Feline Leukemia Virus

[fkagarise]

I just found this site. I have a three year old male cat who is positive for feline leukemia He was bitten last summer by an infected cat (my cat had been vacinated, so it is not always effective).
Moochie has been fine since then but in the last couple of weeks he is having problems. He is not eating much and he is limping badly on his back legs.
My vet has done a complete blood test and everything came back "normal". She also took xrays and thinks his limping may be caused by a previous injury. Seems like it would be getting better, not worse, if that was the case.
I love my vet but I worry that she has not seen many positive cats since the standard porcedure seems to be putting them down immediately.
If anyone has had a cat who has died from feline leukemia I would appreciate any info you can give me on what type of symptoms they had.
Thanks from a very sad mom.

[ferlegs]

Cats with flv can infect other cats with a bite or scratching. But,, if your cat is limping
that is not a symptom of what I have experienced with my 3 kittens,, I lost to flv.
The first symptoms I noticed was,,, they would not eat,,, they acted as if they had a sore
throat, when they swallowed. They were lathargic, just lying around. Excessive drinking of
water was another symptom my kittens... One of the last stages was when they did try to stand
and dring water,,, all their limbs were wobbly.... Could your cat have arthritis or has he
been run over, maybe, or fallen and gotten his leg stuck somewhere and it is just sore.
Anyway,,, just keep these symptoms in the back of your head and watch for any of these
signs... and,, maybe in another 4 to 6 months,, ask your vet to do the blood test.
The results only take 10 minutes...
Good luck,, hope this has helped

[fkagarise]

Ferlegs, I first want to thank you for responding to my questions. Then I want to say that I am so sorry to hear that Molly is having problems. Hopefully the prednisone helps and Molly is able to eat and feel better.

I lost Moochie the week of Thanksgiving. I don't think it was related to his leukemia. He was eating dinner one evening, and feel over dead. It was a terrible shock since he had gotten over his limping problems and was back to his old self. My guess is that it was a blood clot. Since I was right there when it happened, I know that Moochie did not suffer.

I have had many cats over the last 25 years and have lost all but one of them since then. It never gets any easier and I miss Moochie very much.

Please let me know how Molly does.

Rose

[rg2prg]

I am so sorry to hear you lost Moochie, Rose. I agree, it does not sound like it was FeLV related.
I also agree that the vets seem to want to "terminate" Leukemia positive cats and it seems all they know. I've done quite a bit of research in the past few months and know that they can live semi normal lives as long as they are protected from other contageon and kept from contaminating other healthy cats.
I'm a sucker for all the furbabies that turn up at my door and currently have 11 of them. Back in October one of the sweeties (Miss Alley Cat) who had been living out of my garage for about 18 months, developed the sniffles. My Son scooped her up and took her to a vet who is the father of one of his buddies. She tested positive for leukemia and the vet wanted to put her down right right away. His technician volunteers for a no kill rescue group in our area and knew of a shelter south of here that takes "otherwise healthy" leukemia cats and lets them live out what life they have. We contacted the shelter and they were willing to take her but the problem was transportation because it's about a 4 hour drive from here. During the next 10 days it was an on again, off again scenerio at getting her down there. I had 2 of my other outside kitties tested (neg) and vaccinated. They had been exposed to Miss Alley Cat for over a year and had not contracted it. The last conversation I had with the owner of the shelter ended in my bringing Miss Alley Cat back home and putting her back outside with the others. He felt that since they had been with her for over a year, had tested negative and had been vaccinated, there was a very little chance they would contract it.
Fast forward a few months...the mother cat who I hadn't seen in a few months showed back up sneezing and slobbering all over everything. (Now mind you she had been tested and vaccinated a few years ago but was basicly a spay and release). She was thin as a rail and her eyes were doing this weird, one dialated, one contracted business and when I got her to the vet Wednesday, she tested VERY positive. He said the thing with the eyes is usually a dead bang give away... Sadly, she was sick beyond help and I had to have her put down.
Now I'm seeing one of the two who was negative and vaccinated just 3 1/2 months ago doing the same thing with her eyes and I'm scared senseless. She is one of the mother cat's kitties though and there is a slight chance that it's an inhereted trait..... I'm wondering just how long after being tested negative and being vaccinated (and boostered) they can be infected and how fast the symptoms with the eyes would show up...
In the mean time, Miss Alley Cat is sequestered back in my master bathroom making a slow but full recovery from a nasty upper respiratory infection.
oui....the vet bills this month have been off the scales..... :-(
Thanks for the opportunity to vent a bit...
>^..^<
Carol

[fkagarise]

Carol, sorry to hear about your kitties' problems. I'm thinking that the kitty who is now having eye problems may have picked up Miss Alley Cat's respiratory infection. That is a very contagious thing and can be difficult to get rid of.

As far as being vaccinated and then contracting feline leukemia, it did happen to Moochie but my vet tells me that the vaccination has been improved since he received it 2 years ago.

I don't know where you live but if it is somewhere cold, perhaps you can bring that kitty in the house and watch it. I can appreciate how expensive it is to take them to the vets - just as much $ as it is to take a kid to the doctor :- (

My guess is that your kitty has not picked up the leukemia virus. I agree with your vet that they should be fine around Miss Alley Cat. It is possible however that they could have gotten it from her and still tested negative. Sometimes there is a "window" between being exposed and testing positive. Hopefully that is not the case.

I would just continue to watch them. Please let me know how things go.

If you check out the topic index, under "how long do cats normally live", you can read my post from
Jan 18th that will give you more info about my Moochie.

Rose