Will my older cats contract feline leukemia from a new kitten?
I had a kitten for about one week until I found out he had feline leukemia and had to put him down. In that week the kitten lived with my two older cats who are about 2 years old. They used the same litter boxes, licked each other, and played around with each other, although they never came in contact with blood or had any sexual contact. Is it likely that my two older cats will contract this disease?
- amanda
they could have i would take them to they vet to have them checked out
- Peachie
Sweetie, I am so sorry to tell you that using the same litter box and grooming each other made their chances of contacting it very possible. Go to www.animalhealthchannel.com and read up on how it can be transmitted. I'll definitely say a lot of prayers for you cats.
- Bailey
Yes - FeLV is spread easily through saliva, shared food and water bowls, and even shared litterboxes if they use them quickly. Your adult cats may have strong enough immunity not to contract the virus. You should speak to your veterinarian to determine the appropriate interval at which you should have your adult cats tested for the disease - it may be too early to test them at this point, you may need to wait up to 3 months to have them tested to be sure they didn't contract the virus. Good luck. Sorry about your kitten.
- Messykatt
The most common transmission of the virus (besides mother-to-baby) is through saliva, so there is a possibility from what you described. Sharing a litter box is mildly risky, but not like the risk from grooming or sharing food and water. However, it's not a guarantee that they'd get it.
Hopefully, your cats will be fine. In the future, it's always smart to get kittens from situations where the parentage is known. I'm guessing here that the kitten got infected through it's mother. If so, the owner of that cat is a total moron, since the cat has FeLV and it's running around with strays.
- Tammy D
Yes, it is possible.
You need to have your older cats tested for the disease. You need to wash any food and water bowls with bleach and scrub the litter pan with bleach as well. Leukemia comes from saliva, blood, and sexual excretions. The easiest way they get it is eating out of the same bowl and grooming each other. You need to have your cats tested. But you might want to ask a vet about the incubation time. I am not sure how long it takes after the cat comes in contact with the disease for the cat to test positive for it. So ask a vet and they can tell you when you should have the older cats tested.
Leukemia — Comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment of this blood-related cancer.
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