Leashes to Litterboxes

Feline leukemia virus is a retrovirus (named this way because of the way it reacts with cells).  It is similar to HIV in humans because it produces an enzyme, reverse transcriptase, which permits the virus to insert copies of its own DNA into that of the cells it has infected.  Feline leukemia virus (Felv) is found worldwide but the incidence or prevalence of infection depends on the cat’s age, health, lifestyle and enviroment that it is living in.

A cat that is at the greatest risk of being infected is one that may be exposed to another cat that already has the disease or through bite wounds.  So cats that go outside, or cats living in the same household as a sick cat or a kitten born to a mother with the disease have an increased risk of contracting the virus.  Kittens and young adult cats are much more susceptible to the disease as sometimes with maturity also comes resistance but this doesn’t mean that adult cats cannot become infected.

Felv can affect a cat in many ways.  It is the most common cause of cancer in cats, can cause blood disorders, and like AIDS in humans can cause a state of immune deficiency that renders the cat unable to protect itself from other infections.  In the beginning states of the disease cats may show no signs of being ill.  Eventually a cat’s health will decrease or can have intermittent "sick" times.  Some of the signs include the following:

• Loss of appetite

• Slow wasting of weight

• Poor coat

• Enlarged lymph nodes

• Persistent fever

• Pale gums and other mucus membranes

• Inflammation of the gums (gingivitis) and mouth (stomatitis)

• Infections of the skin, urinary bladder, and upper respiratory tract

• Chronic or intermittent diarrhea

• Seizures, behavior changes, and other neurological disorders

• Eye problems like constant weeping, redness, inflammation

To determine if your cat has Felv your veterinarian will want to run blood work.  There are 2 types of blood tests that can be run.  An ELISA test can be run at the clinic and an IFA test is usually sent out to a laboratory.  As with many tests false negatives are always a possibility so your vet may want to repeat a test or do both.

Protecting your cat is trying to prevent exposure to Felv infected cats.  Keeping your cat indoors, away from other cats and potential bite wounds is one way.  Another way is to test your cats and then test any new cat that you may introduce to your cats that you already own.  Felv vaccinations are also available at your veterinarian but again vaccines are not 100% so you may want to talk this over with your veterinary staff.  Unfortunately, many Felv-infected cats are not diagnosed until after they have lived with other cats. In such cases, all other cats in the household should be tested for Felv and then you may need to separate your infected cat from the other cats.

If your cat has been diagnosed as being a Felv infected cat then as a responsible pet owner you must keep your pet indoors.  It is also very important to spay or neuter that cat, feed it well, avoid RAW diets (increased chance of food-borne bacterial and parasite infections), closely monitor your pet’s health and behavior and bring any changes to your veterinarian’s attention.  While it is impossible to predict the life expectancy of an infected cat but with appropriate care and support a cat could live 2-3 years.  If your cat unfortunately passes away getting another cat and bringing it into the household poses some clean up solutions.  Usually the virus will not survive outside of the cat for longer than a few hours but clean the house with a 10% bleach solution, throw away any old toys, litter pans etc and make sure that your new cat is vaccinated against the disease.

Laboratory studies have not proven that Felv is zoonotic but Felv infected cats may carry other diseases.  Immunosuppressed people, such as those with AIDS, undergoing immune suppresion medications, elderly or the very young can have issues with the other diseases that these cats may carry.

Tags: cat, kitten, diseases, pet health

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