[Felvtalk] (no subject)
georgetta, what a heart warming story! from what i understand, many if not most rescues never even give a cat who produces a positive result on the fist test even a chance to be tested with the confirmation test. in fact many pet owners don't either. with the pet owners it is possible that the vet never even tells them any thing other than their cat has feline leukemia or that their cat tested positive for feline leukemia. the cat owner hasn't a clue that the initial test should be followed by a confimation test. others can't afford to do much more and end up having the cat euthanized. and many who can afford it simply don't want to spend much money on something they consider as just a cat. with rescues, i can understand them not going further than the first test. i don't necessarily agree with that but i can understand it. however, i feel it was unfair of your fostering friends trying to pressure you into having the kiitten euthanized. i'm sure they meant well but personally i think they were out of line. be proud that you stood your ground and continued to try and find placement for wisp. the odds were stacked against you, it's hard enough to find a good home for any cat or kitten might less one that has felv. but luckily for you and wisp, you beat some pretty tough odds. i would imagine that michael will let you return to visit wisp if you are willing to make the drive now and then. it sounds like he might also keep you updated every so often on wisps condition. sounds like a good deal to me! wisp's life will undoubtedly be cut short but at least it sounds like what time he does have here on earth will be happy with good times with many other kitty friends and wonderful caring human friends. although his time is short, i'm sure he will have had a happier life than what many other less fortunate cats have had, whether they lived a short life or a long life. thanks for sharing an upbeat message and thanks for all the fostering you do and thanks for not giving in and for continuing to try and find good placement for wisp. i just wish more people were like you. best wishes for wisp's future and best wishes to you. i hope that this will be your only experience with any cat diseases and that all of your future foster babies will be healthy. darlene ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] second chance meows sanctuary
georgetta, what a heart warming story! from what i understand, many if not most rescues never even give a cat who produces a positive result on the first test even a chance to be tested with the confirmation test. in fact many pet owners don't either. with the pet owners it is possible that the vet never even tells them any thing other than their cat has feline leukemia or that their cat tested positive for feline leukemia. the cat owner hasn't a clue that the initial test should be followed by a confimation test. others can't afford to do much more and end up having the cat euthanized. and many who can afford it simply don't want to spend much money on something they consider as just a cat. with rescues, i can understand them not going further than the first test. i don't necessarily agree with that but i can understand it. however, i feel it was unfair of your fostering friends trying to pressure you into having the kiitten euthanized. i'm sure they meant well but personally i think they were out of line. be proud that you stood your ground and continued to try and find placement for wisp. the odds were stacked against you, it's hard enough to find a good home for any cat or kitten might less one that has felv. but luckily for you and wisp, you beat some pretty tough odds. i would imagine that michael will let you return to visit wisp if you are willing to make the drive now and then. it sounds like he might also keep you updated every so often on wisps condition. sounds like a good deal to me! wisp's life will undoubtedly be cut short but at least it sounds like what time he does have here on earth will be happy with good times with many other kitty friends and wonderful caring human friends. although his time is short, i'm sure he will have had a happier life than what many other less fortunate cats have had, whether they lived a short life or a long life. thanks for sharing an upbeat message and thanks for all the fostering you do and thanks for not giving in and for continuing to try and find good placement for wisp. i just wish more people were like you. best wishes for wisp's future and best wishes to you. i hope that this will be your only experience with any cat diseases and that all of your future foster babies will be healthy. darlene (i hope this doesn't post twice. i sent it earlier but forgot to put in a subject line.) ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] ELISA positive followed by an IFA neg/ includes info on false positive ELISAs
i thought i would add this info since i didn't see it in the archives (which doesn't necessarily mean it's not there. it only means there was so much in the archives i didn't check out every thing.) the following was emailed to me by my sister in law who has a phd in veterinary medicine. (however, she does not deal with living animals but does pathology on deceased animals for a large spca on the other side of the country.) this is info about a positive ELISA followed by a negative IFA (what my cat Sport produced) and also includes what causes a false positive in the ELISA test. i hope it will be of some help to someone here, be it now or in the future. If you follow ELISA positive, IFA negative cats over time, about 25% will go positive on both tests (progressive infection), 25% will go negative on both tests (regressive infection) and 50% will remain ELISA positive, IFA negative (discordant infection). In discordant infection, the virus is sequestered somewhere in the cat and virus protein is being leaked into circulation (hence the positive ELISA) but infected cells are not being shed from the bone marrow (thus, negative IFA). 1. Of the 50% that stay with discordant infection what % of these cats become clinically ill? in my experience, not very many. Age matters - kittens with discordant results are more likely on their way to becoming IFA positive and coming down with clinical disease. Adult cats with healthy immune systems are more resistant to disease even if they stay ELISA +. 2. At what time intervals should I retest the cat? if healthy, I do this once a year along with the annual wellness visit. If sickly or dealing with other diseases, it makes more sense to repeat both ELISA and IFA more often, say 2-3 times a year. And remember that resistance increases with age; so a kitten less than about 16 weeks that is ELISA+, IFA- is more likely to become positive in both, while adults, are much more likely to clear the virus and become - by both assays. False positives can occur with ELISA, and in screening healthy cats, it can be a significant percentage, as much as 10%. One way that this can occur is that in some of these ELISA's, a mouse antibody is used to capture the viral antigen in the cat's serum, then a soluble mouse antibody with the enzyme attached binds the bound viral antigen. In cats that hunt, occasionally they will have antibody to the mounse antibody - it binds both the anchored mouse antibody (in the well, on the filter paper) and the soluble mouse antibody with the enzyme attached - substrate leads to color change - false positive. This happens also with nondomestic cats. My long-winded point is that I would continue to recheck the IFA or perhaps try a PCR to confirm the infection status, esp in an adult healthy cat. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] i was wrong. it wasn't the ifa test the vet ran.
ok, so i'm not sure now as to sport being positive or negative for felv.. the vet wants to retest him when he returns in 3 weeks this time i think with the elisa. i thought she said sport wasn't positive for felv but maybe she said the test she ran (ifa) didn't show sport as being positive for felv. i called yesterday and asked to have her call me. when she did, i had already left for work. she did leave a message on my phone saying that the other vet finally did fax her with the details (she asked him to last monday and had to ask again yesterday before he sent them.) so i called today and asked which test the other place had run. the test the other place ran WAS the elisa. mind you, when he told me that sport was felv+, i said that was hardly even possible and i wanted him retested. that vet didn't seem to want to retest and said the test was very accurate and almost NEVER NEVER wrong. well, i can accurately say that i will probably NEVER NEVER go back to that vet again. and i won't even mention the lousy reviews i have found on the internet today regarding them. anyway, i am fairly certain sport is going to be ok but i'm going ahead with this vet's recommendation of retesting.again and possibly again a few more times. not quite as confident as i was yesterday but still can see a ray of hope and not completely resigned to accepting the worse as i had been doing for most of the previous three weeks. just like everything else, the more i know, the more i know i don't know. no wonder it is said ignorance is bliss. this mailing list is so depressing. it seems like at least one person, if not more report they loss a cat or yet another cat to felv in every digest i read. i have to wonder exactly how many cats die every day from this disease. in the united states, does any one know which claims more cats... felv or kill shelters? just curious. i know kill shelters are responsible for millions of less cats and kittens every year on this planet but does felv compare with that? (and the quote marks around that word are put there because i don't accept that term when used with state or county in reference to animal control.) again, i wanted to say my heart goes out to all of you who have had losses. i am going to try and stick it out on this mailing list at least for a while since there is a slight chance sport actually could be positive. but how could he be positive?? felv infected invisible cat ghosts walk through the entry door and contaminate my cats food, water and litterbox? oh well, i have had more than my share of unexplainable events happen in my life so the ghost cats wouldn't actually surprise me nor scare me, LOL! one more question. is there a certain font used with sending and receing these mailings? when i read them, there always are question marks place here and there in the messages. even found some in a message i had sent. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] 2nd opinion
last sunday (yes sunday, easter sunday-they are open 7 days a week with no extra charges on the weekend) to a vet. i think i mentioned them, they seem pretty knowledgeble with treating frlv from what i had seen on their web page. anyway, the vet didn't seem to think my cat was positive due to the fact he was indoors 24/7 and an adult and because he looked healthy. she said at most he might just be a carrier but wanted to retest him. she gave him an injection for his vomiting (which she says may have been caused by the baytil which he had just finished a 2 week course of it) and put him on pepsin for a week.anyway, she called with sports results of the ifa test. this certainly has been an experience, one i could have very well done without. but it is said there is a reason for everything. maybe what i have learned will come in handy in the future. i don't know.perhaps i should get a third opinion but i'm stopping with the second one. the vet said the results came back negative. needless to say, i cried tears of joy. if the first vet actually ran an ifa like he said he did and actually did get a positive, then sport has beaten the odds of .3% my heart goes out to the rest of you. i can only hope that the future will bring a cure for this disease. it is nothing a cat or cat owner should have to endure. ;p33309544 ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] found a vet and a question for laura
yes kelly, this is me. the vet told me i could go ahead and discontinue the baytril if i was that worried but since someone here said it was onmly the large doese that cause blindness, i will go ahead and continue the treatment. even though i know i'd probably have a better chance at winning the lotto than that ifa test showing a false positive i am still remotely hoping for that miracle that the ifa test was a false positive or bloodwork got mixed up or something. on the brighter side, looking through felv info on the web i came across a vet who has info on felv and seems to have knowledge in treating it. i nearly cried tears of joy when i realized this vet isn't more than maybe 2 1/2 half miles from me. anyway, today my felv cat was purring and wanted to play. i know to take advantage of these times because in a year from now i may not have that opportunity. i will have to make an appointment with this vet and take it from there. thanks for all the help and i will be around as i know i have much to learn about felv. laura - does this psychic normally do email readings or were they just doing it as a favor for a friend of a friend? ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[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
[Felvtalk] day 9 of baytril
hi, me again... i know you can't believe everything you read on the internet but i have read from several sources regarding b aytril can cause blindness. one person mention it will after 10 days. my vet has my cat on it. he gave me 4 ml and the dose is .3ml so that is nearly 2 weeks. i called the office and they said just give it to him until its gone. i called my regular vet who's office apparently has been told not they can not give an opinion that would be opposing another vet. any idea here? today (friday) is the 9th day he has been on the medicine - at least here. he may have been on it the 3 days he was at the vet, i don't know. the office person is suppose to get back to me to me as to whether our vet does the LTCI. the vet who treated the cat does not. anyone know of a good vet that does in the long beach california area? i don't drive freeways, i hardly drive at all so it basically has to be in long beach or within a few miles of long beach. and i guess the baytril is for the uti and not the felv. ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
