I'm confused by feline leukemia testing

[kt_luvs_kitties]

I am so sorry about Gary.

Like Jenn said, false positive can happen ( and DO often) but not false negative...

I have a possible Leukemia positive boy I am fostering right now. I just make sure that he does not come into contact with my cats ( he is in my bathroom) and I wash my hands after loving on him. I dont buy into it can be spread that easily. He is showing no signs or symptoms, no snot etc... So I cant worry about that.



FIV is no big deal IMO. They live fairly regular lives, and I am 100% supportive of FIV+ living with non FIV+ cats. It does work, and I hope one day, I can have a FIV of my own, but I cant at this moment.

Again so sorry about Gary.

[jennielynn1970]

I have an FIV+ boy living with me right now. HOneybun. He looks ancient, but that might just be because of the virus, but he's spunky as all get out and a total pain in the butt. He's about 14yrs old. He doesn't fight, doesn't bite (not a lot of teeth left... another FIV thing).

I had one foster, Piglet, who was adorable. He tested positive 2xs for his owner, then 1x when I took him in. He was retested about a year later when he was about 1 1/2 yrs old and he was negative. We retested him 2xs afterwards, and negative each consecutive time.

The previous owner did say his momma was pregnant, so it is possible that he fought it off and then became negative.


I've heard of that happening with AIDS babies as well.

[Moesha]

Here's my concern. When I take Jose (or any of the others for that matter) in for his boosters and have him tested for leukemia, because that is what Gary tested positive for, could he show positive because he's had the vaccination before but really not have the disease?

And what if for some reason Linus tests positive? They have Cooter in their household already.

[smokey the elder]

A cat doesn't test positive for FLV if he's had the shots.

FLV is contagious though saliva, but the virus only survives for a few hours exposed to air. Standard soap and water cleaning (a little bleach couldn't hurt) should make dishes and boxes safe for other cats.

I have four kittens (now 8 months old and huge!) who tested positive at 8 weeks and 6 months, but are asymptomatic. Tbey are isolated from the other cats.

[Catlady711]

A cat doesn't test positive for FLV if he's had the shots.

My understanding is that waaaay back when the FELV vax first came out they would show positive when they were simply vaccinated, but that is no longer the case.

No vaccine (human or animal) is 100% effective, but to be labled as a vaccine I believe they have to show a 90% or higher effectiveness against the disease when challenged with it. Despite vaccines not being 100% fullproof, they are the best protection available and are definately worth it.

Where I work cats with unknown histories (strays etc) are tested for FELV/FIV and then re-tested 6-8 weeks later to verify the results (regardless if negative or positive). The purpose of the retest on a negative or new cat is that it takes a while for the diseas to show up on a test after they are exposed. An immediate test wouldn't necessarily show if they've contracted the disease yet or not but would show if they've previously contracted the disease, hence the re-tests.

I've never heard of a false negative ever, we only see a very rare false positive, I mean like 1 every other year or two.

[catmandu]

That is cofusing as I used to have My Found Cats take the nasal drops for FIP, until two breeders said that those drops made my Cats more likely to get FIP, not the other way around, something our Vet confirmed.
Why was I paying money to put The Found Cats at risk.

[Moesha]

I went in to the vet's office today and asked them. They told me things very similiar to what Catlady711 said. The vet tech said that a false positive is VERY rare, although not impossible. She also said that while the vaccines aren't 100% guaranteed to prevent infection they are very helpful. They've never had a cat that was properly vaccinated contract leukemia and they've had several challenged. Those were her exact words, the same ones Catlady used. I've never had one of mine retested. They've never mentioned that as a possibility even. I asked about Jose because he is about 6 weeks late with his shots, and they weren't too concerned. If it had been closer to a year, then they would have been. I have an appointment to take him in first thing tomorrow for his vaccinations. I would have taken him on time, except there was no way for me to get him without risking scaring Gary away for days or weeks and getting Gary vaccinated and neutered was my priority. I hope all goes well with the crew. That's all I can do at this point. I kept waking up last night afraid of all the possibilities that could happen with leukemia running through my whole crew.

[Lizzie]

I can only post my experience.

About 14 years ago, I fostered three 3-week-old kittens, one of whom tested positive to FeLV at 7 weeks. Three weeks later, he was re-tested, still positive, his sister then tested positive and their brother was negative. The positive kittens were re-tested a few more times and always positive. The brother (Ted) tested negative all his life in spite of living with his sister. The first kitten to test positive (Roo) died at 10 months. The female (Seshat) lived for 7 years. After Roo died and she lost her companion, the vet told me that as long as my cats had already been vaccinated against FeLV, and their vaccinations stayed current, it was probable that they would not contract the virus since they were all adults (about 4-8 years old) and had been strays. This proved to be perfectly correct. Seshat lived with the other cats, sharing everything, and none of the 8 cats she lived with ever contracted FeLV. They died of renal failure, heart disease, etc. in their late teens, and Ginger is now in her 23rd year. In fact, none received their booster shot after the first 4 years because some became ill afterwards, and there was an injection site sarcoma scare.

Last year, I fostered nine kittens that came from a very poor home and were in pretty bad shape when they came to me. One had tested positive to FeLV, the shelter didn't test the others. After four months, they were all tested and all were negative. However, their bad beginnings did do harm to their immune systems since three of them contracted FIP while at the adoption center.

Isn't it FIV that can show positive when a cat has been vaccinated against it?

I'm with Jenn and others on FIV and sharing. It doesn't even occur to me to be concerned about my big FIV+ boys mixing with my own and foster non-FIV cats. Calling it feline AIDS makes it sound far more scary and serious than it really is, and is a great dis-service to FIV+ cats who are longing for their own homes.