anybody had to deal with feline leukemia?

hi everyone...... im really hoping someone can lend some support emotionaly as well as information. I have two cats morris (about 3 yrs) and celeste (about 7 yrs). celeste was just (last night) diagnosed with feline leuk. They are both indoor kitties and i don't understand how this has happened! so here is my question, because i think there is a vet trying to pull the whool over my eyes. Can a cat be given a faulse negative three years ago thats when i got both of them, and now because of stress the virus become active! My current vet seems to be trying to cover my vet in canadas butt by talking in circuls and never answering this question, and a woman i worked for who i think could be responsible for this mess is standing by that story!!!! The other thing for anyone who may know is how can i make them more comfortable... celeste has gingivitis (which is what prompted this blood test). And is there any thing i can give them to help build up their immune system?

I wish I had good answers to your questions, but in this area I am pretty useless. It is not anything that I have ahad to deal with, sorry.:( I hope someone else can give you a good answer, we do have alot of very knowledgeable people on this board.

I would get a second opinion from another vet though. Even if I trust a vet, I always get a second opinion if it is dealing with something major and I have the time to do so. I would really do it in this case since you are not getting answers that you like from the current one.

However, I did want to send good thoughts to you and your kitties. They really are cuties.:)

I dont know about the false negative question. That's something for the experts (a vet) to answer.

Yes, I have lost a kitty to Feline Leukemia. Our dear Butterscotch, was a stray before we took him into our home 5 years ago.

Was your kitty a stray? You see it in strays allot. Strays fight.

It is contagious through body fluids (blood, (litterboes), food dishes, water dishes).

Unfortunately, the gums and breathing problems made themselves clear in our case within 4 1/2 days of his passing. It went that fast. We tried the steriod and antibotic treatments (one round of shots, one round of pills is all we were able to do).

Heres some helpful information Feline Leukemia

im not sure of celeste because she came from the humane society, but i called there today and they assured me she was tested before going out for adoption, and morris who knows he i was told by a friend at the time came from a house over run with cats.... he was only 5 weeks when i got him and kinda pathetic... vet wanted me to put him down because we could not gethim to gain weight. He just needed a bit more time and celeste to stop hissing every time she walked past him! once they where getting along all was good she plays mommy now! but he was tested at about 5 months and was negative. So i don't know..... my mom has to have her kitty tested as well because there is only one other option.
the vet in canada gave me a cat darling who i was told was healthy, and the owners wanted put down, but she wouldn't! so when i saw her i said i'd take her...... she was healthy according to this vet! only 6 months later she needed to be put to sleep because an emergency vet told me she was rooting from the inside out after a day of being sick!
so the common denominator is darling... my cats and my moms cat have never been in contact!
now how should i go about holding this vet accountable if that is the case?

I emailed this thread to Queen

You hit one wrong key on the key board and message is sent while yelling "NO!"
To finish... sent to QueenScoopalot who has links to websites re: luekemia (maybe you've already read them all by now!). She has a friend who adopted a luekemic cat who is now testing neg because of the diet the owner put the cat on. this diet is now being given to another stray (same people adopted) that QSL rescued (a siamese tom cat, positive for luekemia) and hopefully he too will test negative!
good luck! the trick is to build their immune systems!

I have heard that if an older cat has feline leukemia, it can be manageable. I have a friend with a cat who's 14 (I think) and he's had this for quite a long time. She has to keep after his teeth and gums, and uses a holistic vet which seems to work for her. Good luck!

FLV is more contagious than FIV. You might want to give your negative cat the FLV shots, even though they are only about 75% effective, it's better than nothing.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by smokey the elder
I have heard that if an older cat has feline leukemia, it can be manageable. I have a friend with a cat who's 14 (I think) and he's had this for quite a long time. She has to keep after his teeth and gums, and uses a holistic vet which seems to work for her. Good luck!

Our vet mentioned that stat to us that kitties can live years, he didnt mention age bracket. That helped me make the decision to at least try medications. However, he stated it's not "ground in stone" theory. Allot of factors go into that stat to make it real. Unfortunately, RB Buttterscotch was 7 yrs old maybe 8 (there was some conflict of age since he was a stray) and that stat didn't pan out for us. :( I we miss him daily but know he is in a better place and free of pain. :)

talked to the vet again today because they had sent the blood to be tested a 2nd time..... and it is positive. i am putting celeste on interferium... to help keep her immune system up, and yip... gonna start brushing her teeth. Morris goes in on thursday for his test, and my moms cat princess goes in for hers on monday! if it turns out princess has it i have been told as of today there is very little chance that they had it b4 tested neg and because of stress the virus is bering found now that means it was darling the cat from the canadian vet, and yet she swore she was healthy. mom is also going to the hospital that put her to sleep to see if they took blood work, and if she was positive we know the source of all this!
so then i just have to figure out how to hold that vet accountable!

thank you everyone for your help

Unfortunately no one can 100% quarantee an animal is healthy. If they can I'd like to meet that vet. We do the best we can with the information given to us. I hate to assume but from what you've posted so far your gathering information for vet accountablity? Is this to possibly sue the vet? Do you think that is necessary?

the vet asked me to take the cat because the previous owner had to be placed in permantent hospital care. she told me this cat was healthy and was aware i had cats at home! If she had not tested the cat she never should have made the assumption this cat was healthy..... and because of her neglagince she has made 3 other cats sick. i do feel this is neglagent, the only thing i expect is help with my vet bills which would never have been if not for her neglagince! I Had two very healthy strictly indoor cats as did my mother! and now they have a deadly virus with no cure and only treatment! I CAME ON HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO HELP MY CATS!!!! fortunatly in canada people don't sue for the sake of sueing! I don't want to see this vet causing harm to another persons family!!!! And having worked for her ... and leaving because after 3 weeks i didn't like what i saw....... this is the icing on the cake!

if she wants to help addopt cats or any other animal out, just a shelter does she should be doing tests...... and she obviously didn't!

I understand your frustration. However, it was not necessary to shout in all caps that you wanted to come to this forum to get help.

We are all here to help and give information and share our experiences with medical issues in this particular forum. I will be glad to share what experience I have had with Feline Leukemia.


But if your looking for legal advise, sorry I'm not qualified maybe someone else can help. I was just curious as to what your next move would be and now I'm sorry I asked.

Good luck with your kittys.

craft lady, im sorry there have been miss understandings. by no means am i asking anyone in this forum for legal advise, i have a lawyer i can call if and when the time is right, and hopefully that time will never have to come. I am here seeking advise from people on this deadly virus, because unfortunatly it seems i have three doctors all saying different things. and so i am hoping if one person can give the same info as one doc, then i have a better idea of how this happened. I just want my kitties to be as comfortable and happy as possible. If there are steps i can take that maybe haven't been recomended to me i am open to suggestions. so again i appologise if i have represented my self wrong, and not been clear enough!

Your frustration and anger at this situation is very understandable. Thank you for apologizing because I too wasn't sure where you were going or exactly what you were looking for. It's so hard sometimes to write words when people can't see or hear tones and inflections. Sometimes people sound mad or upset when in their minds they didn't mean it that way. I commend you for apologizing and explaining yourself.

There are a lot of people on this board that can supply tons of information. Just hang on and give people time to see this and I promise you will get lots of info.

I'm sorry you had to experience this because it sounds like you did everything in your power to keep your kitties safe. It's very sad that this had to happen to a very responsible pet owner.

Best of luck to you and I hope your babies stay healthy and happy for many years to come. Hold on and the experts will eventually see this and have lots of helpful info.


By the way: Welcome to PT!! I wish it were under better circumstances though.

thank you for your understanding, and once again thank you for your support!

the only other thing i am curiouse about if any one knows is this transferable to ferrets? i figure no but they can share other things so i was kinda wondering!

Ferrets can get it too, I would say just taking educated guess that they might be higher carriers of the disease, since they are roaming wild. They fight and bite breaking the skin and swap blood and body fluids.

ok ..... here is what may just be the best news ive had.... i found out about a herbal supplement called modupet. It comes from affrica, and a vet a friend of the famile knows apparently has been using it for years, although it is seeming hard to come by! in test groups cats where living up to 15 yrs on this med, there are no side effects when mixed with other drugs, and is also used for irretable bowel in cats! this is not a cure but a treatment to keep upth immune system. the other thing i just learned is that this virus can lay dorment for many years and undetected unless you have a dna test done, the anti body test van be wrong for both faulse neg and faulse positive! So now i have to convince my vet here to give it a try, apparently she has never heard of it!