The Feline Leukemia Virus and Your Cat’s Symptoms

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is an often deadly virus that
compromises the immune system of cats. There is no known
cure for this disease, and to date, no treatments have been
clinically proven to increase the longevity of otherwise
healthy infected cats.

This disease has a varied list of symptoms and signs, many
of which may be common to other illnesses and conditions.
FeLV is a retrovirus, which means that it is able to insert
copies of its own genetic material into the cells it has
infected.

Healthy felines are attacked by harmful organisms all the
time. Most of the time, your cat can fight them off. When
your cat’s immune system is compromised, however, diseases
that would not normally cause a problem can become more
severe. In some cases, they can become life threatening.

Secondary infections and diseases will cause problems with
FeLV infected cats. These secondary infections and diseases
make the symptom list for this illness quite varied. FeLV
infected cats have a difficult time fighting off invaders,
even common bacteria.

Initially, symptoms of FeLV may include blood disorders,
fever, enlarged lymph nodes, and general malaise. It’s
possible for some cats, however, to experience no symptoms
at the early stage.

Some FeLV infected cats may exhibit excessive urination and
thirst, which is also common to a number of other
conditions. They often will develop anemia, and some will
develop tumors, leukemia, and other forms of cancer.

Additional feline leukemia virus symptoms may also include
depression, diarrhea, and weight loss to the point of
emaciation. Some cats may maintain a persistent low grade
fever. Other symptoms include chronic recurring infections,
jaundice, blood in the stool, and constipation.

There are two stages to this disease. Upon initial
infection, some cats will fight off the illness and it will
not progress to the second stage. Other cats will not be so
fortunate and the disease will progress.

If your cat has FeLV, the only thing you can do is to treat
the secondary infections and diseases, and try to boost the
immune system of your cat. This disease is usually fatal for
those cats who reach the second stage of this disease.

Fortunately, if your cat is not in a high risk group,
chances are limited that she will contract the disease. In
fact, it’s estimated that only about 2 to 3 percent of all
cats are infected with FeLV. Infection rates are higher in
high risk groups. The disease is transmitted through direct
contact with an infected cat. As such, keeping your cat
indoors and away from infected cats is a good precaution and
preventive measure.

Kurt Schmitt writes about
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feline leukemia virus symptoms list including information on
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Cats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.