The Feline Leukemia Lie

[swain]

Feline Leukemia is a horrible disease and no cat deserves this slow lingering death.

We just went through this as our cat died a few hours ago. I blame myself ... but mostly I blame myself for listening to my Vet. We USED to go to a vet on Hang Dong road on the left side of the road as you are driving into Chiang Mai past Kad Farang.

They told us that the Feline Leukemia vaccination was not needed and that they didn't carry it as there are virtually no cases of this in Thailand.

*** This is a lie ***

Feline Leukemia is seriously out there and if you have a cat, you risk a slow painful death every time you let him/her outside if the cat is not vaccinated. We tried everything to make his last days comfortable, but had to isolate him from his 5 babies as he could give it to them. Very sad situation and it could have been avoided. I wanted to take a sledge hammer to the clinic but I will settle on this post instead.

We now go to Chiang Mai Small Animal Hospital. They enlightened us to the fact that they have cats come in all the time with Feline Leukemia so PLEASE vaccinate your cats.

Edited May 31, 2007 by swain

[Nienke]

Feline Leukemia is a horrible disease and no cat deserves this slow lingering death.

We just went through this as our cat died a few hours ago. I blame myself ... but mostly I blame myself for listening to my Vet. We USED to go to a vet on Hang Dong road on the left side of the road as you are driving into Chiang Mai past Kad Farang.

They told us that the Feline Leukemia vaccination was not needed and that they didn't carry it as there are virtually no cases of this in Thailand.

*** This is a lie ***

Feline Leukemia is seriously out there and if you have a cat, you risk a slow painful death every time you let him/her outside if the cat is not vaccinated. We tried everything to make his last days comfortable, but had to isolate him from his 5 babies as he could give it to them. Very sad situation and it could have been avoided. I wanted to take a sledge hammer to the clinic but I will settle on this post instead.

We now go to Chiang Mai Small Animal Hospital. They enlightened us to the fact that they have cats come in all the time with Feline Leukemia so PLEASE vaccinate your cats.

There's quite some FeLV and FIV under the stray- and pet-cats that roam the streets. In some area's in Chiang Mai there's more, some less. That's what the vet at Ban Mha ka Meaw told me when I brought a customer's cat in a while ago, that had recurrent respiratory problems. (Each time it was boarded it had these problems, despite the several antibiotic cures it had already received and, thus, I got alarmed and went to the vet). This cat was diagnosed with FIV, very unfortunately. Another cat owner, living approximately 2 to 3 km furhter from my customer, who's cat was diagnosed and died of both FIV and FeLV, several years ago.

The difficult part is that the virus infection can be latent in the animal for upto three years. Due to stress or concurrent illness, the virus can multiply and suppress the cat's immune system, thereby allowing other (often fatal) disease to develop.

For both disease there are testkits, that can show whether the cat is positive or negative.

Although, vaccination might decrease the risk on infectious disease it does NOT guarantee the cat can't catch the disease and can get sick (and possibly die of it). In some cases the very vaccine itself causes disease. (I had once a cat in boarding that developed out-of-the-blue mouth ulcers. I just couldn't figure out how he got them. Just couldn't imagine it could have been the change in food from canned food to kibble, but that was the only thing I could think of at that moment. Untill I read about 'serious adverse reactions' to vaccines, which included mouth ulcers among many other side-effects. And there I got my answer.) And the FeLV vaccine is known for its increased risk of an highly invasive and very aggressive form of a cancerous tumor, called sarcoma, which generally occurs at the site of the vaccine injection. (You can ask at Ban Mha ka Meaw about this risk, as they told me about it)

I'm really sorry for your loss. It must have been a very stressful period for you.

Nienke

[Bluebell]

Sorry for your loss swain and for the warning. Discussed this with my cats' regular vet who said they routinely vaccinate for FeLV but only if the cat is under 6 mths at time of first injection. Anyone know anything about this? My cats are aged 10 (imported from my home country) and 3 (adopted here). Presumably the thinking is that as the virus can lay dormant for years, there is no way of knowing if already had contact..... in my area they do not have any test kits for FeLV! I have always felt comfortable with my vet's practice, but now wonder if lack of resources prompted the advice given. If my cats could be tested and found negative for FeLV, is it really the case that the vaccine would not be indicated because of their age?

[Sheryl]

I don't know but hope someone reading this will. I just checked and found that the 2 white oriental ("Khao Manee") cats that I placed with a neighbor did not receive leukemia vaccine when their other shots were given, they are about 9 months old now and outside most of the time so at risk.

And my own beloved Scully, although she had the leukemia vaccine several times, seems not to have received it at her last vaccination which, unlike the earlier ones done by a farang vet in Phnom Penh, were done at a country vet in Thailand.

I will be asking the local vets (all 2 of them!) about whether they have the vaccine in stock. Meanwhile if anyone can advise about whether 9 month olds who didn't get it before could safely receive it, would be much obliged.