Feline LeukemiaVirus- What We Know Today

Our newsletter today is of a subject we sincerely hope your cats and kittens never encounter. Feline Leukemiavirus (FeLV), is a scourge on all cats and kittens, and it is woefully misunderstood. For every 10 websites describing it and what to do about it, 15 opinions exist. It is our intention to cut through that noise and share our wisdom with you.
We call it the chronic wasting disease of the feline world, and it can be absolutely brutal to watch a cat decline from its effects. Some cats can live with it for 10 years, while most kittens with an active infection won’t live to see 10 months. And with numbers on the rise, so is the confusion surrounding it. We want to clarify some of the more confusing aspects by bringing you a discussion from Dr. Richard Ford, a Professor at UC Davis Veterinarian School, as well as our take on his lecture and what it means for cats and kittens. In our next newsletter, we will be sharing the radical story of the first known, fully cured FeLV cat, and hope for the future of FeLV treatments.

Veterinarian Richard Ford gave a lecture today, sponsored by EveryCat Health Foundation, about the dreaded Feline Leukemiavirus. If you have never experienced caring for a cat or kitten with FeLV, this discussion may seem a little overwhelming, as this lecture was not exactly a beginner-level primer. But if you currently have or have had a cat or kitten with FeLV, you know this is one of the most confusing and frustrating diseases to get real information about.

So many old wives tales and outdated advice persists, mostly from veterinary textbooks written 20 years ago and anecdotal stories without an understanding of how it spreads and eventually kills its host. What they also can’t tell you is there is now evidence of an amazing protocol which completely cured an FeLV cat, as well as an FIV patient as well. Curious? Stay tuned and let’s dive in. First, we will give you an overview of FeLV based on our own daily care of FeLV cats and kittens for nearly 20 years.

1. FeLV comes from Mom or Dad in the womb.

2. Licking and grooming and litterboxes DO NOT spread FeLV to a cat with zero FeLV in the bone marrow. Saliva and feces from an infected cat **may possibly** spread FeLV to a cat with a latent FeLV infection only.

3. Separating mom from babies will not stop babies from contracting FeLV. See #1 above. The kittens are already infected if Mom is infected, even if she is not showing symptoms.

4. FeLV is a reverse transcriptase virus- it replicates in the RNA. There is no way for this virus to be contracted by saliva alone- the mouth and stomach acids break these viruses down.

5. FeLV has 4 primary types of infection levels- from asymptomatic to highly viremic and infectious (usually kills kittens before 6 months old). The level of infection in the body is only one component of this disease. There are dozens of variants of FeLV as well, which makes vaccination very problematic.

6. FeLV cats who survive past two years old are likely to live to at least 5-7 years old, and those with latent infections discovered past 5 years may live to 9-12 years old.

7. FeLV and Limping Calici are two major killers of young kittens. Moms may be completely asymptomatic.

8. Dry fur, respiratory infections, losing weight, and anemia are telltale signs of FeLV, even without a test.

9. FeLV IS curable in most cases if treated quickly with the right products

10. Interferon and antibiotics will not cure an FeLV cat or kitten

11. FeLV vaccines WILL produce a false positive FeLV test result in cats over time, or stimulate the immune system to activate a latent infection existing in the bone marrow.

12. FeLV vaccines DO NOT stop transmission or infection of FeLV.

We do not want to share this list to scare you, but to educate you so you no longer have to be fearful of this illness. Knowledge is power, and you can help your FeLV cat live a great life- in many cases, even heal. So while much of the discussion below was about the pathology and infection/transmission rates and does not offer much hope in terms of healing and curative treatments, there were some very important points and perspectives we want to bring to your attention concerning how conventional veterinary medicine is approaching this disease. (We have already shared our own understanding above). And in our next newsletter, we will explore what one person did specifically to heal her cat completely from FeLV.

So today we are going to focus on major concerns brought up by Dr. Ford regarding FeLV viremia (level of virus in the bloodstream), FeLV testing, as well as FeLV vaccine efficacy. His biography and credentials are below, and we are sharing this lecture for you to understand this disease from a conventional medicine perspective, as well as the very real limits of the FeLV vaccine.

Feline Leukemiavirus in the Bloodstream (viremia)

We know FeLV can be deemed a “progressive” infection or a “regressive” infection. But what does this actually mean? According to Dr. Ford, a regressive infection is one that stays inside the bone marrow of the cat or kitten. Approximately of 30% cats (most especially kittens though) that are exposed to FeLV are able to fight off the virus to where it does not leave the bone marrow cells and enter the blood stream and proliferate. However, 30-40% of all cats/ kittens exposed to FeLV are not able to fight off the initial infection and it will enter the blood stream and proliferate. This is known as a progressive infection, and is ultimately deadly. Below is a presentation slide which lays this out better:

However, this is not a complete consensus. Other places, such as a manufacturer of the real-time PCR test state, “FeLV is categorized into four subgroups, A, B, C and T. An infected cat has a combination of FeLV-A and one or more of the other subgroups. Exposure to the feline leukemia virus doesn’t have to be a death sentence; about 70% of cats who encounter the virus are able to resist infection or eliminate the virus on their own.” Don’t worry, we will stop here. The issue of FeLV and how it mutates and pretty much everything about FeLV itself is a divisive topic and you can find numerous ideas and opinions about it anywhere you look.

FeLV Testing

Dr. Ford makes it clear that kittens are by far the most susceptible population to FeLV infection, although he is unclear as to why. In our personal experiences over the past 20 years, it is because FeLV unequivocally comes from mom and/or Dad- not the environment. Remember, FeLV is spread through mating and sustained bodily fluid exchange like nursing and blood. Not casual contact! So a non-FeLV female can mate with an infected male and she will then become a carrier of the virus, even though she will never manifest symptoms of the disease in her life. However, she will pass the virus to her kittens in utero, so it is pointless to separate a positive mom from her babies. They were exposed in the womb, and early separation can add deadly levels of stress to mom and babies.

Yet, we digress. Dr. Ford stated emphatically the qPCR test by IDEXX is the best overall FeLV test, and needs to be done more than once in order to confirm diagnosis. He mentioned that IFA testing (once the most reliable form of testing known to detect the presence of infection) and SNAP ELISA testing are unreliable, and false positives and negatives are possible.

FeLV Vaccine efficacy

First and foremost, we are not proponents of vaccinations in cats, most especially the FeLV vaccine, a known contributor of vaccine-induced-sarcomas. FeLV naturally can cause lymphomas in about 10% of all cats, and this vaccine will just show you if your cat is one of that percentage in a matter of a few months post-vaccination, for starters.

What we found most interesting was the fact that Dr.Ford was very clear, “the FeLV vaccine will never induce sterilizing immunity.” Meaning, “the goal of the FeLV vaccine is not to stop infection or transmission, which it cannot do. Rather, the goal of the FeLV vaccine is to reduce severity of symptoms when it presents itself in a cat, and reduce the duration of the infection.” This was an admission we never expected to hear from a leading mainstream veterinarian professor.

So, should you put your cat or kitten through multiple rounds of a vaccine- regardless if it is adjuvanted or not- that cannot prevent your loved one from getting sick, or even stop it from being transmitted to your cat? Isn’t prevention the whole point of a vaccine? Again, we bring this to your attention because we have personally witnessed cats vaccinated against FeLV test later positive for FeLV later and be euthanized- or surrendered to a shelter. We rescued one such cat from a shelter. Please, please do your research on this stuff. Our cats depend on us.

Webinar Speakers

Richard B. Ford, DVM, MS Emeritus Professor of Medicine, · North Carolina State University Following graduation from The Ohio State University, Dr. Richard Ford practiced small animal and equine medicine for 3 years. Subsequently, he completed an internal medicine residency at Michigan State University, then joined the faculty at Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine before becoming a professor of medicine at NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he is an emeritus professor. He also recently retired from the Air Force Reserve as a brigadier general, where he was assigned to the Office of the Surgeon General at the Pentagon.   Dr. Ford is a coauthor of both the American Animal Hospital Association Canine Vaccine Guidelines and the American Academy of Feline Practitioners Feline Vaccine Guidelines. For almost 15 years, he has provided continuing education seminars to veterinarians on infectious diseases and immunization. He has published more than 200 papers and textbook chapters pertaining to infectious disease in companion animals.

We hope you found this FeLV newsletter useful. The next newsletter we will go in- depth as to how FeLV was cured completely by one cat’s care team and how you can do the same if you ever encounter this truly awful, chronic wasting disease.

Until next time, Always Be Curious!