[Felvtalk] the more i find out the more confused i become
i am new here. too many archives for me to read. just trying to read the ones that the topic caught my interest eventually overwhelmed me. my heart goes out to all of you who have had losses here. somewhere on the internet (i've been checkiong a lot of links about leukemia and taking notes) i read that there are 4 different possible reactions a cat will have form FELV exposure... immunity, infection,latency or immune carrier from my understanding, an ifa will detect infection and a pcr test will detect latency. do any of these or other tests detect immunity or immune carrier? how do you know if a cat has lymphoma? can you actually feel the enlarged glands on them? how do you know if a cat's bone marrow has been compromised? will this show up in bloodwork as a high or low count white blood cells? shouldn't a vet want to request you to make a future appointment if you bring in a cat with a urinary tract infection (complete blockage i was told) and the bloodwork comes back with a positive felv? or is sending the cat home with -oh my, i just checked the medicine to get the name of it, i thought it was for his uti but now i think it actually is for the felv. its baytril. .3ml a day. i guess i will have to find out if i am suppose to have them refill it when i run out. (you would think they would have told me. or else i just didn't hear it because i was still in complete disbelief and shock.) i have a lot more questions but don't have the time to think about what else i don't know. too many questions and when i google links and read info on one question, i end up with two more questions plus i get side tracked easily and end up on other links that are related to felv but not to what i was looking for and those usually leave me with even more questions. at least through what i did read in your archives, it doesn't seem all that uncommon for a cat that is strictly indoors (muilti cat home - 4 cats all indoors 24/7) to end up with felv even though all of them have previously tested negative or else their mother did when i got them as a kitten. although i appreciate your site and mailing, i wish i never had a reason to know it even existed. but i am sure most all, if not everyone, can say the same thing. p.s. if you are wondering why i am asking here instead of my vet... first of all i called my vet around noon and told them my cat had a urinary tract infection and wanted to get him seen before i have to leave for work which is 3:30. they told me they do surgeries during that time and to bring him in the following morning. there areat least two vets if not still three that work there. you would think one of them could see urgent patients during that time. so i called another vet clinic. that is where i took the cat. the vet who i spoke with when i brought the cat in was ok. i requested to see a vet when i picked the cat up several days later and that vet gave me the impression that she had other things more important to do than to talk to me and so i forgot what all i wanted to ask and decided perhaps the one and a half minute of her time i had already taken was more than she wanted to give so i gave up and left. if i make another appointment i will make sure that they give me the vet i saw the first time. however, i may look around for another vet. one other question... what good is a felv vaccine if it doesn't protect the cat against the disease? the way i see it, either it protects or it doesn't and apparently it doesn't or else there wouldn't be an issue as to felv+ cats being around vaccined felv- cats at rescues, sanctuaries or in the home. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] the more i find out the more confused i become
Wow! Is this my friend Twisted Princess or is there another Twisted Princess out there? If you are my friend I will answer your email shortly:) As far as your questions, I don't know the answers to all of them, but I can tell you that the FELV vaccine does protect against the virus but no vaccine is 100% effective just as in humans. If you don't feel your vet is 100% behind you get another vet. How an indoor cat can test positive: had your cat been tested and been negative before? If so I would not rule out the possibility it was a bad test (problem with the chemical or human error) . This has actually happened to me and it is scary. Recommendation is to get your baby retested and TRY not to freak out, I know it is hard, I was sooo scared when my kitten tested positive. But it was a false positive. Baytril is not for FELV. It is an antibiotic commonly used in treating urinary tract infections. There are treatment protocols on this site but it is very unlikely your vet has heard of them, unless he is a cat expert or FELV expert, and it does not sound like that is the case. I'm not experienced with lymphoma so I will let someone else take that subject. Blessings, Kelley On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 2:31 PM, Twisted Princess twistedprinces...@yahoo.com wrote: i am new here. too many archives for me to read. just trying to read the ones that the topic caught my interest eventually overwhelmed me. my heart goes out to all of you who have had losses here. somewhere on the internet (i've been checkiong a lot of links about leukemia and taking notes) i read that there are 4 different possible reactions a cat will have form FELV exposure... immunity, infection,latency or immune carrier from my understanding, an ifa will detect infection and a pcr test will detect latency. do any of these or other tests detect immunity or immune carrier? how do you know if a cat has lymphoma? can you actually feel the enlarged glands on them? how do you know if a cat's bone marrow has been compromised? will this show up in bloodwork as a high or low count white blood cells? shouldn't a vet want to request you to make a future appointment if you bring in a cat with a urinary tract infection (complete blockage i was told) and the bloodwork comes back with a positive felv? or is sending the cat home with -oh my, i just checked the medicine to get the name of it, i thought it was for his uti but now i think it actually is for the felv. its baytril. .3ml a day. i guess i will have to find out if i am suppose to have them refill it when i run out. (you would think they would have told me. or else i just didn't hear it because i was still in complete disbelief and shock.) i have a lot more questions but don't have the time to think about what else i don't know. too many questions and when i google links and read info on one question, i end up with two more questions plus i get side tracked easily and end up on other links that are related to felv but not to what i was looking for and those usually leave me with even more questions. at least through what i did read in your archives, it doesn't seem all that uncommon for a cat that is strictly indoors (muilti cat home - 4 cats all indoors 24/7) to end up with felv even though all of them have previously tested negative or else their mother did when i got them as a kitten. although i appreciate your site and mailing, i wish i never had a reason to know it even existed. but i am sure most all, if not everyone, can say the same thing. p.s. if you are wondering why i am asking here instead of my vet... first of all i called my vet around noon and told them my cat had a urinary tract infection and wanted to get him seen before i have to leave for work which is 3:30. they told me they do surgeries during that time and to bring him in the following morning. there areat least two vets if not still three that work there. you would think one of them could see urgent patients during that time. so i called another vet clinic. that is where i took the cat. the vet who i spoke with when i brought the cat in was ok. i requested to see a vet when i picked the cat up several days later and that vet gave me the impression that she had other things more important to do than to talk to me and so i forgot what all i wanted to ask and decided perhaps the one and a half minute of her time i had already taken was more than she wanted to give so i gave up and left. if i make another appointment i will make sure that they give me the vet i saw the first time. however, i may look around for another vet. one other question... what good is a felv vaccine if it doesn't protect the cat against the disease? the way i see it, either it protects or it doesn't and apparently it doesn't or else there wouldn't be an issue as to felv+ cats being around vaccined felv- cats at rescues, sanctuaries or in the home.
Re: [Felvtalk] the more i find out the more confused i become
You've asked a lot of questions. Very common when you 1st get the news. Time to step back and take a deep breath. I don't know why you cat now tests positive. There is always the chance that the test was in error. 1st treat the UTI. Baytril is an abx for the UTI. Common Rx is for 10 days to 2 weeks. Give the entire amount prescribed by the vet. Find a vet who will communicate with you, who is willing to be a partner in developing a treatment plan for your cat. I've encountered similar problems with vets writing off my positive cats. They feel they cat has a death warrant so why spend money treating them. I've lost 4 babies before they were 1 yr old. I've lost one rescue who was about 2. I currently have 3 rescues who are almost 3 and one kitten. Max, who is 7 months. In addition to the FeLV Max has developed wet FIP. I know I'll only have him a short period of time. I vaccinate my negatives and mix my cats. Some keep theirs separated. It is a personal preference. There is no right or wrong when loving and caring for a positive kitty. The key is to love them. feed them the best food you can, and keep their stress level as low as possible. Slow down. Do your research. You kitty isn't going to die today or tomorrow from FeLV. Love him, care for him and treasure each day you have together. Sharyl --- On Fri, 3/26/10, Twisted Princess twistedprinces...@yahoo.com wrote: From: Twisted Princess twistedprinces...@yahoo.com Subject: [Felvtalk] the more i find out the more confused i become To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Date: Friday, March 26, 2010, 3:31 PM i am new here. too many archives for me to read. just trying to read the ones that the topic caught my interest eventually overwhelmed me. my heart goes out to all of you who have had losses here. somewhere on the internet (i've been checkiong a lot of links about leukemia and taking notes) i read that there are 4 different possible reactions a cat will have form FELV exposure... immunity, infection,latency or immune carrier from my understanding, an ifa will detect infection and a pcr test will detect latency. do any of these or other tests detect immunity or immune carrier? how do you know if a cat has lymphoma? can you actually feel the enlarged glands on them? how do you know if a cat's bone marrow has been compromised? will this show up in bloodwork as a high or low count white blood cells? shouldn't a vet want to request you to make a future appointment if you bring in a cat with a urinary tract infection (complete blockage i was told) and the bloodwork comes back with a positive felv? or is sending the cat home with -oh my, i just checked the medicine to get the name of it, i thought it was for his uti but now i think it actually is for the felv. its baytril. .3ml a day. i guess i will have to find out if i am suppose to have them refill it when i run out. (you would think they would have told me. or else i just didn't hear it because i was still in complete disbelief and shock.) i have a lot more questions but don't have the time to think about what else i don't know. too many questions and when i google links and read info on one question, i end up with two more questions plus i get side tracked easily and end up on other links that are related to felv but not to what i was looking for and those usually leave me with even more questions. at least through what i did read in your archives, it doesn't seem all that uncommon for a cat that is strictly indoors (muilti cat home - 4 cats all indoors 24/7) to end up with felv even though all of them have previously tested negative or else their mother did when i got them as a kitten. although i appreciate your site and mailing, i wish i never had a reason to know it even existed. but i am sure most all, if not everyone, can say the same thing. p.s. if you are wondering why i am asking here instead of my vet... first of all i called my vet around noon and told them my cat had a urinary tract infection and wanted to get him seen before i have to leave for work which is 3:30. they told me they do surgeries during that time and to bring him in the following morning. there areat least two vets if not still three that work there. you would think one of them could see urgent patients during that time. so i called another vet clinic. that is where i took the cat. the vet who i spoke with when i brought the cat in was ok. i requested to see a vet when i picked the cat up several days later and that vet gave me the impression that she had other things more important to do than to talk to me and so i forgot what all i wanted to ask and decided perhaps the one and a half minute of her time i had already taken was more than she wanted to give so i gave up and left. if i make another appointment i will make sure that they give me the vet i saw the first time. however, i may look around for another vet
