If you are the proud owner of a kitty, then you should take the time to learn about feline leukemia. Many cats die each year from this dangerous disease, which has been found to be caused by a virus which is highly contagious. To protect your precious cat, you should take the time to learn more about feline leukemia, and what you can do to help protect your cat from it.
Feline leukemia is a virus that causes other more serious diseases, such as cancer and anemia. There is only a ten percent chance of survival for cats that contract feline leukemia, very few living longer than three years after contracting the virus. Any cat can contract feline leukemia, but young kittens are particularly vulnerable, especially those who are younger than six months old.
Like many other feline diseases, feline leukemia is spread through the saliva of infected cats. Since cats often groom each other, and eat and drink from the same bowls, it is easily spread from cat to cat, especially those who are in close contact with each other all the time, such as cats living in the same home. Female cats that have feline leukemia can also pass the virus along to their unborn kittens, who through their milk when feeding their young. Most cases of feline pregnancy in cats infected with feline leukemia never make it to term, the unborn kittens succumbing to the disease and dying in the womb before they are ever born.
Some cats are naturally resistant to feline leukemia, their immune systems being able to kill the virus before it causes any real damage to the internal organs of the cat. If the virus spreads into the cat's bone marrow before the immune system is able to destroy it, the cat will eventually succumb to the virus.
Cats that have feline leukemia often have frequent illnesses, since the disease destroys their immune system, making them unable to fight off disease causing bacteria and germs. Over time, feline leukemia takes its toll on the cat's overall health, and you will see the cat getting sicker and sicker. Cats with feline leukemia will often run fevers, have little energy, refuse to eat, or eat very little, and will lose weight rapidly. Cats that have feline leukemia will often become anemic, and many of them will also develop feline lymphoma, or cancer.
Much like HIV, there is no current treatment for feline leukemia. Once a cat has contracted this disease, all you can do is try to keep the cat as healthy as possible, to try to postpone the inevitable. If your cat does become sick, you have to seek immediate medical treatment, often in the form of long courses of high-dose antibiotics. Since you cannot treat this deadly disease, all you can do is try to keep your cat as healthy and comfortable as possible, for the duration.
There are vaccines available that can help prevent feline leukemia, however they are not one hundred percent effective. Before you bring a new cat into your home, you should have it tested for feline leukemia, to be certain that you aren't putting your other cats at risk, even if those cats have been vaccinated.
If your cat does contract feline leukemia, you should do everything you can to limit contact with other animals, to prevent the spread of the disease, and to keep your cat from contracting potentially deadly infections.
As a cat owner, you should learn about feline leukemia, have your cats vaccinated, and limit their contact with other animals as much as possible, to prevent the spread of this highly contagious feline disease.
