Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
Thank you, Christine. So far Baby has been only in the studio, completely isolated, when she visits us. It never occurred to me to do otherwise, not only because of felv but to avoid other contagious illnesses as well. It typically takes us months to merge new cats into our setting. We go very slowly to avoid stress-related illnesses and spraying. So merging Baby in with ours for just a stay of a week or two would not be worth the tumult in the whole household. It’s a luxury to be able to keep her separate and I’m grateful that I can. If I used the studio (which I don’t do when she’s here) I’d have to move her to another room because the equipment in the studio is dangerous for cats. And I agree with your approach to the kitten. Sometimes circumstances are such that they are better off together. If I had two who were very attached to each other, and one turned up positive, I would not separate them. I have a similar dilemma with our FIV kitty Cyril. He has a buddy, Micky, who is totally in love with Cyril. But Cyril had several birth defects (*) in addition to FIV, and has only one eye left. Micky plays very roughly, and I’m afraid Cyril will lose that eye to an injury. So I only allow them together when I can supervise them, and not because of the FIV. I make sure Micky gets plenty of other exercise first. I expect Micky will outgrow the roughness; he’s only 3.5 years old. * A constellation of 7 birth defects can occur together in cats, including eye defects, multiple cardio problems, undescended testes, kinked tail, and some limb abnormalities. Cyril got the eyes and the testes. But golly, he sure is cute! - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Christine Dundas Sent: Friday, February 22, 2019 3:11 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? My advice would be to keep FeLv and non-FeLv cats separated. If you choose not to, you have to understand there is a chance the non-FeLv cats could get infected. Having said that, when my husband brought home a kitten that tested positive for FeLV, I had to make that choice. We live in a small condo with two other cats. We decided to keep her as long as she could be with us. I had my two other cats vaccinated for FeLV. They were adult cats, healthy in every way. There was no way I could keep everything and everyone separated. Our little Ruthie passed away after almost two years. My two adult cats tested negative afterwards, a few times. And are still healthy and happy. That was about four years ago. Christine On Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 2:46 PM Amani Oakley wrote: I had my Zander for seven years, mixed with a dozen other cats. I never took any precautions at all. It was too late by the time we figured out he had FeLV. No other cat ever got the infection. Amani From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Lorraine Johnston Sent: February-22-19 2:04 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? Thank you. I guess I should have phrased my question to indicate that I was concerned about spreading FeLV to my non-FeLV cats. If I understand correctly, your cats are, or were, all FeLV-positive, so there would not have been any non-FeLV cats to spread it to? I told my cousin back in December that I would also keep Baby in April when he goes way again. So now I’m trying to determine if that’s safe to do, and what additional precautions (if any) I should take while she’s here to avoid spread, now that we know she’s FeLV-positive. Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing From: FeLVtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of dlg...@windstream.net I have only had FELV cats but never washed my hands after handling them. I treated all the same and have had no experience of the disease spreading to others. I have had up to 10 at a time as all who came to my house became part of my "pride". As they came to me, I took them to the vet for a checkup, spay or neuter and they became mine. - Original Message - Hello again, For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do you have your negative cats retested every year? Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mail
Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
My advice would be to keep FeLv and non-FeLv cats separated. If you choose not to, you have to understand there is a chance the non-FeLv cats could get infected. Having said that, when my husband brought home a kitten that tested positive for FeLV, I had to make that choice. We live in a small condo with two other cats. We decided to keep her as long as she could be with us. I had my two other cats vaccinated for FeLV. They were adult cats, healthy in every way. There was no way I could keep everything and everyone separated. Our little Ruthie passed away after almost two years. My two adult cats tested negative afterwards, a few times. And are still healthy and happy. That was about four years ago. Christine On Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 2:46 PM Amani Oakley wrote: > I had my Zander for seven years, mixed with a dozen other cats. I never > took any precautions at all. It was too late by the time we figured out he > had FeLV. No other cat ever got the infection. > > > > Amani > > > > *From:* Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] *On Behalf > Of *Lorraine Johnston > *Sent:* February-22-19 2:04 PM > *To:* felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > *Subject:* Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? > > > > Thank you. I guess I should have phrased my question to indicate that I > was concerned about spreading FeLV to my non-FeLV cats. If I understand > correctly, your cats are, or were, all FeLV-positive, so there would not > have been any non-FeLV cats to spread it to? > > > > I told my cousin back in December that I would also keep Baby in April > when he goes way again. So now I’m trying to determine if that’s safe to > do, and what additional precautions (if any) I should take while she’s here > to avoid spread, now that we know she’s FeLV-positive. > > > > Thank you, > > > > - Lorraine > > > > "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the > things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing > > > > *From:* FeLVtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] *On Behalf > Of *dlg...@windstream.net > > I have only had FELV cats but never washed my hands after handling them. > I treated all the same and have had no experience of the disease spreading > to others. I have had up to 10 at a time as all who came to my house > became part of my "pride". As they came to me, I took them to the vet for > a checkup, spay or neuter and they became mine. > > > > - Original Message - > > Hello again, > > For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your > cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do > you have your negative cats retested every year? > > Thank you, > > - Lorraine > > "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the > things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing > ___ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
Hello, Maribel, Thank you for this very specific information. It’s quite helpful, and just what I needed to know. Baby, when she stays here, is in my studio, which has a heavy sliding-glass door between Felix and Cuddles who are both vaccinated against FeLV. The other four cats are much farther away, with no doors in common with Baby. Of those four, three are also vaccinated against FeLV, except for Cyril, who is FIV-positive. We might vaccinate Cyril with the Merck killed vaccine this March if his blood antibody titers indicate that’s he doesn’t need any of the core vaccinations boosted, and if his other health parameters indicate that he could mount an immune response to the vaccine. I won’t vaccinate Cyril with the more common recombinant canarypox live/attenuated FeLV vaccines because he had a horrible reaction to the live/attenuated Chlamydia component in the FVRCPC vaccine. Never again! Going forward we will check antibody titers first, and skip specific vaccinations if their titers are adequate. We have three cat-fenced pens (PurrFect Fence). Baby has controlled access to one, but so far is only lukewarm re going outside. If I let her out, I plan to leave an hour or so afterward before letting Cyril into the same pen -- or better yet, while she’s staying here, he can use one of the other two. Baby is only here with us 1x or 2x per year. Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Maribel Piloto Sent: Friday, February 22, 2019 2:32 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? Keep the Leuk+ guys in a separate room with their own litter box and their own scooper. Do not mix food or water and put any towels, beds, toys they use through the washing machine before using it for other cats. Washing hands all the time is not something that I normally do EXCEPT be careful about not getting any of their fluids on you (blood, urine, saliva, poop, eye/nose discharge) and then potentially getting that on your non-Leuk guys. Also - if you're keeping your Leuk guys in a separate room, make sure to block the bottom of the door so the cats can't put their paws through or smell one another and possibly sneeze on each other. You can get a piece of wood the length of the door and about 2 ft high and prop it up there with something heavy like one of those big litter pales or better yet - install some screws or other hardware on the wood around the door so you can just slide the wood in or out as you need to. Whatever you use make sure the cats can't move it because cats are very curious and they will try to move it or get through in order to see what's going on on the other side. If you regularly are going to have Leuk guys in your home either by pet sitting or rescuing them, I would get your non-Leuk guys vaccinated just as extra protection. Maribel - Original Message - From: Lorraine Johnston To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:10:16 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? Hello again, For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do you have your negative cats retested every year? Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
I had my Zander for seven years, mixed with a dozen other cats. I never took any precautions at all. It was too late by the time we figured out he had FeLV. No other cat ever got the infection. Amani From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Lorraine Johnston Sent: February-22-19 2:04 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? Thank you. I guess I should have phrased my question to indicate that I was concerned about spreading FeLV to my non-FeLV cats. If I understand correctly, your cats are, or were, all FeLV-positive, so there would not have been any non-FeLV cats to spread it to? I told my cousin back in December that I would also keep Baby in April when he goes way again. So now I’m trying to determine if that’s safe to do, and what additional precautions (if any) I should take while she’s here to avoid spread, now that we know she’s FeLV-positive. Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing From: FeLVtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of dlg...@windstream.net I have only had FELV cats but never washed my hands after handling them. I treated all the same and have had no experience of the disease spreading to others. I have had up to 10 at a time as all who came to my house became part of my "pride". As they came to me, I took them to the vet for a checkup, spay or neuter and they became mine. - Original Message - Hello again, For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do you have your negative cats retested every year? Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
Keep the Leuk+ guys in a separate room with their own litter box and their own scooper. Do not mix food or water and put any towels, beds, toys they use through the washing machine before using it for other cats. Washing hands all the time is not something that I normally do EXCEPT be careful about not getting any of their fluids on you (blood, urine, saliva, poop, eye/nose discharge) and then potentially getting that on your non-Leuk guys. Also - if you're keeping your Leuk guys in a separate room, make sure to block the bottom of the door so the cats can't put their paws through or smell one another and possibly sneeze on each other. You can get a piece of wood the length of the door and about 2 ft high and prop it up there with something heavy like one of those big litter pales or better yet - install some screws or other hardware on the wood around the door so you can just slide the wood in or out as you need to. Whatever you use make sure the cats can't move it because cats are very curious and they will try to move it or get through in order to see what's going on on the other side. If you regularly are going to have Leuk guys in your home either by pet sitting or rescuing them, I would get your non-Leuk guys vaccinated just as extra protection. Maribel - Original Message - From: Lorraine Johnston To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:10:16 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? Hello again, For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do you have your negative cats retested every year? Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
Thank you. I guess I should have phrased my question to indicate that I was concerned about spreading FeLV to my non-FeLV cats. If I understand correctly, your cats are, or were, all FeLV-positive, so there would not have been any non-FeLV cats to spread it to? I told my cousin back in December that I would also keep Baby in April when he goes way again. So now I’m trying to determine if that’s safe to do, and what additional precautions (if any) I should take while she’s here to avoid spread, now that we know she’s FeLV-positive. Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing From: FeLVtalk [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of dlg...@windstream.net I have only had FELV cats but never washed my hands after handling them. I treated all the same and have had no experience of the disease spreading to others. I have had up to 10 at a time as all who came to my house became part of my "pride". As they came to me, I took them to the vet for a checkup, spay or neuter and they became mine. - Original Message - Hello again, For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do you have your negative cats retested every year? Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
I have only had FELV cats but never washed my hands after handling them. I treated all the same and have had no experience of the disease spreading to others. I have had up to 10 at a time as all who came to my house became part of my "pride". As they came to me, I took them to the vet for a checkup, spay or neuter and they became mine. - Original Message - From: Lorraine Johnston To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:10:16 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting? Hello again, For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do you have your negative cats retested every year? Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] Cleaning? Retesting?
Hello again, For those of you who have both FELV+ and - cats, how strenuous are your cleaning efforts? For instance, do you wash hands after just petting? Do you have your negative cats retested every year? Thank you, - Lorraine "Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine." - Alan Turing ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
