Feline Leukemia

Question
Hello. My 2 year old cat was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia about a year ago. At the time of his diagnoses, he was VERY VERY sick. The vet gave him some medicine but it seemed to just make it worse. A few weeks later, i took him off of his medicine. I thought he would get worse, but he all of a sudden got better. He started recovering slowly but surely, and life came back into his eyes. Since this, i am scared to take him back to the vet.. Without his medicine, shouldn't he of gotten sicker? So, do you think it's worth taking him back and getting him re-tested? He is a very happy and overall healthy cat. I read on the internet you should test twice. Thank you so much. Jessica

Answer
Hi Jessica.  Sorry to hear of your kitty's diagnosis.  Sometimes an antibiotic won't sit well with a kitty and makes them feel worse than when they were sick.  I discovered that recently with one of my own leukemia cats.  I thought it was time to put him to sleep, so I scheduled an appointment and decided not to put him through the struggle of taking his medicine for the last couple days.  And he bounced back!  I would try to make a note of which antibiotic he was on, and next time he gets sick, try a different medication.

You should test twice for leukemia if your kitty was tested while you waited in the vet's office.  The test vets use in the office, which gives you results in 10 minutes, checks to see if the virus is in the blood.  This will check for NEW infections (those in the bloodstream only) and PERMANENT infections (those being made by the bone marrow), but it can't tell the difference between the two.  A cat has the chance to fight off the leukemia infection while it is still new if his immune system is capable.  Three of my own cats who tested positive have fought it off.  Two of them were diagnosed about 7 years ago, tested negative 3 months later and are still with me today!  You should retest 3-6 months after the initial test, so it has been plenty of time if you want to retest now.

If your vet sent out the blood test to a laboratory, then your cat might have had an IFA test done, which checks to see if the leukemia has already invaded the bone marrow.  In this case, a positive test indicates the infection is permanent, and there is no need to repeat the test.