VMD 513: Pet animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

FELINE LEUKEMIA VIRUS (FeLV)

• FeLV is a fatal infectious virus that affects the immune system and can cause several forms of cancer and other associated diseases.
• It is transmitted through the saliva, urine, and faeces of infected cats.
  Blood tests can diagnose this disease. The cat should be tested before being vaccinated.
• Prevention is the only cure for this disease. Get your cat vaccinated and keep it indoors.
  Feline leukemia virus - Seven out of ten cats are likely to come into contact with this disease at sometime in their life.
• It is responsible for more deaths in cats than any other single cause.
• This is a highly infectious viral disease which is present in the saliva, urine, blood, milk, mucus and feces of permanently infected cats.
• Saliva is the most common route of infection and can be passed on in regular close contact or bite wounds.
• Kittens can pick up FeLV infections from their mothers either before they are born or from her milk.
• There are three outcomes for an infected cat depending on his age, response of his immune system and on the dose of virus that he has received.
  • A cat may successfully fight off the disease and become immune to re-infection.
  • The cat may be overcome by the disease and because his immune system cannot fight it off a permanent infection with FeLV is the result.
  • The cat becomes a factory for the virus. This happens to three out of ten cats exposed to the virus.
  • The majority of these infected cats die within three and a half years.
  • The most common causes of death from the virus is reduced immunity to other diseases, cancer and anemia.
  • The cat’s immune system may attack the virus, but cannot completely beat it.
  • Some virus may remain within his body and he may manage to eliminate eventually, if not he will develop FeLV related tumors.
  • There are no specific symptoms for this disease. Generally one of the effects of this disease is immunosuppression and the symptoms that occur are from other diseases and infections that FeLV has made the cat prone to.
  • The most common symptoms that are associated with permanent FeLV infection is weight loss , fever, conjunctivitis, mouth ulcers and gingivitis, vomiting, diarrhea and anemia.
  • There are no specific drugs available to treat FeLV, but permanently infected cats can be treated symptomatically to make them feel more comfortable. Vaccines are available for this disease, but only if the cat hasn’t been permanently infected first.