Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I guess my question is two fold. We got our Norweigan Forest Cat, Sigrid, from another military family on the base where we are currently stationed. She is approximately 2 or 3 years old and current on all her shots. Since we've had her she's been a moderately energetic cat, would play chase with my husband through the house and such but really more of her time was spent seeking a lap to cuddle in. Had never had a medical issue in the months we have had her.

Now, first question is...do Humane Societies have to test for feline lukemia when a cat comes into their care? And if the cat is a carrier are they obligated to tell the adopting family?

I ask this because Jan. 20th we brought a gorgeous cat home from the humane society as a companion for Sigrid. He is current on his shots, and overall a very healthy cat..and remains so even now. He is VERY active and that level hasn't changed at all

BUT...

Now Sigrid is sick, very sick. About a week after we brought Talouse into the home Sigrid started sneezing and had runny eyes. We boosted her vitamins and kept her seperated from him and a few days later she was back to her old self. Running and playing with Talouse and with our family. Suddenly, approximately two days ago..she is listless, drinking excessively, has a bit of wheezing but no runny eyes and no sneezing. We tried upping her vitamins again and making sure she had all the water she is wanting and her own bowl of food. I should say her appetite in all this has not fallen off at all. Today she has vomited twice, a clear fluid that to me has the consistency of phlegm like a child would cough up when they have a bad cold. We contacted our vet on base and she said that she most likely has feline leukemia but she can't see Sigrid until Tuesday (today is Thursday). Which brings about my other question

What can we do for her, to help her feel better in a holistic manner until her appointment on Tuesday.

And if Talouse is a carrier and she's become sick because of that is there still a need to seperate them? I am baffled why she, being an adult, would have this now when according to her records in the vets office she's not tested for it previously and she does have all her shots...Mind you, she is grumpy and he pretty much avoids being in the same room as her as it is.

I'll stop now because the more I type, the more questions that come to mind. Thank you for your time on this, right now I am hoping the vet's assumption is wrong and perhaps it is something else that's wrong with her and will be cureable.

Some Humane Societies test for Feline Leukemia and some don't. Cats over a year of age almost never pick up Feline Leukemia, but a cat that is carrying FeLV without showing symptoms may develop a fullblown case when stressed. This can be the situation for otherr diseases as well. Until you can get your cat to the vet, keep the two cats apart, and give high doses of vitamin C and immune stimulants, available in your healthfood store.

Thank you very much. We will do this today and keep you posted after she's been to her appointment on Tuesday.
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In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog
that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.
- Dereke Bruce

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs
should relax and get used to the idea.
- Robert A. Heinlein

It's very odd.
Sigrid had lost a LOT of weight and looked and sounded horrible as I said in my original post. The vet appt was Tues morning, but they had to cancel and she doesn't go in until Friday now. What's odd is that now she seems better! She's eating, no more sneezing, no more sounding congested or throwing up, she's actually gaining back her weight rather quickly. I am befuddled. She is still going on Friday (it's time for her shots no matter what else is going on) and I'll let you know what they say but as sick as she was I never ever expected to see her start improving this much, we honestly were afraid she'd not live long enough to get to the original vet appt.
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In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog
that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.
- Dereke Bruce

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs
should relax and get used to the idea.
- Robert A. Heinlein

A cat that is so sick that she seems to be near death should, under no circumstances, get a vaccination. A vaccination is an elective procedure only for cats that are healthy. In fact, except where required by law, no adult cat should get vaccinated, and the only vaccine that is ever required by law anywhere is rabies. Find out what is going on with your cat, but under no circumstance should you vaccinate her.

Her vet seemed to feel as you do. He didn't vaccinate her until he got her test results. In the end, she only got her rabies shot. Our Sigrid -sighs- was positive for Fiv. We are basically heartbroken at this point even though he sent her home with us and explained that she does seem to have no outstanding health issues right now and will gain some of her weight back..but...his advice is that if she crashes again w/in this year we should definitely put her to sleep. Needless to say, it's not a terribly happy day in our household. He did say that the chances of our other furchild getting this is very very slim since he's well past kitten age, but regardless that when she passes or when we have her put to sleep they will have to test our other cat after 30 days. So now we struggle with do we put her to sleep now, let her try to recover and live as long as possible and maybe put our other cat at risk..just, alot to think about and of course...there's the main question..how much pain is she dealing with? We don't want her in pain. They are our two fur children and we didn't plan to get anymore so that's not an issue, her being comfortable and having quality of life is important though.
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In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog
that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.
- Dereke Bruce

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs
should relax and get used to the idea.
- Robert A. Heinlein

FIV is usually transmitted through bite wounds. If you want to treat her, put her on a good immune stimulant, along with Vit. C, beta sitosterol, and the homeopathic FIV nosode.