My cat tested positive for FeLV. Is the SNAP test accurate? Can he clear it?

a blood smear is quite reliable but i would still recommend having an additional blood test (Elisa, IFA or PCR) to have a confirmation. unfortunately the disease is not curable but it is manageable and many cats can live many years with the disease.

Most tests are fairly accurate if the results are negative. However there can be false positive test results if done early in age due to antibodies from the mother. I would recommend a vet visit and discuss your concerns with Cagney's vet. But many times it is worth testing earlier and start vaccines. If the test is positive then further testing or quarentine may be required but if negative he may be able to be intetgrated into the rest of the household.

I am sorry belvedeer was positive for feline leukemia. The test is very reliable and most likely if he tested positive he does truly have the disease. However if he is really young you can re test him at 6 months of age. At this time all the maternal antibodies will be gone from the kittens body. I would recommend retesting at 6 months. If Belvedeer is over 6 months than the test could always be repeated in 2-3 weeks just to double check and make sure the test did not make a false positive.

Hi and thanks for using PetCoach! Sorry to hear about Boots. I have never personally heard that for Feline Leukemia. The vaccines for FeLV do not cause a positive test result BUT previous FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) vaccines cause a positive test result that cannot be differentiated from a natural infection. One positive FeLV test in a healthy cat is always suspect. False positives do occur and if you really want to know, I would advise that you go get a confirmation test done at your veterinarians office. The test is called an IFA or Immuno Fluorescent Antibody test and this is specific for FeLV. This disease along with FIV are very complex and sometimes very confusing with respect to the results. Let me provide a website link here so you can learn more about these retroviruses in cats. Good luck with Boots. https://www.catvets.com/guidelines/practice-guidelines/retrovirus-management-guidelines

Panleukopenia is a feline parvovirus. They don't make a direct test for it but most clinics use the canine parvovirus test to get a result. False positives are very rare, occurring only in about 0-6% of tested samples. Vaccine induced positives are also rare with about only 1/64 recently vaccinated kittens testing positive. This is with the IDEXX brand test. Other brands had a higher rate of positive results following vaccination. So, without more information as to what test your vet used and how long ago she was vaccinated and with what vaccine (if she was even vaccinated) it is difficult for me to say much on the subject. If an IDEXX test was used I would trust the result. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that Stassi has been diagnosed with lymphoma. If Stassi and all of your other cats have been indoors only, and were all negative for FeLV to start with, there is next to no chance that your other cats have contracted or will contract FeLV. It is statistically improbable that Stassi has tested negative for FeLV four times and would still have FeLV, unless she may have been exposed to another cat in the past 4-5 years that has FeLV. Lymphoma is a fairly common type of cancer that can occur in cats with or without FeLV. I hope that helps to clarify your concerns. I'm really sorry that you and Stassi are going through this situation.

Hello. I am sorry for your concerns about Cookie. Her anemia can be caused by other things including blood parasites like Hemobartonella & intestinal parasites like hookworms & roundworms, not just by the Feline Leukemia virus. I think it is a good idea to do the Snap FeLv test, but even if the test is positive, there are still things that can be done to make her as comfortable as possible. I would also definitely test the other cat, because if she is negative then she can be vaccinated to prevent the virus ( I hope the vaccine is available in your country, it is used routinely here in the US). Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.