[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: [Felvtalk] Shots for Felv/Re Testing for Non Felv Cat
It makes me a little upset that research for Felv+ cats has been so wishy washy. I realize it probably all comes down to money and business, but I was also thinking, this disease is sadly a way for shelters to try to control over population of cats. I think its pretty automatic to put felv+ cats to sleep at shelters. I wonder what the shelters would do if there was a cure for this disease. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Shots for Felv/Re Testing for Non Felv Cat
at the rate that accurate information about the virus has spread to the veterinary community, and from there down to shelters and rescues, it'd be YEARS before news of a cure would ever reach them. it's incredibly discouraging. i don't know if petsmart left in the comments from the attendees at the webinar earlier this year re: FIV and FeLVs in shelter and rescues, but it was incredibly depressing to me, to hear folks NOT listening to what the vet had to say, nor to the few of us who were actually acquainted with the literature. (in fact, i spoke with a rescuer who attended another of their webinars more recently, and she said that that vet was advocating vaccinating all cats against FIV.) yes, it's money and business, but more than that, it's laziness--i've got my degree, and since these two virii are very easily treated with the night-night needle, i don't need to ever read another word about them. theoretically, it's malpractice for vets NOT to be up-to-date on current best practice--but even the reports i hear on the vets who seem not to even have HEARD about new vaccination protocols, no less implemented them, well (yearly vaccines, now AGAINST medical advice, a sure-fire money-maker!) never mind, i get more than a LITTLE upset. MC On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Maria Ianiro mian...@gmail.com wrote: It makes me a little upset that research for Felv+ cats has been so wishy washy. I realize it probably all comes down to money and business, but I was also thinking, this disease is sadly a way for shelters to try to control over population of cats. I think its pretty automatic to put felv+ cats to sleep at shelters. I wonder what the shelters would do if there was a cure for this disease. ___ 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] Transfusion
To all who wrote such kind notes and sent prayers, thank you so much. My little Macy had her transfusion on Thursday and was back to normal immediately. In fact, she began eating and drinking during the procedure! One of my son's cats was a match and all went well. She went home that evening and woke my son up the next morning chasing our other cat and playing with her big dog sister. Her blood count had gone down to 6 so she was very close to the end. I know that all of the prayers sent out was what made the difference. Thank you all for your advice and concern. Dawn ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Transfusion
What wonderful news Dawn. I hope little Macy continues to thrive. Lynne - Original Message - From: mdgallo...@aol.com To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 9:59 PM Subject: [Felvtalk] Transfusion To all who wrote such kind notes and sent prayers, thank you so much. My little Macy had her transfusion on Thursday and was back to normal immediately. In fact, she began eating and drinking during the procedure! One of my son's cats was a match and all went well. She went home that evening and woke my son up the next morning chasing our other cat and playing with her big dog sister. Her blood count had gone down to 6 so she was very close to the end. I know that all of the prayers sent out was what made t he difference. Thank you all for your advice and concern. Dawn ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org __ NOD32 3876 (20090221) 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
