Leukemia

[Blueflame]

Last November one of our two cats was diagnosed with leukemia (she had a discharge from her eye and was drooling) The vet gave us two options-put to sleep or confinement. Well,given that we had rescued her near dead ( she was feral approx. six weeks old,soaked and frozen) and she is only two years old now,we took the second option and built a run with a comfortable shed attached.Her original symtoms cleared up within two weeks and there have been no health problems since-in fact she is a picture of health! Has anyone any idea how long she may live ( the vet was very evasive)

[willowman]

Sorry to hear about your cat. We run a large boarding cattery (for 7 years) so may be able to give some answers; although we are not vets we have had lots of visits to vets.

Let me first deal with the vet seeming evasive - I once took a very ill boarder to the vets and during the consultation asked how long the cat could live. The vet replied "nobody can foretell the future".
If your vet had said your cat could only live six months you would have been devastated, likewise if he/she had said the cat could live for 10 years and it had passed away in a month (possibly from something completely different) you would still have been devastated.
Some may say the vet was covering his/her backside, and he probably was. The horrible truth is nobody can answer that question; we have had cats die aged 2 years or 5 years. They had organ problems that nobody could have known about.
Just continue giving your cat loving care, and enjoy all the time you have with her. When she does pass away, as she inevitably will someday, you will know that you have given her the best life possible, especially after her terrible start in life.

As for the leukemia - did the vet do a blood test to confirm it was feline leukaemia virus (FeLV)?

Our "bible" here at the cattery is "The FAB Boarding Cattery Manual" and this is what it says.
The bad news is that persistant infection usualy results in the death of the cat, HOWEVER, not all cats exposed to the FeLV become persistantly infected with the virus. Some cats can mount an effective immune response that eliminates the virus from the body after a short period of time.
It does say a lot more than that but I obviously can't type it all out. If there is any way of getting your email address to me I will be happy to scan the pages and send them to you.
Also try searching on "www.felipedia.org".

We do, in fact board cats with F

[ladybirder]

willowman I have been onto the website you recommended and it is excellent. It's told me a lot I needed to know for the welfare of my 18 year old cat and cat problems in general. Very interesting. Here is a link for anyone else who is interested.

http://www.felipedia....propriate_elimination

[Blueflame]

Thank for your detailed answer willowman and yes,the vet did perform a blood test to confirm FeLV. She was,however,very pessimistic about Pandoras' (she came in a box!) chances of survival and was plainly in favour of euthanasia.To be fair,her concern was for other cats in our neighbourhood-she explained that FeLV can be passed on through scratches (fighting) and/or saliva-hence the need to contain the cat.We prepared for the worst and spent as much time with her as possible.We are now six months down the road and as i've already said,she appears to be in fine health. We had no idea that she may be able to deal with the leukemia,but we were beginning to wonder why she was still so well-hence the question on this page.It is very kind of you to offer to scan the manual but i think publishing my email address might be a bit risky! (there's some funny people out there) I will,however, have a look at the website you recommended-i note that ladybirder is impressed-for more information.Once again my thanks for your interest and obvious concern.With the very best wishes,Paul