Fungi, viruses, and bacteria attack felines and humans alike on a regular basis. Most of the time, a healthy cat or person will fight them off. With a compromised immune system, however, bacteria, parasites, viral and other organisms are more likely to do your cat harm.
With a weakened immune system, your cat is more susceptible to secondary infections and diseases. It's these secondary infections, conditions and diseases that make the symptom list for this disease so varied. FeLV infected cats have a difficult time fighting off infections of any kind.
Initially, symptoms of FeLV may include blood disorders, fever, enlarged lymph nodes, and general malaise.
It's possible for some cats, however, to experience no symptoms at the early stage.
Some FeLV infected cats may exhibit excessive urination and thirst, which is also common to a number of other conditions. They often will develop anemia, and some will develop tumors, leukemia, and other forms of cancer.
As the disease progresses, sick cats may present with more and varied symptoms. Blood in the stool, constipation, jaundice, and recurring infections may be present. Feline leukemia virus symptoms may also include and diarrhea, severe weight loss, and depression.
There are two stages to this disease. Upon initial infection, some cats will fight off the illness and it will not progress to the second stage. Other cats will not be so fortunate and the disease will progress.
If your cat has FeLV, the only thing you can do is to treat the secondary infections and diseases, and try to boost the immune system of your cat. This disease is usually fatal for those cats who reach the second stage of this disease.
According to professional sources, FeLV infections exist in about 2 to 3 percent of all cats. Infection rates are higher in high risk groups. If your cat is not in a high risk group, chances are limited that she will contract the disease. Since the disease is transmitted through contact with infected cats, keeping your cat indoors and away from infected cats is a good preventive measure.
Dr. Rosenberg is the owner, CEO & Chief of Staff at Veterinary Cancer Group.
Kymythy Schultze has been a trailblazer in animal nutrition for over two decades.
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