When can my kitten get an accurate FeLV test to end isolation?

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.

Good question. There is no particular age but a good idea would be to have them coexist when the youngest is fully vacicnated. I would wait at least 2 weeks after fully vaccinating the youngest one. If you really want to be cautious I would wait until they are all at least 8 months of age, because they are nearing adulthood and have a pretty sturdy immune system by then. Continue to have them tested for FeLV once a year to ensure everyone is still negative because the vaccine is not 100% protective, but still pretty effective. Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and take care of your kitties! Take care.

Kittens can take weeks to get to know each other although some never settle down as friends. I would recommend keeping them isolated until fully vaccinated and also tested so as not to spread viral infections unknowingly

I'm so sorry that your foster is not doing well. It sounds like she has been through a lot in her short life. Certainly, kittens that have a severe upper respiratory infection young in life can take a while to bounce back. You can perform a FeLV and FIV test at any time, but the results will have to be taken with a grain of salt at her age. The FIV test is an antibody test, so she could test positive if her mom was positive, but she may not have the virus. The FeLV test is usually a little more accurate in young kittens, but not always. The FeLV test looks for virus in white blood cells, so if her white blood cell count is low from her infection if may appear negative even if she has the virus. So while you can test at any age, you may need to repeat the tests again because of the reasons discussed above. So, I would recommend discussing it with your veterinarian to decide on the right route to go for your foster. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your questions. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

FeLV is a non-curable disease which means that once your cat has it he will carry the virus for the duration of his life. I am not sure which SNAP test was used on Tom, but the IDEXX FeLV/FIV SNAP has a sensitivity of 98.6% and a Specificity of 98.2% for FeLV. This means that there is only a 1.8% chance of a false positive on the SNAP. However, it is important to note that cats who have been vaccinated for FeLV can show a positive result on the SNAP. IDEXX recommends that any positive FeLV SNAP be confirmed by IFA. Although there are no statistics shown for discrepant results, they do recommend repeat testing after 28 days rather than euthanasia: http://www.idexx.com.tw/pdf/zh_tw/smallanimal/snap/triple/fiv-felv-diagnostic-guidelines.pdf

Hi and thanks for using PetCoach! Sorry to hear about Stoffel. So I would not introduce a new kitten right now and here is why. Stoffel's first test may have been negative but it could have been early in the infection and the first test didn't pick it up. So I would advise just like the American Association of Feline Practitioners, retesting Stoffel in 60 days. If that test is negative then I would go ahead and consider getting a new kitten then. Make sure that kitten has tested negative at least twice 60 days apart and the kitten has not been in a high-risk environment where a Feline Leukemia virus exposure was possible or the kitten was allowed to be outside. If the kitten has one negative test it is advised that the kitten is quarantined away from Stoffel for 60 days until another test can be performed. I will copy and paste the practice guidelines from the Association here and give you the link to their website. Testing for FeLV and FIV All cats should be tested at appropriate intervals based on risk assessment. Test new cats entering a household or group housing as in shelter or cattery settings. Test again at least 60 days later, limiting exposure to other cats if possible during that time. https://www.catvets.com/ Good luck with Stoffel and the new kitten. Happy holidays

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.