killed far more cats than the virus ever will. the only people who liken it at all to HIV/AIDS anymore are the original researchers, who seem to have an investment in doing so, despite years of research showing them to be in error. these folks use HIV/AIDS terminology, which is pretty absurd, since H = human, after all. the snap test is wrong 40% of the time, even in non-vaccinated cats; the vaccine has not been proved effective in independent tests (another fine product of Ft Dodge), and WILL cause any cat to test positive for life, even on the confirmatory test, which is the western blot. FIV cats, most of whom are male, mostly turn into, well, pussycats once neutered--and couldn't bother biting anyone hard enough to transmit the virus; when we get timid housecats in who actually DO test positive on the western blot, one of our vets says that the cat was probably bitten on the butt trying to run away. should a cat remain aggressive post-altering, filing down or removing the canines prevents them from biting deeply enough. FIVs are more prone to herpes infections and stomatitis than non-FIVs, it seems, but basically they are VERY VERY healthy: sanctuary anecdotal info (which, like with FeLV, is all there was for a long time) shows that FIVs are healthier than any other population. yes, they get sick, but they respond to treatment as well as any other cat. most FIVs die with the virus, not from it, tho, of course, other things can get them as well. MC On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Caroline Kaufmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone have any direct experience with FIV that they can pass on to me? I know the gist of course, since I foster cats and have met *and lost the battle to*- both Felv and FIP in the past year (ugh). I have heard that cats with FIV can be fairly successful- live heathly lives barely affected by the disease (is this true?), and it really is a lot like human HIV? I have also heard this is the one retroviruses that is transmitted by deep bite wounds and NOT casual contact? I am going to help a man who has taken in a alley cat that hung around his house for about 3 years that tested positive of FIV. He was clearly neutered by alley cat advocates b/c he has a tipped ear. He says it's a wonderful, approx. 5 yo tuxie. He has him in the bedroom for now (his only room with a door in his house) because his own cat is an extremely aggressive, neutered male and after 3 years of the tuxie hanging around outside, and being in the house for a while now- they can't sort out their differences and they will fight. He wishes he could keep the cat but with his cat- being such an aggressive fighter, and the tuxie being a fighter when need be (alley cat mentality)-- he just doesn't see it as possible due to transmission to his cat. The cat did get outside and got in a fight recently- ended up with an abcess on his ear- being treated by a vet, stint put in and he has a f-u next week- but it was at that appointment that the vet found the FIV and said segregate!- as they always do. I am going to work to get the cat into our adoption program as a special needs cat in the hopes that someone w/o other cats, with a non-aggressive cat, with a docile female, with other FIV cats, etc., would be willing to take him on. In the meantime, this man has agreed to continue to foster him in his home while I work to help him out with the situation. In the meantime, I want to build up my knowledge so that I have talking points for potential adoptive parents and I can
Re: FIV
yeah, there ARE grumpy ones--my jess is more grumpy than not, but he is NOT aggressive. i don't think he was ever much of a pet, so doesn't quite get the cuddle stuff. harrison, on the other hand, is the most intrusive, needy, demanding creature i've ever encountered next to my ex-husband--tho he's a thousand times cuter. MC On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 10:41 PM, Sherry DeHaan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: MaryChristine,I agree with you that the fiv+ boys are the best.My 3 fiv boys are the sweetest babies and my fiv girl is a sweetie too.I will probably ALWAYS only adopt fiv cats from now on.We have around 70 fiv cats at Sids and I would say that 95% are very sweet.Of course as with any cats you can get grumpy ones too. Sherry *MaryChristine [EMAIL PROTECTED]* wrote: well, let's see--susan hoffman and i the co-moderators of the oldest FIV group on yahoo; which is FIVCats2, for reasons that are way too complicated to go into. i am currently owned by two of the little beasts, and have been living with them since 2002 when i moved into a FeLV/FIV sanctuary. does that count as direct experience? FIV has NOTHING WHATSOEVER in common with HIV: FeLV is much closer in terms of how it's transmitted, it's course, and everything else. the first investigators to isolate it did so in 1987, at the height of the HIV/AIDS panic, and gave it a name that has killed far more cats than the virus ever will. the only people who liken it at all to HIV/AIDS anymore are the original researchers, who seem to have an investment in doing so, despite years of research showing them to be in error. these folks use HIV/AIDS terminology, which is pretty absurd, since H = human, after all. the snap test is wrong 40% of the time, even in non-vaccinated cats; the vaccine has not been proved effective in independent tests (another fine product of Ft Dodge), and WILL cause any cat to test positive for life, even on the confirmatory test, which is the western blot. FIV cats, most of whom are male, mostly turn into, well, pussycats once neutered--and couldn't bother biting anyone hard enough to transmit the virus; when we get timid housecats in who actually DO test positive on the western blot, one of our vets says that the cat was probably bitten on the butt trying to run away. should a cat remain aggressive post-altering, filing down or removing the canines prevents them from biting deeply enough. FIVs are more prone to herpes infections and stomatitis than non-FIVs, it seems, but basically they are VERY VERY healthy: sanctuary anecdotal info (which, like with FeLV, is all there was for a long time) shows that FIVs are healthier than any other population. yes, they get sick, but they respond to treatment as well as any other cat. most FIVs die with the virus, not from it, tho, of course, other things can get them as well. MC On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Caroline Kaufmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone have any direct experience with FIV that they can pass on to me? I know the gist of course, since I foster cats and have met *and lost the battle to*- both Felv and FIP in the past year (ugh). I have heard that cats with FIV can be fairly successful- live heathly lives barely affected by the disease (is this true?), and it really is a lot like human HIV? I have also heard this is the one retroviruses that is transmitted by deep bite wounds and NOT casual contact? I am going to help a man who has taken in a alley cat that hung around his house for about 3 years that tested positive of FIV. He was clearly neutered by alley cat advocates b/c he has a tipped ear. He says it's a wonderful, approx. 5 yo tuxie. He has him in the bedroom for now (his only room with a door in his house) because his own cat is an extremely aggressive, neutered male and after 3 years of the tuxie hanging around outside, and being in the house for a while now- they can't sort out their differences and they will fight. He wishes he could keep the cat but with his cat- being such an aggressive fighter, and the tuxie being a fighter when need be (alley cat mentality)-- he just doesn't see it as possible due to transmission to his cat. The cat did get outside and got in a fight recently- ended up with an abcess on his ear- being treated by a vet, stint put in and he has a f-u next week- but it was at that appointment that the vet found the FIV and said segregate!- as they always do. I am going to work to get the cat into our adoption program as a special needs cat in the hopes that someone w/o other cats, with a non-aggressive cat, with a docile female, with other FIV cats, etc., would be willing to take him on. In the meantime, this man has agreed to continue to foster him in his home while I work to help him out with the situation. In the meantime, I want to build up my knowledge so that I have talking points for potential adoptive
Re: To Gloria: Re: Please add to the Bridge List
Thanks, Wendy - I appreciate your note. Yes, I'm doing ok - but always feel bad about losses. I took in Angel Moon locally, ten passed her on to a rescue in another state, but she came back with the rescue lady closed up her house and rescue. Angel Moon got sick and died, then Hendrix got sick and died soon after. Hendrix was FIV and had been with me for several years, and I wish I could have kept them both safer, when trying to find homes for them. Always sad to lose a dear kitty.. Thanks, Gloria At 01:10 PM 3/1/2008, you wrote: Gloria, I'm so sorry to hear about your two losses, Angel Moon and Miss Hendrix. I hope you are doing ok. :) Wendy Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has! ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ - Original Message From: Gloria Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2008 8:10:11 AM Subject: Please add to the Bridge List I've had 2 cats die in the last two months, I am so sad to say. Please add to the bridge list. They were not FELV. Angel Moon was a 5-6 year old siamese girl, died Dec 14. She was a shy, scaredy cat - would come out to ask for food and go Meow-Meow, but wouldn't have any thing to do with people for the most part. I've had her for a year or so. Miss Hendrix was probably 8-10 yrs girl, a short but quite fat black kitty, really cute, funny and likeable. She's been with me 4 years, a real sweetie, looked great. She just developed a cold or something over the last couple of days, I was treating her, and suddenly there she was - it was a real shock to lose her late last night (February 5). Will probably have a necropsy. Thanks! Gloria Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
Re: FIV
Really nice overview, MC - thanks! You included stuff I didn't know, and I'm always trying to talk -up those FIV kitties, cause mine just about never get sick. One thing I noticed too is that the manufacturer of the FIV vaccine likes to call it AIDS - they have these sensational brochures out with that written on it - probably thinking that the hysteria that it causes will get them more sales of vaccines. Downright evil - especially since their vaccine is worthless. Gloria At 02:56 PM 3/1/2008, you wrote: MaryChristine mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... FIV has NOTHING WHATSOEVER in common with HIV: FeLV is much closer in terms of how it's transmitted, it's course, and everything else. the first investigators to isolate it did so in 1987, at the height of the HIV/AIDS panic, and gave it a name that has killed far more cats than the virus ever will. the only people who liken it at all to HIV/AIDS anymore are the original researchers, who seem to have an investment in doing so, despite years of research showing them to be in error. these folks use HIV/AIDS terminology, which is pretty absurd, since H = human, after all. the snap test is wrong 40% of the time, even in non-vaccinated cats; the vaccine has not been proved effective in independent tests (another fine product of Ft Dodge), and WILL cause any cat to test positive for life, even on the confirmatory test, which is the western blot. FIV cats, most of whom are male, mostly turn into, well, pussycats once neutered--and couldn't bother biting anyone hard enough to transmit the virus; when we get timid housecats in who actually DO test positive on the western blot, one of our vets says that the cat was probably bitten on the butt trying to run away. should a cat remain aggressive post-altering, filing down or removing the canines prevents them from biting deeply enough. FIVs are more prone to herpes infections and stomatitis than non-FIVs, it seems, but basically they are VERY VERY healthy: sanctuary anecdotal info (which, like with FeLV, is all there was for a long time) shows that FIVs are healthier than any other population. yes, they get sick, but they respond to treatment as well as any other cat. most FIVs die with the virus, not from it, tho, of course, other things can get them as well. MC On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Caroline Kaufmann mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone have any direct experience with FIV that they can pass on to me? I know the gist of course, since I foster cats and have met and lost the battle to- both Felv and FIP in the past year (ugh). I have heard that cats with FIV can be fairly successful- live heathly lives barely affected by the disease (is this true?), and it really is a lot like human HIV? I have also heard this is the one retroviruses that is transmitted by deep bite wounds and NOT casual contact? I am going to help a man who has taken in a alley cat that hung around his house for about 3 years that tested positive of FIV. He was clearly neutered by alley cat advocates b/c he has a tipped ear. He says it's a wonderful, approx. 5 yo tuxie. He has him in the bedroom for now (his only room with a door in his house) because his own cat is an extremely aggressive, neutered male and after 3 years of the tuxie hanging around outside, and being in the house for a while now- they can't sort out their differences and they will fight. He wishes he could keep the cat but with his cat- being such an aggressive fighter, and the tuxie being a fighter when need be (alley cat mentality)-- he just doesn't see it as possible due to transmission to his cat. The cat did get outside and got in a fight recently- ended up with an abcess on his ear- being treated by a vet, stint put in and he has a f-u next week- but it was at that appointment that the vet found the FIV and said segregate!- as they always do. I am going to work to get the cat into our adoption program as a special needs cat in the hopes that someone w/o other cats, with a non-aggressive cat, with a docile female, with other FIV cats, etc., would be willing to take him on. In the meantime, this man has agreed to continue to foster him in his home while I work to help him out with the situation. In the meantime, I want to build up my knowledge so that I have talking points for potential adoptive parents and I can educate if someone w/o prior FIV experience is willing to take him. The man seems to understand that he could have a cat on his hands with something a lot worse (like Felv or FIP), so he's definitely not an overreactor and he seems well-educated. Any info that anyone has will be great! Especially PERSONAL EXPERIENCE and/or accurate and trustworthy websites I can read and pass on to others! thanks, Caroline -- Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give.
Anika Please add to the CLS
I will try to type this through tears.We lost beautiful feisty Anika yesterday to this terrible disease.She was a fluffy gray girl.Thursday night my boyfriend and I were at Sids and we read that she wasnt feeling good in the log book,so me and one of the other volunteers were trying to get her to come out from under a cabinet and she used to always come to me.Well I started to do my duties around there.A while later I glanced back into the room where she was and there on the couch was Anika all curled up in my boyfriends arms.I asked him if he picked her up and he said no she just ran over here and cuddled up with him.They both took a hour nap together.I had really bad feelings that night that she would be leaving us soon.So before I even opened the e-mail about her I cried,cause I knew what I was going to read. I will miss that beautiful beautiful girl. :( Sorry for rambling on,just wanted to share my last thoughts of her.She looked so sweet cuddled up with my guy. Very saddened, Sherry - Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: Anika Please add to the CLS
So sorry for this loss. So glad Anika found comfort in your boyfriends' arms her last night. Godspeed little Anika. L - Original Message - From: Sherry DeHaan To: Felvtalk Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 5:32 PM Subject: Anika Please add to the CLS I will try to type this through tears.We lost beautiful feisty Anika yesterday to this terrible disease.She was a fluffy gray girl.Thursday night my boyfriend and I were at Sids and we read that she wasnt feeling good in the log book,so me and one of the other volunteers were trying to get her to come out from under a cabinet and she used to always come to me.Well I started to do my duties around there.A while later I glanced back into the room where she was and there on the couch was Anika all curled up in my boyfriends arms.I asked him if he picked her up and he said no she just ran over here and cuddled up with him.They both took a hour nap together.I had really bad feelings that night that she would be leaving us soon.So before I even opened the e-mail about her I cried,cause I knew what I was going to read. I will miss that beautiful beautiful girl. :( Sorry for rambling on,just wanted to share my last thoughts of her.She looked so sweet cuddled up with my guy. Very saddened, Sherry -- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
RE: Anika Please add to the CLS
I'm so sorry you lost her, Sherry, but it sounds like she spend a very happy time with your man. Hugs to everyone and gentlest of Bridge vibes to Anika. She's telling everykitty there about the lovely people she knew. Diane R. _ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sherry DeHaan Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 5:32 PM To: Felvtalk Subject: Anika Please add to the CLS I will try to type this through tears.We lost beautiful feisty Anika yesterday to this terrible disease.She was a fluffy gray girl.Thursday night my boyfriend and I were at Sids and we read that she wasnt feeling good in the log book,so me and one of the other volunteers were trying to get her to come out from under a cabinet and she used to always come to me.Well I started to do my duties around there.A while later I glanced back into the room where she was and there on the couch was Anika all curled up in my boyfriends arms.I asked him if he picked her up and he said no she just ran over here and cuddled up with him.They both took a hour nap together.I had really bad feelings that night that she would be leaving us soon.So before I even opened the e-mail about her I cried,cause I knew what I was going to read. I will miss that beautiful beautiful girl. :( Sorry for rambling on,just wanted to share my last thoughts of her.She looked so sweet cuddled up with my guy. Very saddened, Sherry _ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/c ategory.php?category=shopping them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: FeLV Vaccination
A thought: Most vets are going to steer toward caution because they do not want to be blamed if a cat develops FeLV+. This is human nature and part of their ethics system. Knowing that, we can ask more questions and pin them down. The good ones who are up on FeLV will be forthcoming with answers. I have found this to be particularly true with those who accept alternative medicine even though they do not practice it themselves. Once we, not they, make the decisions the vets I know and go to are very supportive. I can really understand why they would not want the responsibility. On Mar 1, 2008, at 4:44 AM, Pat Kachur wrote: My vet says the vaccine is 90+% effective. My 6 negatives were vaccinated and all are over 5 years old. My vet and I agreed that mixing my one positve with the others had very little risk. - Original Message - From: catatonya To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 1:12 AM Subject: Re: FeLV Vaccination I would vaccinate my negatives, wait the 2-3 weeks necessary and booster them, wait 2-3 weeks more and let them mix. All this IF the other cats are over a year old. That has always been my protocol and I've never had a negative cat 'catch' the leukemia from my positive. tonya Sue Frank Koren [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Several people here have said that they have their FeLV + kitties living in with FeLV - cats, and the negative cats are not getting infected. I am trying to decide if I should vaccinate my others and let Buzz out of his room. My vet is against it and says the vaccinations are only 60 - 80% effective. The vet does not seem to be up on all that is going on with FeLV, though, and I am considering switching vets. Buzz really doesn't,t mind his room, but he is a social boy and cries when he doesn't want to be alone. I visit him as often as I can and spend at least an hour or so in the evenings in with him, but such minor details as a full time job and the rest of my human and cat family keep me away from being with him as much as he and I would like. It seems as if vaccinating the others and freeing Buzz from his prison room is the best solution, but not if any of the others end up being infected. Their ages range from 2 to 8 years. Two of them, Charlie and Tucker have other health problems and I don't know if that would put them more at risk. Anyway, has anyone ever heard of a vaccinated cat being infected?
Re: Anika Please add to the CLS
I'm so sorry, Sherry, that your beautiful girl is gone. She sounds like a really sweet and lovely kitty. Gloria On Mar 1, 2008, at 5:32 PM, Sherry DeHaan wrote: I will try to type this through tears.We lost beautiful feisty Anika yesterday to this terrible disease.She was a fluffy gray girl.Thursday night my boyfriend and I were at Sids and we read that she wasnt feeling good in the log book,so me and one of the other volunteers were trying to get her to come out from under a cabinet and she used to always come to me.Well I started to do my duties around there.A while later I glanced back into the room where she was and there on the couch was Anika all curled up in my boyfriends arms.I asked him if he picked her up and he said no she just ran over here and cuddled up with him.They both took a hour nap together.I had really bad feelings that night that she would be leaving us soon.So before I even opened the e-mail about her I cried,cause I knew what I was going to read. I will miss that beautiful beautiful girl. :( Sorry for rambling on,just wanted to share my last thoughts of her.She looked so sweet cuddled up with my guy. Very saddened, Sherry Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Re: FIV
i tried to respond rationally and politely about ft dodge, the manufacturers of both the FIV vaccine, and the equally useless vaccine against the virulent! calici! virus! that! is! taking! over! the! entire! country!--however, i am completely unable to. ft dodge is the best representation i know of re: lack of ethics in a professional setting. MC On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 5:24 PM, Gloria B. Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Really nice overview, MC - thanks! You included stuff I didn't know, and I'm always trying to talk -up those FIV kitties, cause mine just about never get sick. One thing I noticed too is that the manufacturer of the FIV vaccine likes to call it AIDS - they have these sensational brochures out with that written on it - probably thinking that the hysteria that it causes will get them more sales of vaccines. Downright evil - especially since their vaccine is worthless. Gloria At 02:56 PM 3/1/2008, you wrote: MaryChristine mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... FIV has NOTHING WHATSOEVER in common with HIV: FeLV is much closer in terms of how it's transmitted, it's course, and everything else. the first investigators to isolate it did so in 1987, at the height of the HIV/AIDS panic, and gave it a name that has killed far more cats than the virus ever will. the only people who liken it at all to HIV/AIDS anymore are the original researchers, who seem to have an investment in doing so, despite years of research showing them to be in error. these folks use HIV/AIDS terminology, which is pretty absurd, since H = human, after all. the snap test is wrong 40% of the time, even in non-vaccinated cats; the vaccine has not been proved effective in independent tests (another fine product of Ft Dodge), and WILL cause any cat to test positive for life, even on the confirmatory test, which is the western blot. FIV cats, most of whom are male, mostly turn into, well, pussycats once neutered--and couldn't bother biting anyone hard enough to transmit the virus; when we get timid housecats in who actually DO test positive on the western blot, one of our vets says that the cat was probably bitten on the butt trying to run away. should a cat remain aggressive post-altering, filing down or removing the canines prevents them from biting deeply enough. FIVs are more prone to herpes infections and stomatitis than non-FIVs, it seems, but basically they are VERY VERY healthy: sanctuary anecdotal info (which, like with FeLV, is all there was for a long time) shows that FIVs are healthier than any other population. yes, they get sick, but they respond to treatment as well as any other cat. most FIVs die with the virus, not from it, tho, of course, other things can get them as well. MC On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Caroline Kaufmann mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone have any direct experience with FIV that they can pass on to me? I know the gist of course, since I foster cats and have met and lost the battle to- both Felv and FIP in the past year (ugh). I have heard that cats with FIV can be fairly successful- live heathly lives barely affected by the disease (is this true?), and it really is a lot like human HIV? I have also heard this is the one retroviruses that is transmitted by deep bite wounds and NOT casual contact? I am going to help a man who has taken in a alley cat that hung around his house for about 3 years that tested positive of FIV. He was clearly neutered by alley cat advocates b/c he has a tipped ear. He says it's a wonderful, approx. 5 yo tuxie. He has him in the bedroom for now (his only room with a door in his house) because his own cat is an extremely aggressive, neutered male and after 3 years of the tuxie hanging around outside, and being in the house for a while now- they can't sort out their differences and they will fight. He wishes he could keep the cat but with his cat- being such an aggressive fighter, and the tuxie being a fighter when need be (alley cat mentality)-- he just doesn't see it as possible due to transmission to his cat. The cat did get outside and got in a fight recently- ended up with an abcess on his ear- being treated by a vet, stint put in and he has a f-u next week- but it was at that appointment that the vet found the FIV and said segregate!- as they always do. I am going to work to get the cat into our adoption program as a special needs cat in the hopes that someone w/o other cats, with a non-aggressive cat, with a docile female, with other FIV cats, etc., would be willing to take him on. In the meantime, this man has agreed to continue to foster him in his home while I work to help him out with the situation. In the meantime, I want to build up my knowledge so that I have talking points for potential adoptive parents and I can educate if someone w/o prior FIV experience is willing to take him. The man
Re: FeLV Vaccination
there's a HUGE difference between being cautious, and chosing ignorance. using statistics that are as outdated as 60% efficacy for the vaccine isn't caution, it's bordering on malpractice. no, none of the vet schools, or the veterinary associations, are gonna say, sure, go ahead and mix them! until there's solid, hard evidence--which has been impossible when the treatment of choice has been euthanasia. i understand that position--vets ignoring the current knowledge base, the research done by the vet schools and the professional associations, and the merck manual, in favor of stuff that wasn't standard practice even years ago isn't caution. my vet, who is NOT a young man, was taught quite awhile ago not to make a decision re: FeLV based on a single positive test: the information has been out there, and so much has been learned in the past six years that i know of that there is truly no excuse for vets to be further behind in their knowledge than a batch of folks on an internet list who are NOT scientists. i don't expect any vet to know everything about anything--that's an absurd thing to require. but when faced with a situation, to not even find out what the current standard is, is no more acceptable. i came into this FeLV thing late--i have nothing but the utmost respect and awe for those folks on this list who, when it was much harder to do so, said, NO! you cannot kill my cat just because it has a virus, and either worked with their vet to find options, or went out on their own to get the information. without them, all of our lives would have a lot less love (and fur) in them. On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 10:47 PM, Marylyn [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A thought: Most vets are going to steer toward caution because they do not want to be blamed if a cat develops FeLV+. This is human nature and part of their ethics system. Knowing that, we can ask more questions and pin them down. The good ones who are up on FeLV will be forthcoming with answers. I have found this to be particularly true with those who accept alternative medicine even though they do not practice it themselves. Once we, not they, make the decisions the vets I know and go to are very supportive. I can really understand why they would not want the responsibility. On Mar 1, 2008, at 4:44 AM, Pat Kachur wrote: My vet says the vaccine is 90+% effective. My 6 negatives were vaccinated and all are over 5 years old. My vet and I agreed that mixing my one positve with the others had very little risk. - Original Message - *From:* catatonya [EMAIL PROTECTED] *To:* felvtalk@felineleukemia.org *Sent:* Saturday, March 01, 2008 1:12 AM *Subject:* Re: FeLV Vaccination I would vaccinate my negatives, wait the 2-3 weeks necessary and booster them, wait 2-3 weeks more and let them mix. All this IF the other cats are over a year old. That has always been my protocol and I've never had a negative cat 'catch' the leukemia from my positive. tonya *Sue Frank Koren [EMAIL PROTECTED]* wrote: Several people here have said that they have their FeLV + kitties living in with FeLV - cats, and the negative cats are not getting infected. I am trying to decide if I should vaccinate my others and let Buzz out of his room. My vet is against it and says the vaccinations are only 60 - 80% effective. The vet does not seem to be up on all that is going on with FeLV, though, and I am considering switching vets. Buzz really doesn't,t mind his room, but he is a social boy and cries when he doesn't want to be alone. I visit him as often as I can and spend at least an hour or so in the evenings in with him, but such minor details as a full time job and the rest of my human and cat family keep me away from being with him as much as he and I would like. It seems as if vaccinating the others and freeing Buzz from his prison room is the best solution, but not if any of the others end up being infected. Their ages range from 2 to 8 years. Two of them, Charlie and Tucker have other health problems and I don't know if that would put them more at risk. Anyway, has anyone ever heard of a vaccinated cat being infected? -- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference MaryChristine AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 289856892
