Feline Leukemia - Testing and Facts!

BCR is home to cats who have tested positive for feline leukemia - FELV.   There are many articles on the internet about FELV and I sincerely question the accuracy of what many of them say.  I think that the information that they decided was factual in the 60's is still gospel.

Garfield

If you take a cat to the vet and the vet test the cat for FELV & FIV,  they will use a snap test.

If the test comes back positive,  DO NOT PANIC!  and DO NOT EUTHANIZE the cat!

The snap test can be very unreliable.  If it is not stored correctly,  if it is not timed correctly,  if every step is not done exactly right,  you will get a false positive.   The vet can send the test out.  The vet will want to send it out for an Eliza test.   It is a snap test but done differently at a lab...  DO NOT DO IT!    This test will show a positive if the cat has had exposure to the FELV virus  but it still does not mean they are positive.  Believe me,  my vet and I had a long discussion about this test.  She ended up having a long conversation with the lab and discovered what I am getting ready to tell you and changed her protocol because of it.

A cat that comes back positive on Eliza may still revert to a negative,  their system may fight it off,  they may have had exposure but they are not really positive.

INSIST that the vet send the test out for a Quantum PCR.   If the PCR test is positive,  your cat is absolutely positive,  it will stay positive.  there is no going back from that.  All of our FELV+ cats are tested with the PCR Test.   To show you how frustrating these tests can be,  Journey tested positive on snap,  negative with Eliza,  Positive IFA.   Negative PCR. So is she positive or negative? The quantum PCR not only verifies they are positive or not, but it will tell you how much leukemia is in their blood. You know exactly what stage they are in. Do NOT freak out in the number is in the hundreds, we have seen it as high as 7000. We use to test with the IFA test, which verifies that the leukemia is in their bone marrow. The new PCR test is now the gold standard test.

Liza

How long does an FELV+ cat live?   Depends on many factors,   Do they actually have it  or are they a carrier.  No way to know which one they are,  it is just a fact.  I have a 12 year old FELV+ cat living in my house.  He has tested IFA positive (The PCR Was not available then) every time tested.   He is a carrier and for what ever reason,  his body has not reacted to the virus, yet.  The average life span is approx 3-5 years old.   Providing good food,  good medical care, parasite control, etc...  you may get several years longer,  you may get much less.  

We have had some not live 1 year, Sadly most of those cats develop FIP or lymphoma.   we have many that make it 5+ years. We have one right now that is 8. What we have found is the younger ones that are born with it, the majority do not do well fighting off. If they get it after they have had an opportunity to develop an immune system they may get longer. Now that there is a cure for FIP you may be able to give them more time. It is just a crap shoot with FELV cats. Every one is different.

Wendy

Can they have good quality of life or are they sickly the whole time?    Most are not sickly at all until the virus becomes active and the progress to death.   Most have a very good quality of life until that point.

Joey & Peg

How does it spread?  That is something I disagree with what is written out there.  The other sites say grooming, food bowls, water,  practically everything but air.  I know many people that have vaccinated their negative cats against FELV,  they live with their positives and the negatives stay negative, the positive stays positive.   That is the same in my house.  I have Salem who is IFA positive, but the others that have lived with him their whole lives are still negative.  So I do not know how it really is spread.  I know being born with it to a positive mom is one way,  I suspect grooming is another way, I will not say any of the others you will read out there are fact until you show me a current test proving it. We do know for a fact that the felv vaccine DOES WORK. They get the first two, 21 days apart and then a yearly booster. We have had a group of negatives living with positives for 5 years now that are vaccinated for it and none of them have gotten it. Obviously the vaccine is doing its job.

Journey

Are there any treatments?   There are several that have come out and claim all kinds of cures etc.  There are things that are supposed to help build the immune system, etc.  We have tried them all,  other FELV shelters have tried them all,  and we all agree the only thing they do is make us spend lots of money.   We spent almost $10,000 trying several of the different treatments.  Of the cats they were tried on,  4 have passed away,  2 are still alive but still test positive.

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