Re: [Felvtalk] Insight Please
Thanks everyone. This disease certainly does act capriciously. I thought it particularly odd that the disease was split by gender. Females had it, males didn't. Maybe that was a strange coincidence? Unfortunately 2 of the females are already showing signs of a URI. My vet has started antibiotics and has told me to remain hopeful. She also did say the males may turn positive. These kittens were dumped into a pickup truck in a not so nice area. I'm going to hope for the best with these little ones, but lurking on the board I've noticed that the younger they are with the disease, the shorter the life span. Either way, I see major heartbreak in my future. I have such a soft spot for FELV+ kitties. They truly are the sweetest of the bunch. Marnie ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Insight Please
Definitely pos mom gave birth in trap to 5 kittens. 2 survived, one pos, one neg tested over and over. Adopted, both retested negative down the road. No explanation either but it must be possible. What I don't understand is a kitten testing neg while the virus is latent, then breaking with it years later - is this something that really happens and there is need to worry about? Thanks, Janine - Original Message From: Natalie To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Sat, December 11, 2010 9:05:33 AM Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Insight Please That's what happened to a rescuer friend - I was in Mexico at the time and couldn't post to the group myself - another member kindly posted for me. However, my friend heard back from only one person. Mother cat with 6 kittens; mother and 2 kittens negative, 4 kittens borderline positive. The veterinarians are vexed; I thought that since many of you had experienced or heard of quite a few false positives with certain tests lately, there might have been an answer. My assumption would be that the were exposed to another FeLV cat. Natalie -Original Message- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Marnie Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2010 12:53 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Insight Please My shelter just took in a litter of 5 kittens. They are about 8 weeks old. The 3 females tested possible for feline leukemia with the Idexx snap test and the 2 males were negative. We retested from another batch of tests and the same thing. How is this possible if they are all from the same mother? Can anyone shed some light on this please? Marnie Sent from my iPhone ___ 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 ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Insight Please
Hi All, I live in Chile, and the feline specialist that we were so lucky to find explained it this way to me when only one of the two kittens we rescued tested positive. She says that a kitten will find a teat that they prefer on the mother, based on taste and smell, and that they will nurse only on that one and not move around. She said that a kitten will wait it's turn when there aren't enough to go around. She said that since it's a virus, it is possible that only one or some of the teats are infected, and therefore it would only be passed to the kittens that nursed on those particular ones. It seems like a plausible explanation. Can anyone out there concur about the selective nursing or possibility that if a mother is positive that not all of her teats would be infected? Mike ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Insight Please
I don't think that's possible. The kittens can get it through the placenta and milk of their mom, not the sperm of their father. Unles they had close contact with their father but that's not very likely with stray kittens. Males often don't want anything to do with their off spring. I have read A LOT about Felv on the internet lately. It's possible that the kittens who are negative have the virus, but it is hiding and not detectable. Some will always stay negative, some will turn positive at some point. Some will eliminate the virus completely and will never get sick. This disease is very complicated with more then 1 out come! 2010/12/11 Sharyl > Kittens can have have different fathers but the same mother. Perhaps the > father was positive. > Sharyl > > --- On Sat, 12/11/10, Marnie wrote: > > > From: Marnie > > Subject: [Felvtalk] Insight Please > > To: "felvtalk@felineleukemia.org" > > Date: Saturday, December 11, 2010, 12:52 AM > > My shelter just took in a litter of 5 > > kittens. They are about 8 weeks old. The 3 females tested > > possible for feline leukemia with the Idexx snap test and > > the 2 males were negative. We retested from another batch of > > tests and the same thing. How is this possible if they are > > all from the same mother? Can anyone shed some light on this > > please? > > Marnie > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > ___ > > 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 > ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Insight Please
Kittens can have have different fathers but the same mother. Perhaps the father was positive. Sharyl --- On Sat, 12/11/10, Marnie wrote: > From: Marnie > Subject: [Felvtalk] Insight Please > To: "felvtalk@felineleukemia.org" > Date: Saturday, December 11, 2010, 12:52 AM > My shelter just took in a litter of 5 > kittens. They are about 8 weeks old. The 3 females tested > possible for feline leukemia with the Idexx snap test and > the 2 males were negative. We retested from another batch of > tests and the same thing. How is this possible if they are > all from the same mother? Can anyone shed some light on this > please? > Marnie > > Sent from my iPhone > ___ > 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] Insight Please
Out of my 3 males from the same litter, only 1 tested positive. Their Mom has never tested positive. His brothers have always been negative. No doctor or specialist we have dealt with, can explain this. Sent from my iPhone On Dec 11, 2010, at 5:43 AM, Beth Noren wrote: > Marnie, > It is common for this to happen. I trapped 5 plus mom, mom was > snap negative, runt was positive, 4 others were negative. 6 weeks > later one of the negatives got a fever, was retested, and was > positive. We think the first test was done too soon after his last > exposure, there was not enough antigen yet in his body for the test to > detect. Some vets will wrongly try to tell you that they will all > eventually test positive. This is definitely not true. Three of our > negative littermates are now 4.5 years old and still negative. >As far as why this happens, there are a few different theories, > but no one knows for sure. One that I have heard is that they could > be infected by a nanny cat. In our case we only did the Elisa on the > momma, then spayed and released her. Had we done an IFA, she may have > showed positive. Following is a link to a chart which shows what > testing path to follow based on the results that you are getting. > > http://www.felineleukemia.org/felvhlth.html > > Best wishes, > Beth > > > On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 12:52 AM, Marnie wrote: >> My shelter just took in a litter of 5 kittens. They are about 8 weeks old. >> The 3 females tested possible for feline leukemia with the Idexx snap test >> and the 2 males were negative. We retested from another batch of tests and >> the same thing. How is this possible if they are all from the same mother? >> Can anyone shed some light on this please? >> Marnie > >> > > ___ > 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] Insight Please
That's what happened to a rescuer friend - I was in Mexico at the time and couldn't post to the group myself - another member kindly posted for me. However, my friend heard back from only one person. Mother cat with 6 kittens; mother and 2 kittens negative, 4 kittens borderline positive. The veterinarians are vexed; I thought that since many of you had experienced or heard of quite a few false positives with certain tests lately, there might have been an answer. My assumption would be that the were exposed to another FeLV cat. Natalie -Original Message- From: felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org [mailto:felvtalk-boun...@felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Marnie Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2010 12:53 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: [Felvtalk] Insight Please My shelter just took in a litter of 5 kittens. They are about 8 weeks old. The 3 females tested possible for feline leukemia with the Idexx snap test and the 2 males were negative. We retested from another batch of tests and the same thing. How is this possible if they are all from the same mother? Can anyone shed some light on this please? Marnie Sent from my iPhone ___ 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] Insight Please
Marnie, It is common for this to happen. I trapped 5 plus mom, mom was snap negative, runt was positive, 4 others were negative. 6 weeks later one of the negatives got a fever, was retested, and was positive. We think the first test was done too soon after his last exposure, there was not enough antigen yet in his body for the test to detect. Some vets will wrongly try to tell you that they will all eventually test positive. This is definitely not true. Three of our negative littermates are now 4.5 years old and still negative. As far as why this happens, there are a few different theories, but no one knows for sure. One that I have heard is that they could be infected by a nanny cat. In our case we only did the Elisa on the momma, then spayed and released her. Had we done an IFA, she may have showed positive. Following is a link to a chart which shows what testing path to follow based on the results that you are getting. http://www.felineleukemia.org/felvhlth.html Best wishes, Beth On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 12:52 AM, Marnie wrote: > My shelter just took in a litter of 5 kittens. They are about 8 weeks old. > The 3 females tested possible for feline leukemia with the Idexx snap test > and the 2 males were negative. We retested from another batch of tests and > the same thing. How is this possible if they are all from the same mother? > Can anyone shed some light on this please? > Marnie > ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
Re: [Felvtalk] Insight Please
Marnie, In 2008 I rescued a litter of 6 kittens and all but one was tested FelV positive. Four of them died when they were just a few months old. One lived to be a year and a half and then he developed spinal tumors and had to be PTS. The last kitten always tested negative and never had the virus. I still have him, and he is now 3 years old. He was retested and he is still negative. It happens, and I guess some have a stronger immune system than others and can throw off the virus. Lorrie > On 12-11, Marnie wrote: > My shelter just took in a litter of 5 kittens. They are about 8 > weeks old. The 3 females tested possible for feline leukemia with > the Idexx snap test and the 2 males were negative. We retested from > another batch of tests and the same thing. How is this possible if > they are all from the same mother? Can anyone shed some light on > this please? Marnie > ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
[Felvtalk] Insight Please
My shelter just took in a litter of 5 kittens. They are about 8 weeks old. The 3 females tested possible for feline leukemia with the Idexx snap test and the 2 males were negative. We retested from another batch of tests and the same thing. How is this possible if they are all from the same mother? Can anyone shed some light on this please? Marnie Sent from my iPhone ___ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
