A question about feline leukemia?
Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at
1:36 am
An adorable kitten entered my life. He looks about 10 weeks old and appears healthy. Good weight and no fleas or ear mites. He was in an isolated abandoned junk yard. I hope to get him to the vet as soon as possible for a check up and shots. But in the meantime I worry. How likely is it that he could have feline leukemia? I have two other cats not vaccinated for this disease.
Filed under: Pet Insurance
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If he was wild or strayed then its very POSSIBLE. I would have kept him isolated until a vet could be seen as its HIGHLY contagious.
Only a blood test will tell for sure. You should keep him away from the other cats until tested to be safe. I hope he doesn’t have it.
keep him isolated from your cats until he has been tested. it is a simple and cheap blood test. he could have it and then again he could not but this is something that I would not take a chance of my other cats getting. make sure he has his own room, litter box, toys, food bowls…etc. until you know for sure.
I was given a cat that happened to be PG when we got her. She was having seizures, and acting rather strange( I have personal knowledge of seizures). Anyway, she had her litter, and went off to die. I was left to bottle feed 6 babies. I nursed them like we did the calves that lost their moms’, so I knew the routine, One by one they all died to no avail, and then I was down to 1. That 1 I carried everywhere with me (like an infant)and it lived for about 8-10 wks when it had the worst seizure of them all, and died. I was devastated because I tried everything, but nothing worked. Feline leukemia is very fatal. Please be careful, and try not to get attached until the vet checks it out. If it has leukemia you will need to have it put down. The vet said there is nothing you can do. Good Luck
According to my vet FLV affects about 30 percent of the feral/stray population. Vets vary about when to test in kittens as the disease can incubate & you could get a false reading. My kitten was tested at 6 months & will be again at 12 months. It’s up to you if you get him tested when you have his initial exam done, just a good idea to have him tested again 6 months latter. I’m surprised he doesn’t have fleas unless you live in a cold climate. I would still get a flea comb & see if there arn’t one or two in his fur ( or flea dirt..poop), smash whatever comes off the comb in a wet paper towel & if it turns dark red, he’s got em. Which also means worms( they can have them w/o fleas from eating rodents,birds trash)…only a few are detectable to the human eye & only vet prescribed de-wormers & flea treatments are the safest. Don’t stress the FLV test, you’ll have it done & move on from there. My vet had a FLV cat for 9 years & vaccinated his other felines against it. Thing is with FLV cats whenever they get anything you want to take them in for antibiotics or what have you, w/o delay so their not compromised further. All the best