my new cat just tested positive for feline luekemia --- im worried about my older cat - what do i do?

Question

my new cat- Lola. just tested positive for feline luekemia virus. we have had her here in our home with our older resident cat since july. she was tested before i adopted her for feline luekemia and came up negative. well she just tested positive. im worried about my older cat, Cheyenne. she is 12 and doesnt seem to be sick, but i read luekemia can hide. Lola and Cheyenne have been in contact since july 2007. and now lola has the luekemia. what can i do here? we are waiting on the test on cheyenne if its positive or negative. the vet said many older cats immune systems will fight off the virus, where as lola was born with it apparently and even gave it to her kittens. im worried about cheyenne. we dont want to get rid of lola b/c she will probably be put down. but what do i do to keep cheyenne from getting sick? she has shown no signs.... imso lost... if anyone has experience with this please help thankyou

Answer 1

i adopted a cat and was told that cat had fiv. that is why i adopted her. she was living with my other cats for 2 years. one of my other fiv cats became very sick with kidney disease. since we were treating him but he was not feeling anybetter i, on a whim, decided to retest him and he came up felv and fiv positive. i tested everyone in my house and discovered that the cat i adopted did not have fiv but instead had felv. she had infected 2 of my other cats. i immediately vaccinated my other cats against it.

the adopted cat and my double positive cat had to be put to sleep because they both became extremely sick.

fast forward 2 years. i still have a felv positive cat out with my other cats. i test all my other cats every year and vaccinate them. so far, everyones test has come back negative.

my felv kitty is very healthy as well.

if your cats test comes back negative, vaccinate her and then repeat the test in 6 months just to be sure that it is negative.

Answer 2

If it was me I would pretty much assume that Cheyenne has it now too. Even if she tests negative she could just be in the incubation period and test positive later on. Or she could have already fought it off and will be fine.
If Cheyenne was a kitten I would be more aggressive about protecting her. But now if you get rid of Lola and Cheyenne ends up with down the road anyway you will feel bad and wish you could have had Lola around to keep her company since they are both positive and you can't get her another companion.
There is a vaccination for FLV it's of course not 100% but if you were to decide to keep them both could help protect her.

Also talk to your dr about which test was used. There are two different tests. One of the tests can detect it while the cat still has a chance to fight it off.

The feline leukemia virus is present in the blood (a condition known as viremia) during two different stages of the infection. The ELISA test can detect the primary viremia—the stage before the bone marrow has become infected, when the cat's immune system still has an opportunity to ward off the virus. The ELISA test can also detect the virus in the secondary viremia stage - when the virus has invaded the bone marrow, thus establishing a firm and lifelong foothold within the cat.

By contrast, the IFA test detects circulating viruses primarily during the second stage. Once the infection progresses to that stage, it has passed a "point of no return." Thus the majority of cats testing positive by the IFA test remain positive for life.

I don't judge you either way. It's a tough choice, so sorry.

Answer 3

My siamese tested positive all of a sudden, without being exposed to a strange cat at all, then two years later he was a negative. Sometimes the tests are wrong.

But if the one on yours is right, I'd recommend joining up with one of the very good feline leukemia cat lists over on yahoogroups, you'll be able to talk to owners who have cats with this disease and see what they recommend with a multi-cat household.

Answer 4

Pray....