cat leukemia question

[cboone7]

My youngest cat just died about a month ago with feline leukemia and my oldest last week was hit by a car while my husband was in the hospital. When will it be ok to introduce a new cat into the home since one of them had leukemia. We still have one cat at the home that is negative with leukemia test, but is very lonely know. What should we do?

[badger]

I'm sorry you have to go through all this sadness at once Give yourself a bit of time and your remaining cat plenty of cuddles.
You might want to check with a vet but if your cat has tested negative for FL, I don't see a problem with adopting another. FL is very difficult to catch and now that the infected one is gone, the risk is so minimal, I think you can ignore it. Wash their blankets and beds in hot water, also bowls and litterboxes.
Hope your husband gets better soon.

[SableCollie]

I'm sorry you lost 2 of your kitties. :sad: I would wash your home thoroughly, especially anything the Felv+ cat came into contact with. We usually throw out any bowls, litter boxes, and bedding that Felv+ cats have used because we just don't want to take that chance...

I always think it is a good idea to keep cats as indoor only pets, that way they are protected from cars and diseases like felv. I lost 2 cats to outdoor hazards, and all my cats after that were indoor-only.

I hope you find a new kitty friend for your other cat, there are plenty of nice kitties in shelters looking for homes!

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

[lilmegshepherds]

Welcome to the forums

[CyberKitten]

Welcome! I too am very sorry to hear about your loss!! And I would wait to get another animal until your mourning is over - we sometimes want to replace the lost pet and that's just not possible! Also, with ill kitties, they have longer and healthier lives if never allowed outside unaccompanied. That of course is also true for healthy cats but especially true of cats with leukemia since their immune system is low and they are susceptible to so many bacteria and viruses outside. This is not to suggest that this is what helped her disease progress but you probably did not know this and thus and wanted her to have a good life. Cats actually have a great life indoors and many cats - even those without an illness - live much longer if they never saw an outside yard in all of their life!

If you do adopt another kitty, you would almost by necessity have to have another one with feline leukemia since any playing or friendly fights between the two that would end up in bites (and that is almost a certainty at some point given cats) means the other one would almost assuredly become infected. Since I am sure you do not want to infect a healthy cat, I would seek other cats with FeL who need homes and goodness knows, there are many of them. Perhaps some of the shelters supported by the Board have some but Petfinder.com will absolutely have some. Still, I would give you and your kitty some time to grieve!

Take care of yourself and your kitty!