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About two weeks
ago, I was presented with a seven-month old female spayed kitten that
had suddenly stopped eating. Felix, a cute little black and white
kitten, was found running around a dumpster in a lot near the back of a
supermarket in Manhattan. After some gentle coaxing, she was scooped up
by my client, who decided that her quiet studio apartment needed a
kitten to liven up the place. Felix was taken to a local veterinarian
who gave her a good physical exam, and then administered the first
panleukopenia/upper respiratory virus vaccine. Three weeks later, she
was given the second vaccine, as well as a rabies vaccine. Two months
after that, she was spayed.
Now, three weeks
after her spay operation, I was examining Felix for weakness, lethargy,
and a sudden loss of appetite.
Upon questioning her owner, I discovered that Felix did well after her
spay surgery. She recovered uneventfully, and went home the next day,
where she ate, drank, and behaved normally. Three days before she was
brought to our hospital, she was a little less frisky, but still
appeared healthy. Over the course of the next two days, her lethargy
progressed, and her appetite worsened. Now, she was totally anorexic,
and almost too weak to stand on her own.
On physical
examination, her eyes and ears were fine. When I examined her mouth, I
noticed right away that her gums were as white as a sheet. This was
markedly abnormal, and was indicative of severe anemia. Her lymph nodes
were normal, and her abdomen felt fine. She didn’t have a fever. The
rest of her examination was fairly unremarkable. I asked the client if
she had any medical records from her previous veterinarian. Looking at
the invoices from her previous visits, I saw charges for vaccinations
and for surgery, but no charges for a feline leukemia test. “Was Felix
ever tested for the feline leukemia virus?” I asked. “I don’t know”,
said the client. “Whatever you see on those invoices, that’s what they
did”. I found it disheartening that a veterinarian would examine a
kitten taken from the street and vaccinate and spay it without making
sure it was negative for this deadly virus. I told the client that
before I run any blood or urine tests, I would like to run a feline
leukemia virus test. I obtained a small amount of blood from Felix’s
leg and ran the test in-house. Ten minutes later, our worst fears were
realized. Felix tested positive for the virus.
Feline leukemia is
one of the most serious infectious diseases of cats. The disease is
caused by a virus belonging to a large family of viruses called
retroviruses. Retroviruses are able to incorporate their genetic
material into the host’s DNA, allowing the virus to survive long-term in
the host. Once in the host, the viral DNA can cause several problems,
including transformation of normal cells into malignant cancer cells,
and/or disruption of normal cellular functions. The virus will often
affect a cat’s bone marrow, causing it to cease production of red blood
cells. Felix, unfortunately, was being affected in this way. The virus
was preventing her bone marrow from replenishing her bloodstream with
new red blood cells, and she was severely anemic as a result.
The American
Association of Feline Practitioners and the Academy of Feline Medicine
Advisory Panel regularly publish reports that advise veterinarians on
proper procedures for feline retrovirus testing and management. In
their report, the panel lists the circumstances under which cats should be tested for the feline leukemia
virus. The report states that cats, when they are about to be adopted,
regardless of age, should be tested for the virus. It is especially
important if the adopted cat is to be introduced into a multiple-cat
household, to prevent exposing resident cats to the virus. It is also
important, however, to test cats even if they are to be the only cats in
the household, for a number of reasons: cats intended to be housed
exclusively indoors may escape and expose other cats; additional cats
may join the household; and, as Felix clearly demonstrated, feline
leukemia virus infection may have future health ramifications even if
the cats do not presently have any signs of disease.
Although some cats
infected with the feline leukemia virus may live for many years, the
course of the disease differs from cat to cat, depending on the age,
overall immune status of the cat, and the specific strain of the
infecting virus. Once a cat begins showing symptoms of being ill from
the virus, treatment is often futile. There is no conclusive evidence
from controlled studies showing that immune system modulators or
alternative medications have any positive beneficial effects on the
health or longevity of feline leukemia virus infected cats with clinical
signs of illness. Cats rapidly deteriorate and ultimately die from this
disease.
With no effective
therapies, and with a grave prognosis for survival, I had no recourse
but to euthanize little Felix before her clinical signs worsened.
Manhattan Cat Specialists follows the advisory panel’s guidelines, and
has been doing so for years. We urge every cat owner to have their cat
tested for this virus, so as to prevent the same kind of sad situation
that befell poor little Felix. Cats that test negative can then be
vaccinated against the virus if they are at risk for future exposure.
Updated 2/9/06
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