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Feline Leukemia is a viral infection is generally fatal
in the affected cat. The virus is similar in type
to the HIV virus in humans. Humans however, can
not become affected by this virus.
Spread of this disease is by body fluids (urine, stool,
saliva), and from mother cat to her kittens. Mutual
grooming is a popular method of spread through saliva.
Cats allowed to go outdoors and come in contact with
other cats, or cats in a multi-cat household are most
susceptible to becoming infected.
Diagnosis is done with a blood test, and can be performed
by your veterinarian in the office within 10 minutes.
Symptoms vary from cat to cat. Often times the
cat has no symptoms whatsoever. In these cases,
the virus is said to be in its dormant state.
When active, the virus attaches to blood cells in the
cat's body, and can suppress the cat's own immune system,
allowing other infections to occur. This is a common
symptom with feline leukemia infection.
This virus can also cause cancer to develop in an affected
cat.
Less commonly, but where the virus gets its name, feline
leukemia can cause true leukemia of the bone marrow
to occur in the affected cat.
Treatment is mainly supportive, and usually involves
antibiotics when other infections are present.
Enhancing the affected cat's immune system appears to
greatly improve the cat's recovery from other infections,
and acts to prevent further infection from recurring.
The drug Interferon works well in the cat infected
with feline leukemia virus to enhance the cat's own
immune system to fight infections. Although this
disease is considered fatal in the cat, many survive
a healthy life for many years with appropriate medical
support.
Prevention of this disease is through routine vaccination
series.
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