A look at FeLV aka Feline Leukemia

When you spend any time around cats without homes, you run into the illnesses that affect them. Most of them are described in acronyms; FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus), Felv (Feline Leukemia), FIP (Feline infectious peritonitis), Feline coronavirus (FoCV), just to name a few. Today I want to take a look at FeLV commonly known as Feline Leukemia.

Jack - exposed and diagnosed with FeLV in 2003/ FeLV- in 2004

Feline Leukemia is unlike leukemia in many ways, so the fact that they have the same name is very misleading. Leukemia is cancer of the body's blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system.¹ Feline leukemia is a retrovirus, a virus that changes their genetic characteristics, that can cause tumors (mainly lymphoma), bone marrow suppression syndromes (mainly anemia), and lead to secondary infectious diseases caused by suppressive effects of the virus on bone marrow and the immune system.²

FeLV is less common now than it was twenty years ago. The experts believe it is due to better testing and proper management of cats who are found to be positive to prevent them from spreading the disease. There is also a vaccine for FeLV that is 80-90% effective so if your cat is free roaming and comes in contact with a FeLV+ cat their chances of contracting the disease is greatly reduced.

Our knowledge of FeLV continually evolves. When it was first discovered, many assumed it was an automatic death sentence. Unfortunately, many vets and shelters still subscribe to this philosophy thinking they are saving the cat from a painful death and preventing the spread of the disease. But with the information we now know, euthanizing a cat simply because it tests positive is happening far less.

We do know that the virus is communicable and that cats pass the feline leukemia virus to other kitties through saliva, nasal secretions, urine, feces, prior to birth from an infected mom or after birth from her milk, through bite wounds, via grooming of each other, and by sharing food dishes and litter boxes.³ It was once thought that the virus was quite hardy and that it would survive in the environment for a long time but they found out that it can only survive a few hours at most.³ and some people believe that it only lasts a few minutes.⁴  So if you come in contact with a FeLV+ cat, it would be highly unlikely that you could bring that virus home to your cats.

We also know that cats who do test positive can live long happy healthy lives⁵. Not every case of infection is active. While we can't say for certain they will survive their normal lifespan, we can't guarantee that for any cat. My cat, Kit, passed away at age nine from cancer. My other cat Ollie passed away from vaccine-induced sarcoma at age eleven.

As something to consider, there has been some work with FeLV and Vitamin C⁶. Dr. Wendell O Belfield had some pretty interesting success stories regarding FeLV and FIV and vitamin C. I know that the veterinarian community as a whole is not convinced that it helps, but read Dr. Belfield's book, you will find it fascinating. If you are willing to think outside the box, it might help you as well.

FrankenJack

So I brought Jack into work today, and because of the location of the lump, they recommended that we remove and biopsy the lump. So they did..


Turns out it was just a cyst.. so there is nothing at all to worry about, except taking the stitches out..

However

There is even better news. While he was there I asked them to test him once again for Felv. As longtime readers know, Jack is FeLV +.. or at least he was.. he's NOT ANYMORE!! YAHOOIE!! *does silly happy dance* So for the fun of it, I had them retest his FIP titers. We won't have those results for a couple of days, but hey.. a girl can hope.

I'm going to bring Emerald in tomorrow for a follow up on her bladder infection, to get an accurate blood sugar reading, and her vaccines. Now the question is, should I booster her FeLV vaccine?

(update 2016 - "FIP titres" are a waste of time and money don't do them. They are pointless.)

Pumpkin and Giz were adopted

Pumpkin and Giz were adopted today. :) I had a couple people looking at Gimmie, but sadly she didn't get adopted today. I am going to go back tomorrow and try and find her the perfect home. I am very much wanting it to be my home, but sadly I can't bring any more cats into the house due to the fact that Jack is Felv positive, and the FIP.. *sigh*

Tonight driving home from the movies we hit a kitty running across the road. The cat ran off, so we have no idea how injured it is.. hopefully not very. Totally shook me emotionally, though. Driving home from that, I saw a couple more kitties dead on the side of the road.

I really hate people.

vet visit

well.. We made the trip to the vets yesterday.. Was an interesting time, that's for certain. I brought the carriers up early, jack ran right in one and sat down.. that boy loves to travel. I then got out the treats to ensure that Em and Ollie didn't run away. I think they knew something was coming, but the treat is a powerful thing, so they continued to hang out on the bed. When the hubby came home, they were still there, and he was amazed. I took Em, and he took Ollie, who made a mad dash for it, but we caught him (ha ha ha) When Em saw the carriers she started to whine. The hubby stuffed Ollie in his carrier, then had to grab him again as Ol made a mad dash to get out. Getting him in wasn't nearly as hard as shutting the door. Ollie kept sticking his paws out the side, so we'd have to push them back in or risk pinching them. Em wasn't too keen to get in hers either, but at least once she was in she just sat there mewing pathetically.

Jack was once again in his carrier. I went for Eli, who was fine till I went to pick him up, then he jumped (like when you startle someone) and tried to get away. I was too quick for him though *grin* and we put him in the larger carrier with Jack. Then had to track down muffin.. which was easier than I thought it would be. Getting her in the carrier with jack and eli though wasn't a pretty site, cause eli wanted to get out. But we eventually got them all in and we were off.

And of course Em was howling the whole way down there. We found that if we don't talk during the car ride she stops crying. I guess she thinks we aren't there? No.. cause last time she could see me the whole way. The vet visit was pretty uneventful. Everyone looks good. The doc did a swab on eli's ear.. pulled out a huge gob of gunk. *sigh* She thinks its still just getting clean from the bad case of ear mites though. I'm going to clean them often and if they don't clear up I'll take him back and discuss other options.

Jack is still positive for leukemia. *sigh* Poor boy doesn't know how to fail at anything..
Em weighs 16.1 lbs
Ollie weighs 9.8
Jack 9.5
Eli 9.3
Muffin 7.8 (she was five lbs five weeks ago.. she's a little weed that one) Ollie definitely needs to put on a bit more weight.. maine coon's are supposed to weigh around 15lbs.. I'm sure in time he will.

I woke up a little early this morning. Immediately had muffin there wanting some attention. Then Jack. Then Em, then Ollie. Was 9 am before I got out of bed... when I did I found that they had found the bag of feathers again. grrr.. man those kitties are determined.

I've decided today I'm going to find all of their kitty balls. or at least as many as possible. They are amazing when it comes to hiding things. There are at least 15 jingly balls and 6 ping pong balls in this house somewhere. I am not a big surprised though. this group of kitties hid balls in my tiny - no closet - kitten room, that i have STILL not found.

Felv vaccines

apparently none of my kitties have been vaccinated against leukemia. The vet said we refused it because they don't go outside. Now.. this MIGHT be true for Ollie, but neither my hubby or I remember being asked for either Jack or the three pack we most recently adopted*. The vet can't get them in till Wednesday. They also recommend we isolate jack. which we did, and it is TOTALLY breaking my heart. I'm so incredibly pissed off at them that we are going to call the shelter clinic in the morning and see if they can get us in any earlier.

I can't imagine I would turn down such a vaccination knowing that I am fostering kittens.

Goodbye Kodi

took Kodi to the vets this afternoon. I held him the whole way down, he cuddled into me. He seemed to be doing quite a bit better this morning and ate quite a bit, although he had two large lumps in his stomach area, and his good eye was becoming quite bloody. The vet took one look at him and came to the conclusion that I came to yesterday. She said there were things that we could do for him, but even if they worked, chances are that it wouldn't work for long and he'd soon be suffering again. As much as I didn't want to let him go, I had to. She took him and put a catheter in his arm. She asked if I wanted to be with him when they put him down, and I said yes... then I said no.. but I knew I had to. Years ago I was there for a stray I took in Melody, and Id never forgive myself if I wasn't there for him. We talked about a few other things (later) and then the time came. She was very good about keeping the catheter out of my line of site.it wasn't a pretty thing to see. I held and kissed his head, and patted his tummy (the best I could) while she injected him. a moment later he shuttered, and was gone. It was unbelievably hard to leave him there.

We talked about the tests that were run on the other kitties. since both FIP and leukemia are both highly contagious, we took the other cats in last Monday to be tested. Due to some break down in communications, we didn't get the results until this evening. Everyone in the household "tested positive for FIP"*. Muffin and Eli had the lowest "titre" count. Em had a moderate one. Jack and Ollie had a high count. the high count was around 1 to 500. Kodi's was in the thousands.

One tested positive for Leukemia - jack.

Unfortunately, FIP is very hard to diagnose. The only test they have counts the titres in the cats blood. titres from my understanding are basically antibodies to the disease... meaning they have been exposed. Simply because they have been exposed does not mean they will come down with the disease.
It doesn't even mean they will be a carrier. However both are possibilities. And sadly there is no sure way to know for sure.
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/health/FIP.html
http://www.hdw-inc.com/healthfip.htm

Now. Jack also has the issue of leukemia. This too might just be a false positive due to the exposure. Its a very very slim possibility.

Right now everyone is healthy, and happy and that is what matters. The vet recommends we test them all again in six weeks to get a comparison level for their titres.
It wont give us a lot of information, but it might give us some.

Right now.. its cleaning and bleach time. Seems kinda silly since they already have it.. but ..

this also appears to have put an end to my fostering days. this too is very distressing.

Muffin is sitting on the cat tree being unbelievably cute.. and here comes Em. I think its time to get off line and spend some quality time with my kitties.

*update 2015 - they ran a corona virus titre test, which is NOT an FIP test, never was, never will be. It irritates me my vet didn't read into this more before she did what she did

Felv

I'm still kinda a mess, but I figure now is as good a time as any. So Andrew didn't eat on Sunday night or Monday morning. Nor was he interested in food on Monday night. I was getting concerned but I knew I was bringing them into the shelter today for their check-up anyway, so I didn't do much more than force some more food into him. Monday morning his stomach felt like he had eaten, just not when I was around, but by Monday night he seemed weak. Tuesday morning he seemed very weak and thin. He was having a hard time holding his head upright... just seemed to tilt to one side. I fed him, and he decided he wanted to jump down. I put him on the ground and he toddled off to the litter box. He seemed a little drunk. So I quickly medicated everyone except him and ran down to the shelter. They didn't like the way he was acting either so I left his sisters there while I took him to the vet. We had to wait a while, and Andrew decided to go to sleep.. and didn't I start to panic.. I kept telling him that he could not die. After losing his sister I didn't think I could handle it. The vet took a look at him and thought it might be leukemia, but thought it was a little late for it to be showing up. They started thinking it might just be an inner ear thing and started tossing around the word treatment. I was starting to hope when someone from the shelter called to tell them that his sisters tested positive, and pretty much that was that. I broke down in the vet's office. I hugged Andrew tight and eventually let him back into the carrier and back to the shelter we went. Kirsten gave me a big hug when I got there, and I broke down all over again. I know this was an emotional moment, but I didn't want to make the shelter workers feel any worse than they already did.

Andrew's sisters were still there in the carrier, so I put him back in with them and gave them all one last cuddle and hug and kissed their tummies before leaving. I'm not quite sure how I got myself out of there. Nor how I got home. I guess a lot of avoiding my feelings and denial.

Since the kits lived with the kittens, there is a chance they were infected. I need to keep them for six more weeks in case, which is the incubation period. *prays they weren't.. I have no idea how I'd survive losing them all*

(added in 2015 - FELV should not be an automatic death sentence as it was in the case of Andrew's family. Two of this litter died and it was obvious throughout my fostering of them that there were other issues. I still regret the entire family being euthanized, and if this happened today I might have fought to keep the remaining kittens with me for a few more weeks and have them tested again, but in 2002 no one would have adopted these kittens)