Kitten Tested Positive For Felv: Help And Advice Needed

MICHEALA · Aug 11, 2017

I recently brought home a kitten who is around five or six weeks old. When I took him to the vet several days ago, he tested positive for FeLV on what looks like, from his online veterinarian records, a Triple Test for ringworm, FIV, and FeLV. We won't be going back to get an IFA test for another month, since he's still too small for the vet to withdraw the amount of blood she needs to send to the lab. That said, I've tried doing some research in the past few days and am looking for a little more information.
I've seen several different pet owners claim the Snap Triple Test yields false positives with general frequency. Has anyone had experience with this? How likely is a kitten his age to fight off this infection if he has it, and since he's so young could it simply be exposure to his mother that he's still warding off but not a permanent infection? If anyone has more information or experiences on kittens this young who tested positive for FeLV, I'd love some advice!

Mamanyt1953 · Aug 11, 2017

Until someone here with direct experience spots your thread, I thought I would at least give you a douple of articles to look over. I do know we have several members who have gone or are going through this, some with cats who have lived good, full lives for years with the virus!

These two are from our site:

Feline Leukemia Virus (felv)
Living With Feline Cancer

And these I found online. You may have already seen them, but just in case:

Living With Feline Cancer
Feline Leukemia (FeLV) In Your Cat
What is Feline Leukaemia (FeLV)? - Cat Chat
http://www.acfacat.com/articles/felv.pdf

Best of luck with your kitten, and don't forget, a true positive is not a death sentence!

houseofnine · Aug 11, 2017

Michaela, I'm so sorry you're going through this. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago. We recently took in a semiferal mom and kittens. Kits were weaned, then we took mom in to be spayed. Her snap test came back positive, but the vet sent out for an IFA as well as sending out another snap test to the lab (instead of doing in house). Both of those came back negative. At that point, the vet said to just test one kitten, and he came back negative too. Strangely, another unrelated kitten (same vet, different foster) also had a positive test in house, but a negative when it was sent out. I am told the tests are hypersensitive, which can lead to a 20%+ rate of false positives. I would ask your vet to either send out the test, or at least call the manufacturer for advice on handling. I am not an expert by any means, but while I would recommend your being cautious with exposing kitten to other cats in your home, I wouldn't assume the test is right until it's been confirmed. Where is the mama cat? Can you test her?
Anyway, I'll be thinking of you and hoping for good news for your kitty.

MICHEALA · Aug 11, 2017

houseofnine said:
Michaela, I'm so sorry you're going through this. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago. We recently took in a semiferal mom and kittens. Kits were weaned, then we took mom in to be spayed. Her snap test came back positive, but the vet sent out for an IFA as well as sending out another snap test to the lab (instead of doing in house). Both of those came back negative. At that point, the vet said to just test one kitten, and he came back negative too. Strangely, another unrelated kitten (same vet, different foster) also had a positive test in house, but a negative when it was sent out. I am told the tests are hypersensitive, which can lead to a 20%+ rate of false positives. I would ask your vet to either send out the test, or at least call the manufacturer for advice on handling. I am not an expert by any means, but while I would recommend your being cautious with exposing kitten to other cats in your home, I wouldn't assume the test is right until it's been confirmed. Where is the mama cat? Can you test her?
Anyway, I'll be thinking of you and hoping for good news for your kitty.

Unfortunately, I got little Theodore from a bad home who lied about his age and he was taken away from his mother before he should have been. That said, I know almost nothing about either of his parents' medical history. We'll be going back to get the IFA on September 11, but that feels like such a long wait I've been frantically looking up the rate of false positives! Thank you for your well wishes!

moni.marie · Aug 11, 2017

I would recommend a retest in 6 weeks. I went through the same thing and had a false positive on my kitten named Hope. The second test came back negative and she's happy and healthy.

stephenq · Aug 12, 2017

Some kittens can fight it off and will re-test negative even though the original test was a valid positive result. Then of course the IFA test later on should prove definitive. Wishes you all good luck.

houseofnine · Aug 12, 2017

MICHEALA said:
Unfortunately, I got little Theodore from a bad home who lied about his age and he was taken away from his mother before he should have been. That said, I know almost nothing about either of his parents' medical history. We'll be going back to get the IFA on September 11, but that feels like such a long wait I've been frantically looking up the rate of false positives! Thank you for your well wishes!

Again, I wish you all the best and please try to keep a good outlook. Purrs from all of us!

Docs Mom · Aug 12, 2017

As

Mamanyt1953 said, Felv does not mean an immediate death sentence. Their life may end sooner, but each Felv+ that I've adopted has been very special to me. I usually had them in pairs so they had company.

I wish Theodore LOTS of luck for his next tests. Meanwhile, keep his stress level as low as you can. Also lots of love and good food ....
Lisa

Mamanyt1953 · Aug 13, 2017

And don't forget to keep us posted on how he is doing. You have become a part of this community, and we care.

Kitten Tested Positive For Felv: Help And Advice Needed

MICHEALA

TCS Member

Thread starter

Mamanyt1953

Rules my home with an iron paw

houseofnine

TCS Member

MICHEALA

TCS Member

Thread starter

moni.marie

TCS Member

stephenq

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houseofnine

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Docs Mom

TCS Member

Mamanyt1953

Rules my home with an iron paw

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