Quote:
Originally Posted by JFRRACING
could you tell me if there were any signs that they had it. we have a stray that started coming around and she to was pregnant and we got her inside and she had 4 health babies. the reason i ask is that we have 7 cats of our own. we have a spare room that my dw setup for her to keep the babies in to keep them seperate from our cats. the kittens are about 4 weeks old now. they seem to be very health as well as the mama.
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Neither the mother cat nor the babies currently show any signs of being ill. That is the scary thing about this disease. Cats are very good at hiding being unhealthy. Often, cats are diagnosed with FeLV when they show no or few symptoms. I have no way to know how long the mother has been infected. The babies seem like perfectly healthy kittens. The mother is even successfully nursing all 5 babies.
Have you been keeping the stray cats separate from your own cats? Have they had any contact at all? Regardless, I would definitely take the mama cat and one baby to be tested for FIV (feline aids) and FeLV. The test was $45 combined for me, but it is often even cheaper than that. You might even be able to get a discount if you tell them they are strays you took in. You need to take mama and a baby because a mother won't always pass it on to the babies. Often, if one baby is positive, they will all be positive. If the baby is positive, I suggest getting all babies tested before euthanizing them all. Sometimes some kittens will be negative, even if one or more is positive. If any of your own cats have had contact with the strays and the strays are positive, take your own cats to be tested right away. This brings up another good point. If anyone takes in a stray or a cat that has not been tested, keep it separate from your own cats.
Here is a list of symptoms (but don't wait for symptoms to have them tested):
- Anemia
- Blood in the stool
- Chronic, recurring infections (FeLV-infected cats are susceptible to bacterial, fungal, protozoan, and other viral infections.)
- Decreased appetite
- Decreased stamina
- Depression
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Excessive drinking and urination
- Infertility
- Jaundice (a yellowing of the skin, whites of the eyes, mucous membranes, and body fluids)
- Low-grade fever
- Lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes)
- Neuropathies, which can cause anisocoria and hind limb paralysis
- Weight loss
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