Where I live in West Cork, Ireland, FELV (Feline Leukemia) is prevalent. Its an infectious disease, easily passed from one cat to another. Depending on the age and condition of the cat, the disease can have fatal consequences, or the cat can remain healthy and be a carrier of the disease for life. FELV is found world wide and can be passed from one cat to another through saliva, urine, faeces, blood, through mother’s milk and often through a scratch or bite.

For details about the virus read:  http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/felv.html

Where we live, a large population of farmyard cats integrated with my neighbour and her cats and with me and my cats.  About six months ago, my neighbour noticed that the Grandmother of all the farmyard cats (the Grandmother was living with her) had an abscess on her mouth and so my neighbour took her into the cat hospital where she works, to have it checked out.  They ran blood tests on her and found that she had FELV.

Being a veterinary assistant, the cat was euthanized and my neighbour was faced with the task of testing all her remaining cats (14 in all) at huge expense.  She was out of her mind with worry, in case some of her cats would have become infected and that she would have to euthanize them too. All the tests came back negative to her huge relief.

A few months later, my neighbour adopted two stray kittens, they were half wild and it took several weeks for them to settle into her household.  Two weekends ago to her horror, the female kitten died suddenly. My neighbour took the dead kitten and her brother to the cat hospital, where she ran an autopsy and gave the young male a blood test.  Both cats had FELV, which my neighbour thought they must have contracted at birth. She had the young male euthanized. So again, a question mark remains over whether or not any of her other cats have contracted the disease. 

So, what we have learnt from this sad story, I pass on to anyone thinking about adopting a cat into a multi cat household:  Run blood tests before you adopt a cat or kitten, to make sure that you are not bringing either FELV (or FIV) into your home.  The tests are are not cheap but will save you veterinary bills and heartache in the long run.