Re: [Felvtalk] mixing FeLV pos and neg
On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 3:23 PM, MaryChristine twelvehousec...@gmail.comwrote: i'll look it up in the morning, but i've NEVER seen a figure higher than about 6%--incidence of FIV is very low too. it's VERY misleading when they keep saying that FIV and FeLV are the most common fatal viruses affecting cats. most common is just not the same thing as common... or widespread! On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 12:06 PM, Gloria B. Lane gbl...@aristotle.netwrote: MC what is the incidence of FELV, do you have any info on that? Gloria -- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference MaryChristine Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org) Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] mixing FeLV pos and neg
Thanks for your post Carmen. It was very comforting. Vets are entirely too quick to suggest euthanasia for FelV pos. cats. This fall I adopted out a FelV pos kitten to a wonderful couple who also had two other cats, not positive for FelV. The first vet at their cinic told them not to take the kitten, so they brought him back to me with tears in their eyes. Then two weeks later they returned to get the kitten, because the other vet in that clinic they go to told them to get their neg. cats vaccinated, and go ahead and bring home the kitten, as it wasn't that contagious. I just visited them yesterday and their positive kitten looks wonderful. He is healthy and happy and has a super good home with them. I can thank this second vet who was so much better informed than his partner was. Lorrie On 02-21, Carmen Conklin wrote: I am writing in response to Lauries note about Isabella. I have had several negative FeLV cats that have been mixed with the FeLV positives over the years and NONE of them ever acquired a positive status to the FeLV. It is definitely NOT an airborne disease in any way and it takes a very prolonged exposure for any negative cats to even possibly acquire the FeLV UNLESS they are bitten and direct blood is passed. Most adult cats are simply immune to FeLV and IF exposed at all, simply shed it off-they do not test postive even if living with those kitties. We have worked with hundreds of FeLV kitties over the last 25 years, and the non positives who lived with even the sympomatic positives did not become positive in their long lifetimes. One recently died of old age-not FeLV. Anyway, most people and some vets still have a pretty healthy fear of FeLV, but for those of us who have worked with these wonderful kitties for awhile and have them for companion animals, experience is a great calmer of all fears of FeLV positives. Carmen ___ 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] mixing FeLV pos and neg
lorrie, thanks for this post. sometimes it may seem as if i'm anti-vet, when i most decidedly am NOT. i am against vets not keeping up with the research when presented with a positive test result. i know that it's totally unrealistic for every vet to be up-to-date on every species' problems, and considering how low the incidence of FeLV actually is, i'm not that surprised when a vet doesn't know for sure what the state-of-the-art is. HOWEVER, when they don't go and look it up, or ask colleagues, and just go for the easy out or spout information that was probably NEVER considered accurate, well, those are the vets i want to go after. back in 2000, when my cats were all inadvertently exposed, i had JUST learned that FeLV wasn't airborne, and that having an infected cat breathe through a screen at my cats wouldn't infect them. it wasn't til a few months later when i was looking to adopt a paralyzed kitty from a vet that i learned that if she vaccinated him with the full series, he'd be fine, even if mine DID come down with the infection later on! i didn't know at that time how incredibly lucky i was to have found such a vet. i'm SO glad to hear stories about the vets who care to find out the answers. please go to www.adopt.bemikitties.com and post this vet's info for all--hopefully, someday, we'll have a full database for whenever anyone gets that first, scary diagnosis.. (i'm moving to a new city, and planning on holding interviews while determining who my vet there will be!) MC On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Lorrie felineres...@kvinet.com wrote: Thanks for your post Carmen. It was very comforting. Vets are entirely too quick to suggest euthanasia for FelV pos. cats. This fall I adopted out a FelV pos kitten to a wonderful couple who also had two other cats, not positive for FelV. The first vet at their cinic told them not to take the kitten, so they brought him back to me with tears in their eyes. Then two weeks later they returned to get the kitten, because the other vet in that clinic they go to told them to get their neg. cats vaccinated, and go ahead and bring home the kitten, as it wasn't that contagious. I just visited them yesterday and their positive kitten looks wonderful. He is healthy and happy and has a super good home with them. I can thank this second vet who was so much better informed than his partner was. Lorrie On 02-21, Carmen Conklin wrote: I am writing in response to Lauries note about Isabella. I have had several negative FeLV cats that have been mixed with the FeLV positives over the years and NONE of them ever acquired a positive status to the FeLV. It is definitely NOT an airborne disease in any way and it takes a very prolonged exposure for any negative cats to even possibly acquire the FeLV UNLESS they are bitten and direct blood is passed. Most adult cats are simply immune to FeLV and IF exposed at all, simply shed it off-they do not test postive even if living with those kitties. We have worked with hundreds of FeLV kitties over the last 25 years, and the non positives who lived with even the sympomatic positives did not become positive in their long lifetimes. One recently died of old age-not FeLV. Anyway, most people and some vets still have a pretty healthy fear of FeLV, but for those of us who have worked with these wonderful kitties for awhile and have them for companion animals, experience is a great calmer of all fears of FeLV positives. Carmen ___ 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 -- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference MaryChristine Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org) Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] mixing FeLV pos and neg
MC what is the incidence of FELV, do you have any info on that? Gloria On Feb 23, 2009, at 10:41 AM, MaryChristine wrote: lorrie, thanks for this post. sometimes it may seem as if i'm anti-vet, when i most decidedly am NOT. i am against vets not keeping up with the research when presented with a positive test result. i know that it's totally unrealistic for every vet to be up-to-date on every species' problems, and considering how low the incidence of FeLV actually is, i'm not that surprised when a vet doesn't know for sure what the state-of-the-art is. HOWEVER, when they don't go and look it up, or ask colleagues, and just go for the easy out or spout information that was probably NEVER considered accurate, well, those are the vets i want to go after. back in 2000, when my cats were all inadvertently exposed, i had JUST learned that FeLV wasn't airborne, and that having an infected cat breathe through a screen at my cats wouldn't infect them. it wasn't til a few months later when i was looking to adopt a paralyzed kitty from a vet that i learned that if she vaccinated him with the full series, he'd be fine, even if mine DID come down with the infection later on! i didn't know at that time how incredibly lucky i was to have found such a vet. i'm SO glad to hear stories about the vets who care to find out the answers. please go to www.adopt.bemikitties.com and post this vet's info for all--hopefully, someday, we'll have a full database for whenever anyone gets that first, scary diagnosis.. (i'm moving to a new city, and planning on holding interviews while determining who my vet there will be!) MC On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Lorrie felineres...@kvinet.com wrote: Thanks for your post Carmen. It was very comforting. Vets are entirely too quick to suggest euthanasia for FelV pos. cats. This fall I adopted out a FelV pos kitten to a wonderful couple who also had two other cats, not positive for FelV. The first vet at their cinic told them not to take the kitten, so they brought him back to me with tears in their eyes. Then two weeks later they returned to get the kitten, because the other vet in that clinic they go to told them to get their neg. cats vaccinated, and go ahead and bring home the kitten, as it wasn't that contagious. I just visited them yesterday and their positive kitten looks wonderful. He is healthy and happy and has a super good home with them. I can thank this second vet who was so much better informed than his partner was. Lorrie On 02-21, Carmen Conklin wrote: I am writing in response to Lauries note about Isabella. I have had several negative FeLV cats that have been mixed with the FeLV positives over the years and NONE of them ever acquired a positive status to the FeLV. It is definitely NOT an airborne disease in any way and it takes a very prolonged exposure for any negative cats to even possibly acquire the FeLV UNLESS they are bitten and direct blood is passed. Most adult cats are simply immune to FeLV and IF exposed at all, simply shed it off-they do not test postive even if living with those kitties. We have worked with hundreds of FeLV kitties over the last 25 years, and the non positives who lived with even the sympomatic positives did not become positive in their long lifetimes. One recently died of old age-not FeLV. Anyway, most people and some vets still have a pretty healthy fear of FeLV, but for those of us who have worked with these wonderful kitties for awhile and have them for companion animals, experience is a great calmer of all fears of FeLV positives. Carmen ___ 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 -- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference MaryChristine Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org ) Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) ___ 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] mixing FeLV pos and neg
Hey MC, where are you moving to? -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... http://bemikitties.com http://BelindaSauro.com ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] mixing FeLV pos and neg
I am writing in response to Lauries note about Isabella. I have had several negative FeLV cats that have been mixed with the FeLV positives over the years and NONE of them ever acquired a positive status to the FeLV. It is definitely NOT an airborne disease in any way and it takes a very prolonged exposure for any negative cats to even possibly acquire the FeLV UNLESS they are bitten and direct blood is passed. Most adult cats are simply immune to FeLV and IF exposed at all, simply shed it off-they do not test postive even if living with those kitties. We have worked with hundreds of FeLV kitties over the last 25 years, and the non positives who lived with even the sympomatic positives did not become positive in their long lifetimes. One recently died of old age-not FeLV. Anyway, most people and some vets still have a pretty healthy fear of FeLV, but for those of us who have worked with these wonderful kitties for awhile and have them for companion animals, experience is a great calmer of all fears of FeLV positives. Carmen ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] mixing FeLV pos and neg
thanks, carmen. you're much gentler than i in your evaluation of veterinary attitudes, and the damage they do. the more i find of old literature that says what we already know--bout it being bodily-fluids, not air, requiring close consistent contact, how many exposed cats either never become positive or throw the virus off (70%, in the merck veterinary manual), and how many positive kitties live quite happily with negatives, the more unhappy i become with the professionals who have chosen not to follow the literature. the need to retest, and NOT to make life-and-death decisions was taught in at least some vet schools as much as 20 years ago, and the STRONG RECOMMENDATION to retest has been in the professional lit since the early 2000s at least... additionally, there are still no documented cases that i have ever found of a vaccinated truly negative cat (tested negative on both the ELISSA and IFA, at an appropriate interval to rule out exposure) who has ever turned positive from LIVING WITH (as opposed to just visiting or passing in the night) a true positive (also tested more than once.) even at its highest incidence, FeLV only appears in less than 10% of the population natively--if it were as contagious as we are STILL being led to believe, there would be no feral colonies. think about it.. MC On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Carmen Conklin cwshel...@wildblue.netwrote: I am writing in response to Lauries note about Isabella. I have had several negative FeLV cats that have been mixed with the FeLV positives over the years and NONE of them ever acquired a positive status to the FeLV. It is definitely NOT an airborne disease in any way and it takes a very prolonged exposure for any negative cats to even possibly acquire the FeLV UNLESS they are bitten and direct blood is passed. Most adult cats are simply immune to FeLV and IF exposed at all, simply shed it off-they do not test postive even if living with those kitties. We have worked with hundreds of FeLV kitties over the last 25 years, and the non positives who lived with even the sympomatic positives did not become positive in their long lifetimes. One recently died of old age-not FeLV. Anyway, most people and some vets still have a pretty healthy fear of FeLV, but for those of us who have worked with these wonderful kitties for awhile and have them for companion animals, experience is a great calmer of all fears of FeLV positives. Carmen ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org -- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference MaryChristine Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org) Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] mixing FeLV pos and neg
Mary Christine, I believe, plain and simple that vets realize the huge number of homeless cats, in shelters, in foster and just running wild and simply look at positive or even ill cats as something that should be irradicated. The first thing I was offered when Boo was found to be positive was euthanization. Because we decided not to we saved at least one other cat that I know of from that fate. A family had brought a young cat in to be neutered and were given the news of her being positive and didn't know if they wanted to take on that responsibility. My husband and I knowing Boo would not be around for long said we would take her, being so young and symptom free. After the vet told them about us and our situation they decided they wanted to keep her. They really loved the cat. Our vet even said he wanted to keep her but he had 3 cats at home already. We were the only people who ever went as far as we did to help Boo according to our vet and he became far more educated because of him. I don't fault the vets. Most ordinary uninformed people will elect not to keep the cat so a lot of vets just don't have the experience dealing with the disease. Lynne - Original Message - From: MaryChristine twelvehousec...@gmail.com To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 11:29 AM Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] mixing FeLV pos and neg thanks, carmen. you're much gentler than i in your evaluation of veterinary attitudes, and the damage they do. the more i find of old literature that says what we already know--bout it being bodily-fluids, not air, requiring close consistent contact, how many exposed cats either never become positive or throw the virus off (70%, in the merck veterinary manual), and how many positive kitties live quite happily with negatives, the more unhappy i become with the professionals who have chosen not to follow the literature. the need to retest, and NOT to make life-and-death decisions was taught in at least some vet schools as much as 20 years ago, and the STRONG RECOMMENDATION to retest has been in the professional lit since the early 2000s at least... additionally, there are still no documented cases that i have ever found of a vaccinated truly negative cat (tested negative on both the ELISSA and IFA, at an appropriate interval to rule out exposure) who has ever turned positive from LIVING WITH (as opposed to just visiting or passing in the night) a true positive (also tested more than once.) even at its highest incidence, FeLV only appears in less than 10% of the population natively--if it were as contagious as we are STILL being led to believe, there would be no feral colonies. think about it.. MC On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 11:21 AM, Carmen Conklin cwshel...@wildblue.netwrote: I am writing in response to Lauries note about Isabella. I have had several negative FeLV cats that have been mixed with the FeLV positives over the years and NONE of them ever acquired a positive status to the FeLV. It is definitely NOT an airborne disease in any way and it takes a very prolonged exposure for any negative cats to even possibly acquire the FeLV UNLESS they are bitten and direct blood is passed. Most adult cats are simply immune to FeLV and IF exposed at all, simply shed it off-they do not test postive even if living with those kitties. We have worked with hundreds of FeLV kitties over the last 25 years, and the non positives who lived with even the sympomatic positives did not become positive in their long lifetimes. One recently died of old age-not FeLV. Anyway, most people and some vets still have a pretty healthy fear of FeLV, but for those of us who have worked with these wonderful kitties for awhile and have them for companion animals, experience is a great calmer of all fears of FeLV positives. Carmen ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org -- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference MaryChristine Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org) Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org __ NOD32 3875 (20090220) Information __ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: Felv pos to neg
My cat Bob tested positive at around 6 months. He was a foster and had not been previously tested. His mother was negative I assume, but it was so long ago I don't recall. He tested positive on an elisa. We waited 3 months and did a bone marrow test that was sent out I don't even know if they had IFA's then. It came back negative and all elisa tests since that time have come back negative as well.This was over 10 years ago, and he had already had his 'kitten shots' and been neutered through my humane society because he was "up for adoption" (yeah, right!) Maybe it was a false positive... But it was before there was advantage and all that, and my cats got fleas I couldn't get rid of. I took about 8 cats to the vet on the same day to be dipped and bathed and bomb my house. The vet's office called me back and said they couldn't treat Bob because he had tested felv positive. They retested and did bathe and dip him anyway even though he came up positive on the 2nd test. We waited 3 months and did the bone marrow and it came back negative. At that time I just felt it must be a mistake with the test. I didn't know much about felv (not many people did) and he was healthy as a horse. I didn't know enough to freak out like I did later when another one of my cats came up positive. (She came to me positive. She did not catch it from Bob.)tonyakelly [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would just like to know statistically if anyone out there has had the initial test pos and then after 6-10 weeks become neg,,,either ELisa of IFA...and stay neg??Has anyone out there used Immuno regulin on a newly dignosed FELV before they were symptomatic and the results on succeeding tests,Already using Vit C and lysineKelly
RE: Felv pos to neg
Statistically,, from what I read 60 % of cats who were exposed to the virus will get rid of the virus at a later on.. again, I am not sure how valid it is.. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of catatonya Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 5:54 PM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Re: Felv pos to neg My cat Bob tested positive at around 6 months. He was a foster and had not been previously tested. His mother was negative I assume, but it was so long ago I don't recall. He tested positive on an elisa. We waited 3 months and did a bone marrow test that was sent out I don't even know if they had IFA's then. It came back negative and all elisa tests since that time have come back negative as well. This was over 10 years ago, and he had already had his 'kitten shots' and been neutered through my humane society because he was up for adoption (yeah, right!) Maybe it was a false positive... But it was before there was advantage and all that, and my cats got fleas I couldn't get rid of. I took about 8 cats to the vet on the same day to be dipped and bathed and bomb my house. The vet's office called me back and said they couldn't treat Bob because he had tested felv positive. They retested and did bathe and dip him anyway even though he came up positive on the 2nd test. We waited 3 months and did the bone marrow and it came back negative. At that time I just felt it must be a mistake with the test. I didn't know much about felv (not many people did) and he was healthy as a horse. I didn't know enough to freak out like I did later when another one of my cats came up positive. (She came to me positive. She did not catch it from Bob.) tonya kelly [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would just like to know statistically if anyone out there has had the initial test pos and then after 6-10 weeks become neg,,,either ELisa of IFA...and stay neg?? Has anyone out there used Immuno regulin on a newly dignosed FELV before they were symptomatic and the results on succeeding tests, Already using Vit C and lysine Kelly
RE: felv pos to neg
It's great news that he's 5 years old. He may just be a carrier. Keep us posted.tonya[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: i am new to this group...on Friday my cat elisa was positive very faintly...i will get the IFA to morrow and i am hoping my cat is negative he just turned 5 yrs old in may and has never been sick a day in his life so i am hoping that he can throw the virus or it be a false/ positive
Felv pos to neg
I would just like to know statistically if anyone out there has had the initial test pos and then after 6-10 weeks become neg,,,either ELisa of IFA...and stay neg?? Has anyone out there used Immuno regulin on a newly dignosed FELV before they were symptomatic and the results on succeeding tests, Already using Vit C and lysine Kelly
Re: Felv pos to neg
I know there are people on this list who have seen a positive turn negative, using IFA for both tests, after 6 or 8 MONTHS. I think if youu see an ELISA positive turn negative after 6-10 weeks then you had a false positive to start with.kelly [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would just like to know statistically if anyone out there has had the initial test pos and then after 6-10 weeks become neg,,,either ELisa of IFA...and stay neg??Has anyone out there used Immuno regulin on a newly dignosed FELV before they were symptomatic and the results on succeeding tests,Already using Vit C and lysineKelly
Re: Felv pos to neg
My Monty tested positive when he was 9 months old. He was very sick at the time and we thought we were going to lose him. He did recover and we tested him again just after he turned 1 years old. That test came back negative. It is possible to have a kitten test positive and then fight off the disease. We did both the Elisa and IFA test both times. Hope this helps, Chris Monty - Original Message - From: kelly [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 3:00 PM Subject: Felv pos to neg I would just like to know statistically if anyone out there has had the initial test pos and then after 6-10 weeks become neg,,,either ELisa of IFA...and stay neg?? Has anyone out there used Immuno regulin on a newly dignosed FELV before they were symptomatic and the results on succeeding tests, Already using Vit C and lysine Kelly -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/437 - Release Date: 9/4/2006
Re: Felv pos to neg
the guidelines i've seen re: retesting say that it takes a minimum of 90-120 days from exposure for most cats to throw off the virus. i wouldn't bother retesting before then, personally. if there's a positive result after 6-10 weeks, you'd really need to retest again anyway to make sure the cat had enough time to process it from its system. of course, then there's the theory that the virus may take 90-120 days to REGISTER on a test to start with--so a single negative test doesn't really mean anything, either, unless you know FOR SURE where the cat was for the 4 months before you brought it home... On 9/4/06, Susan Hoffman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I know there are people on this list who have seen a positive turn negative, using IFA for both tests, after 6 or 8 MONTHS. I think if youu see an ELISA positive turn negative after 6-10 weeks then you had a false positive to start with. kelly [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would just like to know statistically if anyone out there has had the initial test pos and then after 6-10 weeks become neg,,,either ELisa of IFA...and stay neg??Has anyone out there used Immuno regulin on a newly dignosed FELV before they were symptomatic and the results on succeeding tests,Already using Vit C and lysine Kelly-- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors!Maybe That'll Make The DifferenceMaryChristineAIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]ICQ: 289856892
RE: felv pos to neg
i am new to this group...on Friday my cat elisa was positive very faintly...i will get the IFA to morrow and i am hoping my cat is negative he just turned 5 yrs old in may and has never been sick a day in his life so i am hoping that he can throw the virus or it be a false/ positive
