*urgent!* FeLV+ !!!! (long!!)

[kathryn]

I realllyyy need everyones help. Some hugs wouldn't hurt either :sad:

I brought 5 kittens to the shelter I work at back in June. These kittens where 'the white kittens'. These are NOT the same 'grey kittens' I have at my house right now.

Well they are all dying off from FeLV. That is a HUGE problem because those kittens mother would be Jack and Buddy's mother. Jack is likely NOT affected as he has been in the house for many months and already has been cleared for FIV/FeLV (NOT tested! Just cleared by the doctor saying so).

Buddy is allowed outside though near his MOTHER which is likely a FeLV+ carrier. We are EXTREMELY upset now as we do everything we can to take proper care of everyone, but how can we be sure Buddy has not caught FeLV from being in close range of his mother? Also, Three Legged Missy is outside as well. She does not come in, Buddy does though.


Three Legged Missy was impregnated by a different male cat then Buddy's mother. I am 100% certain on it. The male care that impregnated Three Legged Missy was sent to the county shelter. If he had tested + for anything, they would have contacted me, and they didn't and the ACO would have mentioned it as well, but he never said anything.


So Three Legged Missy had the 5 kittens before she turned friendly (and then we got her spayed!). She is in perfect health. Her babies had upper respiratory infections, but they were cleared up for Clavamox. I asked the vet tech Jessie about this. She said had they been FeLV+, they would NOT have gotten better and would have died, like the kittens at the shelter.


So as it goes now, male A impregnated Missy, was sent to the county shelter and they never contacted me about him testing positive for anything. I believe he was put down because he was vicious. I am 100% that the county shelter would have been in contact with myself, the ACO and the man who was trapping the cats and said "HEY you've got FIV/FeLV in your neighborhood!". But they have not reported any problems.

Male B that impregnated white mommy cat is still on the loose. I believe I know what cat it is, and it was the cat who some of my neighbors neglected and abused. This cat has likely never seen a vet in his entire life, and is not neutered


As of right now, if anyone has brought it in or spread it they all my cats and foster kittens (here or gone) are at risk. At the moment, it seems we have an extremely low risk of it, but still enough where the shelter is having me bring in my cats to be tested.

The white mother cat is not showing many symptoms. From looking at her, she looks like crap though.


All of my cats are in 100% good health. The initial exposure would have taken place aprx. 6 months ago. Atleast ONE of them would have shown SOMETHING by now.


The FeLV+ kittens were never in my house. All of my previous foster kittens from outback that I adopted out are all in good health. I am in contact with every single adoptive parent and they have all been to the vets and declared healthy.




I have some hard decisions to make though.

My options if the white mommy cat is an FeLV+ carried

1. Try to relocate her to an FeLV+ colony
2. Euthanize her.
3. ?????? Any other options????

What if BUDDY is positive?
1. Leave him outside?


What if Three Legged Missy is positive?
1. What about her kittens?
2. Keep her outside?
3. ????????



Let's put it this way, MY CATS ARE COMING FIRST. If that means white mommy cat is a + carrier, I will not object to putting her down. I can not be responsible for her possibly infecting the whole neighborhood.

For the MALE CAT who impregnated white mommy cat, he was abandoned by his owners. I do not know if I can legally do anything about it at this point.


I am in contact with the NJSPCA and I am likely going to be pressing charges against the owner of the un-neutered male cat for neglect.



HELP ME :sad::sad::sad::sad: WHAT DO I DO? I've been really good with doing the whole quarantine thing and I've done testing in the past and so far everyone has been negative.


I know I might have just confused everyone with my rather large cat family tree sorry about that.

Tripod is Three Legged Missy's brother. He has been tested in the past and was FIV/FeLV-. That means she was as well. Since the male that got her should be negative as well... hopefully I have not brought FeLV into the house.



Again, all of my cats are healthy and have been healthy since forever. The kittens were sick but were cleared up with Clavamox. That I am told is a good sign as FeLV kittens would have just died.



PLEASE REMEMBER I am still young and I know I act pretty mature for my age but not for something like this. I really just need a reality check and don't scare me by being like "oh yeah there going to die" or something.

Buddy is getting tested tomorrow. The shelter offered to get me the FeLV vaccine very cheap. They don't usually carry it but they said for me they would order it and sell it to me for as cheap as they can and not charge me for anything else. They are being very nice and helpful and they said right now the risk was low, and something would have shown up by now for my cats , they would like to test them anyways for 25$ a test.

I've heard lots of bad things about the vaccine though. Is it worth it?


If Buddy tests negative and Three Legged Missy tests negative, I am either bringing them into the house or getting the vaccine. They hate being in the house but I really don't care as long as I keep them healthy.


I really wasn't expecting this.
little kittens that are dying from this

[growler~GateKeeper]

I think you should get Buddy, Three Legged Missy & White Mommy cat tested asap. Worry about the male after you get these test results back - how wary is he about the trap? Think he may be easy to catch?

Regarding Buddy catching it from his mom:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...S=0&C=0&A=1482
Feline leukemia virus infection (FeLV) can be transmitted several ways:

1. by the saliva of infected cats contaminating the eye, mouth, and nose membranes of non-infected cats via licking.
2. by passing infected blood to non-infected cats.
3. from mother to fetuses (developing kittens) during pregnancy.

unless she is grooming him or got into a blood letting fight he may not have caught it from her - if she has it.

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.

The good news about the FeLk it is a retrovirus that is quite unstable outside the carrier/host it is destroyed within minutes & by most disinfectants


It is also possible the male that the county shelter pts may not have been tested since he was so aggressive & they were going to euthanize anyways. Can you call over there & ask if he was tested & for the results?

baby s

[kathryn]

I don't know his ID number and since I had several cats sent over there it's unlikely they would know what I was talking about.

My outside cats share a waterbowl, but my mom washed it out once or twice daily and we usually used Dawn dish soap or bleach to wash up out back.

She never really groomed him. They never had much contact.

The thing is if Buddy is negative Three Legged Missy will be as well. I'm pretty sure she is though since the whole situation with her babies getting URI's and not dying from them. One of the kittens who was adopted went to the vets yesterday. I am in contact with the lady and was like, hey could you just help me put my mind at ease and take the kitty to the vets for a checkup? She was very nice and got right on it. He had no fever or anything wrong. He had a couple sneezes but the vet put that as just regular ol' sneezes and they don't mean a thing. So that helped me calm down a little.

It's not even 5am and I woke up already because I had a horrible dream. I just had a dream where they were taking the blood out of my cats and putting them on the little test things and it kept coming back positive. So now I'm running on a few hours sleep and a massive stomach ache from waking up so upset.

I hope my poor little Buddy didn't catch it :sad: My cats are my life and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if they died from something stupid like this.




I reported the bad 'owners' to the NJSPCA and they will be coming out to investigate.



Should I get the vaccine for Buddy + Three Legged Missy? I just want to do what's best for them and the situation. If I get them vaccinated I might as well just get all the cats vaccinated. The shelter said they would order a tray for me. So if they order me a tray of 10 or something I might as well just bring in 10 outside cats and use up all of the needles.

I'm so glad I have the shelter helping me out... they aren't marking anything up for me and are not charging for labor or anything. I'm just paying the flat cost of whatever I need.

[kathryn]

I'm leaving in about 2-3 hours to go get him tested and I really need to know if I should have them order the vaccine or not. =/

[sugarcatmom]

Hope I'm not too late, but if you do choose to get them vaccinated, it would be best to use the non-adjuvanted Vet-Jet vaccine from Merial called Purevax. The adjuvanted injectable vaccines are the ones associated with sarcomas.

http://www.vas-awareness.org/vaxreccs.htm

Feline Leukemia Virus

Feline leukemia virus. Feline leukemia virus is abbreviated FeLV. It is the leading viral killer of cats. It is spread from cat-to-cat through mutual grooming, shared food or water dishes, bite wounds, direct contact with infected cats, and/or from an infected mother cat to her kittens. Kittens and young adult cats the most susceptible to infection. Cats at greatest risk for FeLV are outdoor cats, cats that live in environments with other cats going outside, cats living with other FeLV-infected cats, and cats in homes where the FeLV status of other cats in the house is unknown. Resistance to FeLV increases as kittens mature to adulthood. Adult cats are more likely to be relatively resistant to FeLV, and less than 5% of adult cats, regardless of whether they are a pet or wild, are actually infected with FeLV. However, this resistance is not absolute, and adult cats may still become infected with FeLV if not vaccinated.

FeLV vaccines are available as an adjuvanted injectable vaccine or without adjuvant as a transdermal, non-injectable vaccine, called Purevax ®Vet-Jet ™ by Merial. FeLV vaccines, especially those containing adjuvant, have been linked to feline vaccine-associated sarcoma.

The FeLV vaccine is considered “noncore”, meaning that it should only be administered to cats at risk of exposure to the virus. “At risk” cats include outdoor cats, indoor cats exposed to outdoor cats, cats living in multiple-cat environments where incoming cats are not tested for FeLV, or cats living in the same environment with cats known to be infected with FeLV.

Discuss your cat’s age, environment and risk of exposure with your vet. Vaccination against FeLV is recommended for cats that are at risk of exposure. Kittens may begin vaccination as early as 8 weeks of age, with a second dose given 3-4 weeks later. For kittens that don’t receive their first FeLV vaccine until after the age of 16 weeks, 2 doses are recommended, 3-4 weeks apart. Following these initial vaccinations, annual revaccination is recommended in cats at risk of exposure to FeLV. This vaccine is available. FeLV shots should be administered SC on the lateral side of the left hind limb below the stifle (knee) joint.

Dr Lee's previous posts on the matter:
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....hlight=purevax
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....ine#post449767

[kathryn]

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

Hope I'm not too late, but if you do choose to get them vaccinated, it would be best to use the non-adjuvanted Vet-Jet vaccine from Merial called Purevax. The adjuvanted injectable vaccines are the ones associated with Vaccine Associated Sarcomas.

http://www.vas-awareness.org/vaxreccs.htm


Dr Lee's previous posts on the matter:
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....hlight=purevax
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....ine#post449767

Thanks I'm going to see if they can get that one for me. if they can't I'll just ask my vet to order for it.

[kathryn]

NEGATIVE!!!! For both!!!

Jessie is going to call Merial and try to order the one you guys suggested. She said it should be fine.

I was seriously freaking out!!! My poor Buddy got there and they went to draw his blood and he got so nervous he pooped all over the place.


I am so relieved. I'm getting Three Legged Missy and Buddy vaccinated. I'm also going to ask my neighbor if she would please vaccinate her two cats if it's not that expensive. It sounds like this vaccine is going to be a bit more expensive but I told her I really don't care.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by kathryn

NEGATIVE!!!! For both!!!

Phew! What a relief that is. It's pretty scary to think that your kitties could contract something as horrible as feline leukemia. I had a cat in the 80s, before there was a FeLV vax, that came down with it (he was a stray tom-cat when he found me). He had to be PTS when we discovered his esophagus was filled with tumors. It absolutely devasted me (I was around 12 at the time). Tommy.

[kathryn]

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

Phew! What a relief that is. It's pretty scary to think that your kitties could contract something as horrible as feline leukemia. I had a cat in the 80s, before there was a FeLV vax, that came down with it (he was a stray tom-cat when he found me). He had to be PTS when we discovered his esophagus was filled with tumors. It absolutely devasted me (I was around 12 at the time). Tommy.

Aww that's awful!

All of my cats have some allergies lately but of course the little sniffle sniffle achoo here and there has still got me on edge. You'd think the negative test would have made this go away, but eh... I'm over protective of my little babies And considering they had this same problem back in Feb-March when the seasons were changing...

I'm still just spazzed out. And I feel awful for little Alex!




I thought they would all be okay :sad:

[growler~GateKeeper]

Kathryn that's great news about Buddy & Three Legged Missy

Any luck catching White Mommy Cat for testing?

[kathryn]

Originally Posted by growler

Any luck catching White Mommy Cat for testing?

We haven't decided what to do. I'm thinking that poor little Alex actually caught FeLV at the shelter! When I was there several weeks ago, he and Allan were in the quarantine/intake room. In the cage below them were some very very sick kittens. 2 of the kittens had already died the day I got there and the other ones refused to eat or drink or even move. I had to help tube feed them and give them fluids.

I think that somehow a transfer happened and maybe when we were taking one of the sick ones out of their cage they spit boogers into Alex's holding cage and it got in his water or something.

I think the last 3 kittens died as it is so FeLV seems likely. =/

I also feel like I may have cross contaminated because I was washing my hands and sanitizing but maybe I screwed up and after touching one of the sick ones was like "oh hi Alex!" and gave him a quick pat on the head. It has been enough time since them for that to be possible that he caught it that way.

I'll have to see if the other littermates that did not go to the shelter yet had FeLV.


Oh and what I'm rambling about is White Mommy Cat just had a litter of kittens a few days ago and we can't find them. We keep trying to get her spayed but she thinks she's to smart for us

If she tests positive we were likely going to have her euthanized (never thought I'd have to say that about one of my ferals!), but if her babies are out there, it'd be wrong of me to have them die by starving, exposure, being eaten etc. We were waiting to find the babies first so if they all have FeLV I could just have them put down humanely vs the babies dying horrible deaths out in the woods.

If they are negative obviously I'd just take over with the kittens bottle feeding her and get her an emergency spay so I don't have to deal with this anymore!