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Archive-name: cats-faq/leukemia Last-modified: 13 Nov 1994 ======= The latest versions of these FAQ's may be obtained via the Web at http://io.com/user/tittle/cats-faq/homepage.html. The multiple posted (ASCII) parts of the FAQ are all archived at rtfm.mit.edu (18.181.0.24) in the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/cats-faq. The files are: table-of-contents, getting-a-cat, general-care, health-care, medical-info, outside-world, behavior, misc, and resources. To obtain the files, first try ftp to rtfm.mit.edu and look under that directory. If ftp does not work from your site, then try the mail server: send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/table-of-contents send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/getting-a-cat send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/general-care send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/health-care send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/medical-info send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/outside-world send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/behavior send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/misc send usenet/news.answers/cats-faq/resources in the body of the message (leave the subject line empty). If you don't want all of them, include only the lines of the ones you want. You do have to repeat the path information for each file. There is a FAQ dealing with the grief of losing a pet. It is generalized for all pets, and is archived at rtfm.mit.edu under /pub/usenet/news.answers/pets/pet-loss, or "sent usenet/news.answers/pets/pet-loss" to the mail-server. Finally, there is a FAQ on fleas and ticks. It is not included with the cat FAQs because it is generalized for dogs AND cats. However, it is also archived at rtfm.mit.edu, under /pub/usenet/news.answers/pets/fleas-ticks for ftp, or "send usenet/news.answers/pets/fleas-ticks" to the mail-server. ========== FELINE LEUKEMIA VIRUS FAQ (dedicated to Oliver, in the hopes they'll find a cure...soon) Contents: * General information about FeLV * If your cat has tested positive * References Authors: Written by Erin Miller [ ermiller@midway.uchicago.edu] with help from James Golczewski, Edwin Barkdoll, Cindy Tittle Moore and Jeff Parke. Additional thanks to Wilf Leblanc, Dan Kozisek, Karen Kolling, Isako Honshino and Patty Winter for their comments. The purpose of this FAQ is to answer frequently asked questions about the Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV). The Feline Leukemia Virus is a virus which suppresses your cat's immune system. A cat which becomes infected with the virus becomes susceptible to many ailments or breakdowns in its system. The virus was somewhat inappropriately named because it is different than the disease Feline Leukemia. A cat which tests positive for the virus will not necessarily contract the disease Feline Leukemia. However, cats which do test positive for the virus are more likely to catch any one of a number of diseases including, but not limited to, leukemia, lymphoma or opportunistic infections. This FAQ is divided into two parts; the first consists of information every cat owner should know or should ask about the virus. The second part is information for people whose cats have tested positive for the virus. _________________________________________________________________ PART I: General info about FeLV What is Feline Leukemia Virus and can I catch it? Feline Leukemia Virus is a retrovirus which is specific to cats only. It is considered to be the most common cause of serious illness and death in domestic cats. It causes a breakdown in your cat's immune system causing your cat to become susceptible to many diseases which it might otherwise be able to fight off. It CANNOT be transmitted to humans (including children) nor can it be transmitted to other species such as dogs. How is it transmitted? FeLV is transmitted via saliva, mucus, urine, feces and blood. This means grooming, biting, sneezing, hissing, sharing food/water bowls and sharing litter boxes are all possible means of transmission. Will I infect my healthy cat if I pet an FeLV+ cat, then pet my cat? No. FeLV needs to be transferred through the media above, and will not live long outside the host (the infected cat). Warm, dry environments will deactivate the virus and common household detergents and disinfectants will eliminate it from any contacted surfaces. What does the virus do to a cat? In sum, once the virus gains entry (usually via saliva or mucus membranes) it will reproduce in the lymph tissue which is your cat's first system of immune defense. Some cats are able to mount a successful immune response against it and defeat the virus at this stage. In cats who don't successfully destroy the virus here, the virus will then move into the bone marrow where red and white blood cells are produced. It may stay latent in the marrow for many years. After that it will attack other tissues including causing a breakdown in several stages of the immune response system. Is there a vaccine? Yes, there are several commercial vaccines available. Unfortunately the USDA does not have standard requirements for FeLV vaccines, so different manufacturers can publish 'Effectiveness Ratings' which cannot be compared with each other due to a lack of uniformity in testing terms and requirements. Estimating the effectiveness of the vaccines is difficult and most vets I've spoken with estimate them to have ~75-85% effectiveness (this means cats challenged with the virus will fight off infection 7-8 times out of ten). Published studies show that there are irreconcilable differences and bias in Effectiveness Ratings put out by the manufacturers so currently it is impossible to estimate the actual effectiveness of and between vaccines. Suffice it to say that your cat is MUCH better off having received the vaccine, but the vaccine is not 100% effective so you should not expose your cat to undue risks. (Note: NO vaccine, whether it be for cats, dogs or people, is 100% effective. Some are about close to being as fully effective as possible, however the FeLV vaccine is not one of them). If I don't get my cat vaccinated, what are its natural defenses against the virus? According to the literature, neonatal kittens are 100% susceptible to catching the virus from one exposure. 8-week-old weanlings are 85% susceptible from one exposure. There is serious debate in the literature over the likelihood of non-vaccinated, healthy adult cats becoming infected with the virus but it seems that ~40% of cats exposed become immune, ~30 percent become persistently infected (show acute signs of a related-disease) and ~30 percent become infected, but the virus is latent in their system. (Hardy, et al, 1980). Is the vaccine expensive and how often do my cats need to be vaccinated? After your cat has gone through its more elaborate set of kitten-shots, the FeLV vaccine should be given once a year. Prices vary between vets, locally and nationally. I surveyed readers of rec.pets.cats and contacted vets around the country and found that prices for the vaccination alone cost between $9 and $30 dollars. The average was $18 (not including the vet-visit charge). It seems that the FeLV test costs about the same, but I didn't do a full-scale survey. If I get my cat vaccinated, isn't there a chance that it will catch the virus from the vaccine? No. As of July 1992, all of the vaccines which are approved for sale in the United States are incapable of causing a positive FeLV test result. (Sorry, but I don't have figures for vaccines in other countries. If anyone does, feel free to append them onto this FAQ.) Do I have to get my cats vaccinated? No one can force you to vaccinate your pets, though there are laws in some areas regarding certain diseases like rabies. Check with your vet to see what vaccines are required. My cats are indoors-only. Why should I bother getting them vaccinated? You never know when your cat may escape to the outside, even for only a short period. Many people who lived through Hurricane Andrew or the LA Earthquake can tell you that some of their indoors-only cats ended up on the street for days. Fortunately disasters like these are infrequent, but the point is accidents can happen -- you never know when the plumber is going to leave the front door open for too long, or a visitor won't realize your cats are not allowed out, or whatever. In the few hours or days that your cat is outside it could come in contact with an infected cat, and it is better to give your cat that 75-85% boost to its natural resistance. My cat gets sick after it gets vaccinations. Why should I put my cat through that? Some cats do have bad reactions to vaccines. However, it is better to have a cat sick for one day per year from being vaccinated than to have it die a miserable death from an FeLV-related disease. If your cat has a bad reaction to a shot, ANY shot, and the reaction lasts more than 12-24 hours, you should immediately bring your cat to the vet. Even if your cat has a mild reaction, you should at least discuss the matter with your vet to see what are the best options for next year's vaccinations. It may be best to spread your cat's annual vaccinations out over a few months, or have them all administered at once. This is definitely a matter which should be discussed with your veterinarian. I already have cat(s) and I found another which I want to bring home. What precautions should I take regarding FeLV (and FIV)? This depends on the environment the new cat comes from. If it is a stray, or from a shelter which does not routinely test for the viruses (make sure you ask this of any shelter you visit), or from a household where you have reason to doubt the person has had the cat vaccinated, then keep the new cat separated from yours until you can have a vet examine it for many things. Keep it in a separate room and provide its own food dish, water bowl and kitty litter. DO NOT let your cats share any of these things, or share the same space, until your vet checks out the new one. If it is a feral cat, it may never have been vaccinated against FeLV and Rabies, or if it was a housecat it may be past its time for an update and have been exposed. Cats which have been on the street may also have ringworm or other parasites which are transmittable to you and your pets. How is FeLV detected? Your vet will do a blood test; there are two types of blood tests which can be performed. Some vets will automatically do one of the tests before vaccinating your cat to make sure it is not already positive for the virus. The first (ELISA test) is where the vet takes some of your cat's blood, mixes it with a chemical and watches for a color change. If the blood changes color then your cat has tested positive for the virus. False positives are not uncommon in this form of test, so if your cat tests positive it may be a good idea to have it retested. "Light positives" are where the treated blood only changes color slightly. This means your cat is infected with the virus, but the virus is not very active in its system. The second type (IFA test) involves sending the blood sample to a special lab. This lab tests to see if the virus is being produced in the bone marrow. If this second test is positive, it is unlikely that your cat will ever test negative. Below is a flow chart (from a lecture by Dr. William Hardy, U of Penn. Vet School) which depicts what you should do if your cat tests positive on the ELISA test: + If positive: o whether healthy or sick, confirm by Indirect Fluorescent Antibody test (IFA) + If negative: o if healthy and not exposed to a positive cat then no need to retest o if healthy but exposed to a positive cat then retest in 3 months because the healthy cat may be incubating the virus. o if sick then confirm the ELISA test with an IFA test So some cats who test positive can later test negative? Yes. If you have a cat which tests positive on the ELISA test, you should immediately have an IFA test done. If it tests negative on the IFA test, you should have your cat retested with the ELISA test in 3 months. If a cat does not test negative again in roughly three months, chances are it will always test positive. Vets and Virologists have devised an entire classification scheme of the different types of infected cats (transciently infected, persistently infected, etc.) based on the ELISA and IFA tests. It can be very confusing and if you are interested in learning the details you should consult with your vet regarding your particular cat's status. How long does a cat who tests positive have to live? There is no set time period for how long an FeLV+ cat will live. One person on the internet said they had a cat which lived for 20 years with the virus, while others have given dates as long as 10 or 12 years, although these are probably extremes. I have not found any truly long-term studies to document, but it seems that of the studies done, 83% of FeLV+ cats do not live beyond 4 years. (Hardy, et al 1980). All cats which do not later test negative, but in all other ways are healthy, are carriers for the virus. Even though they do not have acute symptoms, they can still spread the virus to cats which are not infected. Often people do not have their cat tested for the presence of FeLV until the cat is noticeably sick, and by this time the FeLV-related disease may have progressed too far for the cat to recover. What are symptoms for which I should be on the lookout? Unfortunately, since FeLV is a retrovirus which attacks your cat's immune system, your cat can become ill from many things as a result of the virus. This makes looking for a 'sure sign' very difficult. Often the immune system is weak so your cat will become chronically infected with certain conditions such as stomatitis, gingivitis, oral ulcers, abscesses and non-healing wounds of the skin, upper respiratory infections or FIP. Some cats whose digestive tracts are affected have been described as staring at their food bowl seemingly unable to remember how to eat. Basically, whenever your cat shows chronic, peculiar and/or unhealthy behavior, take it to a vet to be examined. _________________________________________________________________ PART II: If your cat has tested positive Some of these points are mentioned in the general section above, but here are more specific questions geared to people whose cats have tested positive. The most important point to stress is that FeLV+ cats *MUST* be made indoors-only. This needs to be done for two reasons. First, the more you expose your cat to outside ills, the more likely it is to contract an FeLV-related disease or infection. The second reason is that FeLV+ cats are like Typhoid-Marys to any other cat they meet. As noted above, the vaccine is only 75-85% effective, so any vaccinated cat that your cat encounters is at risk, as well as any stray. If these cats are then infected and they continue to interact and infect other cats, then you could give rise to an epidemic in your area. If you cannot or will not keep your FeLV+ cat indoors, than the only humane thing to do is find a home for it with someone who will (ways to do this are suggested below), or have your cat put to sleep. This may sound extreme, but it is extremely selfish to allow your cat to roam the neighborhood possibly infecting all the local outdoor cats just because you refuse to keep your cat indoors. Keeping your cat indoors is one of the responsibilities of owning a infected cat. My cat has tested positive. Should it be put to sleep? The mere fact of testing positive is not enough to merit putting a cat to sleep, although there may be other significant factors involved which do make putting the cat to sleep the best option. There are vets who recommend putting all FeLV+ cats to sleep. If your vet recommends this and you feel comfortable with that decision, then that is the best solution. Sometimes putting an FeLV+ cat to sleep is the best option for the cat, especially if it has acute symptoms and is in pain. This is never an easy decision and one which should not be taken lightly. If you do not feel you are capable of emotionally dealing with having an FeLV+ cat (or cannot keep the cat indoors), but do not want to put the cat to sleep, there are other alternatives which are discussed below. The one thing you should not do is ignore the virus. If your cat has tested positive, then you have a responsibility to take some action. Feline Leukemia Virus will not go away if you just ignore it! What will happen to my cat now that it has tested positive? Because there are so many different ways to respond to the presence of the virus, it is impossible to predict exactly what will happen (and when it will happen) to your cat. I've noticed that any 5 vets you ask will give you 5 different answers to this question. The scientists who experiment and publish on the disease are also in disagreement. I have presented two different (published) viewpoints below. According to Hardy, et al (1980), (and these people seem to be the authorities on the disease) roughly half of all cats who test positive (and do not test negative within a three month period) are persistently infected and show acute signs of FeLV-related diseases. The other half are latently infected and are in all other aspects 'healthy' although they are still carriers. 17% of all cats which test positive (and do not later test negative) will live past 4 years. The next point of view is taken from a much more recent article and has radically different statistics. According to Loar (1993) of cats which test positive for the disease only 5% will immediately become infected with an FeLV-related disease. The other 95% will enter the latent phase which will last for months to years. These 95% are still carriers for the disease and can infect other cats. Although my cat has tested positive, it is healthy in all other respects. How can I prevent an FeLV-related disease from becoming active in its system? There is no sure way to keep your cat healthy. Eventually, an FeLV-related disease will probably develop no matter what you do. However, one way in which a disease is likely to develop is if you stress your cat's system. If a cat's system is stressed, its body can't put as much energy into fighting off illnesses (just like you always seem to get sick during exams or when you have to make a presentation to your boss). "When all my cat does is eat and sleep 20 hours a day, how can it possibly be stressed?" you may ask. Anything which is upsetting or unpleasant for your cat may stress it, such as going for very long periods without food or water, overcrowding, movement to new territory, territorial conflicts, sending your cat to be boarded for long periods of time, or pregnancy and lactation. (Of course one should NEVER breed a FeLV+ queen as it will expose not only the tom, but all the kittens will be FeLV+. There is also an indication, although no proof, that FeLV causes abortions in queens. For the same reasons, neither should FeLV+ toms be bred.) Basically, keep in mind things which you have noticed in the past that seriously upset your cat. These are things which are more likely to lower your cat's natural immune system and give a disease the chance to attack. Should I continue to vaccinate my cat if it is FeLV+? The literature recommends against continued FeLV vaccinations. Other feline vaccinations (panleukopenia, rabies, etc.) should be continued. I have had several cats for a long time. One of them recently tested positive, but the others have not. Do I need to get rid of the FeLV+ one? This is a tough situation, for which there is no pat answer. You should discuss the matter with your vet. One vet I spoke with felt that chances are the other cats have already been exposed and it is probably best to just keep them up on their vaccinations and not change the household drastically. One study (Barlough, 1984) says that in a survey of 45 households from which FeLV+ cats were removed, 99.5% of the FeLV- cats remained negative. However households in which the FeLV+ cats were not removed had infection rates 40 times greater. It is probably best to remove the infected cat if it can be sent to a good home without causing too much disruption in your household. I have an FeLV+ cat and I want to find it a playmate. What should I do? There a few options. The only thing which you really ought NOT to do is get a healthy cat as a playmate or let your cat outside for excitement. Dogs cannot become infected with the Feline Leukemia Virus, and some dogs and cats, especially those raised together can be very close. One word of warning: getting a dog (or any pet) for the sole reason of keeping a cat company is not a good idea. If you consider getting a dog, make sure you understand the amount of time and responsibility that goes into caring for a dog (which is much more than that of a cat); otherwise you will regret the decision and both you and the dog will suffer. (There are excellent dog FAQs which will give you as much information on the matter as you can handle). The other option is getting another FeLV+ cat. The obvious down side is that you not only have twice the vet bills, but you also put yourself at risk for twice the heart-ache when one or both become ill. However, if you are willing to take the risk you can search for FeLV+ cats by putting an ad in the newspaper and calling all your local vets and animal shelters and explaining your situation. They may put you on a list and should they receive any cats which test positive, they may give you a call. Make sure you give your current vet as a reference as most shelters and other vets will want to make sure you understand the responsibility of owning an FeLV+ cat or to make sure that you are not some sociopath looking for sick kitty-cats to do nasty things to. I have an FeLV+ cat that is otherwise healthy, I do not want to put it to sleep, but I can't keep it. What can I do? Similar to the above answer, place ads in the newspaper and contact your local shelters and vets and tell them you have an FeLV+ cat which you are willing to give to a good home. A good home is someone with another FeLV+ cat, or someone who does not have any other cats and will keep the cat indoors. Also, there are animal shelters which specifically take in FeLV+ cats. Again, contact your local vets and shelters to see if they are aware of any such haven to which you could send your cat. Almost all regular shelters will put to sleep any cat they receive which tests positive because the virus is so contagious. If you choose to put an ad in the paper you MUST take the responsibility of making sure the people who express interest in your cat are doing so for legitimate reasons. You should interview them in person and check references if possible. There are people who will lie to get cats to feed to other pets, to sell to labs or to abuse. Think about this as you interview each potential candidate. _________________________________________________________________ References * Hardy, William D., Essex, Myron, and McClelland, Alexander J. (eds). Feline Leukemia Virus. Elsevier/North-Holland, Inc. New York, 1980. * Loar, Andrew S. "Feline Leukemia Virus: immunization and prevention" in Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice. 23(1):193-211, 1993. * Barlough, J.E. "Seriodiagnostic aids and management practice for retrovirus and coronavirus infections" in Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice 14(5):955-969, 1984. * Olsen, R.G. et al "Oncogenic viruses of domestic animals: in Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice 16(6):1129-1144, 1986. Also, the Journal of the Am. Vet. Med. Association, 199(10), Nov. 15, 1991 is devoted entirely to feline viral diseases. _________________________________________________________________ This article is Copyright (c) 1994 by Erin Rebecca Miller [ ermiller@midway.uchicago.edu] All rights reserved, please ask about redistribution. _________________________________________________________________