feline leukaemia

[felinechums]

My two kittens (five months old) have tested postive for FELV (feline leukaemia virus). Does anyone have experience of this virus? What should I expect, and how long are the kittens likely to live?

[drgnrdr]

There's lots of info on the internet about this. This is one reason I advocate keeping cats indoors, not sure if your young cats were outside or if they contracted this from their mother, but please don't let them out now if they were outside, it is contagious, if they got it from a cat outside there is a cat out there that's going to infect others somewhere roaming around.

Becky Lundgren, DVM

Feline leukemia virus, a retrovirus, is a common infection of cats. It is the cause of more cat deaths, directly or indirectly, than any other organism and is widespread in the cat population.
Disease Transmission
Feline leukemia virus infection (FeLV) can be transmitted several ways:
a. by the saliva of infected cats contaminating the eye, mouth, and nose membranes of non-infected cats via licking.
b. by passing infected blood to non-infected cats.
c. from mother to fetuses (developing kittens) during pregnancy.
Disease
Most infected cats eliminate the virus and become immune. In those cats that do not develop immunity, the virus spreads to the bone marrow.

Proliferative and degenerative diseases may occur in any of the tissues invaded by the virus, or the virus may be indirectly responsible for other illnesses because of its immunosuppressive effect. A large percentage of the cats that are exposed to the virus will have latent (hidden) infections and will be capable of transmitting the disease in saliva, tears, and urine. Some of these latent carriers will become clinically ill when stressed.

Diagnostic Tests
Necessary diagnostic tests may include blood chemistry, hematology, radiography, bone marrow aspiration, ophthalmoscopy, and specialized antibody tests.
(to be continued)

[drgnrdr]

Treatment
a. There is no effective treatment for the myeloproliferative (bone marrow) form of leukemia. Treatment is mainly supportive, and may require blood transfusions, prednisone, and anabolic steroids.
b. FeLV cancer (lymphoma) has a better response to therapy than the myeloproliferative diseases do. Treatment may include chemotherapy, glucocorticoids, interferon, Protein A, and supportive treatment.
Prevention Of FeLV There are several preventive measures that can be taken to decrease the risk of contracting FeLV.
a. Cats can be FeLV tested, and then vaccinated if they are negative. Vaccination is recommended for high risk cats only. FeLV vaccination of infected cats does not affect the carrier state, the capacity to infect other cats, or the development of disease in the infected cats. Vaccination may also be associated with adverse events. (Duration of immunity may vary from fifteen weeks to three years.)
---Kittens may be tested at any age. However, infection in newborn kittens may not be detected until weeks to months after birth. Therefore, several FeLV tests during the first six months of life may be necessary to feel completely "safe" about a negative test result.
----All kittens or adult cats that test negative by the first ELISA screening test - but with a known or suspected exposure to FeLV - should be retested. This is done to rule out possible negative results obtained during incubation of the FeLV virus. Although the majority of cats will test positive within several weeks, final retest of negative cats should be no sooner than 90 days post-exposure.
b. In large catteries, a test and removal program can be instituted.
c. Multi-cat households with FeLV positive cats should be maintained as a closed colony. (No new cats should be brought into the household, to prevent the spread of infection to the new arrivals.) (to be cont.')

[drgnrdr]

Prognosis

Eighty-five percent of cats with FeLV infection die within 3 years of the diagnosis.

Notes:
Retroviruses are unstable, live for only minutes outside the cat's body, and are readily destroyed by most disinfectants.

Because the feline leukemia virus is so unstable, a new, healthy cat can be brought safely into a "contaminated" house within days of the departure of a FeLV infected cat.

Date Published: 7/12/2003

Hope this helped..Good Luck

[drgnrdr]

there is more info at the Cornell University website:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/resources/brochure/felv.html

or if this won't open go to http://web.vet.cornell.edu/public/fhc/felv.html and go to "cat owners resourses" then "feline Health information"

then click on "client info brochures" scroll down to "infectious diseases" and you'll see feline Leukemia and take a gander at it.

[felinechums]

Thanks drgrngr for your information. I foster kittens for a local animal sanctuary and these are two of a group of eight feral-born kittens that I had fostered during the summer. They are isolated from my other cats and are confined to a specific part of the house where they cannot share food bowls or litter trays. Also, they will not be going outside, so I am not worried about my other cats (who are all vaccinated) or the neighbourhood cats. At present the kittens are showing enlarged lymph nodes and gingivitis but are lively, energetic and behaving quite normally. They are very affectionate and well socialised to the humans in the house. I just wondered if anyone else had reared FELV positive kittens, and what to expect in terms of their life expectancy.

[uke7909]

Hi there

Regarding your kittens with FELV. We unknowingly adopted an FELV positive cat a few years ago; we also didn�t know at the time that she was pregnant. Unfortunately, the mother and all the kittens subsequently died, except one. My other two cats, who had mixed with the mother and the remaining kitten, also died in the following two years.

I did a lot of research on the internet when I found out about the FELV, and there is a lot of contradictory information out there. I can only tell you of my own experience. I was devastated to lose my beloved cats, and all in such a short space of time � it was truly horrific. But I would feel the same way no matter how they had died.

Practically, look out for even slight changes in health, and get them to a vet who knows and understands FELV as soon as possible. My older cats both died of kidney related problems (their immune systems being suppressed by the FELV), which started off with gum problems. So keep an eye on that, especially if they start to drink more water than normal. Other than that, keep their lives as routine and stress free as possible � even moving the furniture round can cause anxiety that triggers a viral response (although my cats were orientals and naturally a bit skittish, yours may be more tolerant).

One last thing. I read on one site that kittens who suckle from an FELV positive mother will almost certainly contract the disease and die within a year. Beanie, the one remaining kitten, will be four at Christmas. She has some minor health problems but is generally fine, and is a real live wire. Most likely is that she is a carrier � she can pass the virus on but does not display the symptoms herself. In this case her life expectancy is much greater.

One last word, check out the hundreds of stories of people living with FELV+ cats as well as the medical side; here is just one example: 13:41 Sun 27th Nov 2005

[felinechums]

Many thanks to everyone who gave me such brilliant answers. The kittens are healthy at present, full of energy, and eating well. But another problem has now arisen - one has tested positive for Coronavirus, which can cause FIP or FIE. I guess these babies are destined to have short lives. Poor wee scraps