Is there a treatment or cure for my cat with Feline Leukemia Virus?

Poor LouLou. Unfortunately feline leukemia is a virus infection and cannot be cured but only managed. It has several stages of the Ruiz and pets can go into latent periods where they are asymptomatic. Treatment options are a bit pricey and consist of anti-viral medications like Human interferon alpha and Feline interferon w. These can improve the survival time of your pet LouLou. The prognosis for any cat with FeLv varies. Cars with latent infections may not develop can't clinical disease and can live a healthy life's with normal lifespan. But cats that have persistent viremia (shedding of the virus) have a death rate of 50% in 2 years and 80% in 3 years, if living in a multicat household. The median survival of FeLV positive cats is 2.4 years, but with proper care with antiviral medications many of these cats can live longer.

The best thing you could do for the other cats is to isolate them until they. An be tested and vaccinated for the FeLV virus. The virus is spread through direct contact with saliva, blood, and urine. Routine veterinary care is the best way to make sure the FeLV cat stays as healthy as possible - periodic blood work and exams can catch problems more quickly.

Cats have a likelihood of rejecting blood if not matched and blood typed appropriately. There are precautions that need to happen before any transfusion. Each consecutive transfusion comes with a greater risk of rejection. But, it's likely that if your cat needs a transfusion due to feline leukemia it will need transfusions again and again. Feline leukemia is unfortunately non-curable so it is likely the cat will just continue to get sicker and sicker.

I'm so sorry that Cuddles has been diagnosed with FeLV. I presume that you are talking about T-Cyte for treatment. http://tcyte.com/cat-felv-fiv-treatment This treatment is relatively new, so I have not had the opportunity to use it yet. The hope is that this product will increase a cat's immune system and make the disease manageable, but will not cure the infection. Kittens with FeLV generally have a poorer prognosis than adult cats, so I would definitely recommend trying it since it is really the only possible treatment option for Cuddles. Good luck! I hope Cuddles does well with the treatment! Thanks for using PetCoach.

Felv is highly contagious just by the sharing of water bowls. The virus is spread through the saliva, so the chances are quite high for the 2nd cat unfortunately. You can ask your vet about doing annual bloodwork and potentially anti-viral medications to help. However anti-viral meds can be quite expensive, so most owners just try to keep their kitties on a high quality dog food (i.e. Royal Canin, Wellness, Merrick, etc) for overall health.

I'm very sorry Felix has leukemia! It is a very hard decision to make if you want to euthanized him or not. It really depends on how he is doing at the moment, what symptoms he is showing, and how much you want to invest in treatment. Eighty-five percent of cats who are diagnosed with FeLV die within three years of diagnosis. But regular vet care and good preventative health can help keep cats with this feeling well and can prevent secondary infections. Secondary infections from FeLV can be treated, and cats who develop can cancer receive chemotherapy. If you chose to treat him, you should do twice yearly vet visits with lab testing and parasite control to prevent complications and identify problems quickly. Felix should be kept indoors at all times now. Cats who has bone marrow compromise or widespread lymphoma do have a very poor prognosis. I wish I could give you an easy answer as to what to do, but depending on his current symptoms, Felix does have the possibility of living another couple of years with good vet care and treatment of any secondary infections. It's really up to you how much you want to invest in his treatment. I would be happy to consult with your further on this if you'd like. Simply select the "consult online" button under my answer to talk more.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sounds like Norbert has a great home. One question I always have is, was only one test performed? There can be false positive tests and some cats can get exposed to the virus and fight it off, thus becoming negative over time. A repeat test is advised 30-60 days after the first positive test to assess the leukemia status again. If that one comes back positive, a confirmatory test is usually advised. I would just keep him as happy and as healthy as possible. Follow your vets advise on preventive health care although, I would not be a fan of yearly vaccinations for a cat with feline leukemia. I would get him on a 3 yr vaccine schedule as soon as you can. The initial vaccines are usually good for one year but then you have an option to go to a 3-year protocol. I would keep him dewormed regularly to make sure he doesn't develop problems with intestinal parasites. If appropriate, make sure that he has an effective flea product on also. You want to keep him as healthy as possible. One other thing, when you notice any problems with him, get him seen right away due to his leukemia status. Early intervention will help him battle things that may come up like respiratory infections, urinary problems, etc. Good luck with Norbert