Cat Health Symptoms

Found out my kitten has feline leukemia...is it safe to bring another cat in the house?

Sadly, they had to put the kitten down. I found her outside and she seemed really sickly, so i took her in. The found out she had feline leukemia. I would like to get another cat, but is it safe to have a cat in the house, can they infect it? What precautions should i take to make sure my new kitten doesn't contract this disease?

Public Comments

1. leukemia is not contagious
2. Ask your vet when its safe. I'm pretty sure you can't bring in another cat for awhile. Ask them if you also need to get rid of bedding, treehouse/scratching posts, etc and get new ones for the new cat. I've never had to deal with FELV so am not sure if there is a time period.
3. No. It is not safe to bring another cat into the house because it can catch it also. if you have more than one animal, get them checked, and keep and eye on her. p1 Keep your cat permanently indoors. Because of his weakened immune system, the outdoors is dangerous for your cat. It also prevents him from spreading the feline leukemia virus to any neighborhood cats. Step2 Have your cat spayed or neutered. When a pregnant cat is infected the virus spreads to the kittens. Step3 Feed her a nutritional diet. Infected cats need the immune system boost that a healthy diet gives them. Ask your veterinarian for a recommended brand. Step4 Bring him to the veterinarian clinic at least once every six months. Your veterinarian can do an examination to see what your cat's overall health is and how much deterioration there has been. Warn the clinic ahead of time that you are bringing in a feline leukemia positive cat so that they can take precautions to avoid other cats being infected. Step5 Watch her for any signs of illness or changes in health. If you notice any differences, call your veterinarian immediately. Step6 Get all cats in your household tested. Infected cats often aren't diagnosed until after they have already had the chance to infect the others. Step7 Protect your non-infected cats by keeping them separate from the one infected with feline leukemia. Use different food dishes and litter boxes. Prevent them from having any contact with each other.
4. You really need to ask the vet about this problem. I'm so sorry about your first cat.
5. New litter box and new food bowl and water bowl, make sure new kitten has been vaccinated against leukemia. it is very contagious amongst cats.
6. my first cat had this to, just get rid of all her things and start fresh with new. clean the area where she slept kc
7. NO! It is deadly and contagious to other cats. FeLuk is very contagious. The only other cats that you should have around are other FeLuk positive cats. Talk to your vet for more info.
8. No it will not be contagious since you do not have the kitten anymore, however I wouldn't use the same dishes and toys the kitten had. If I were you I would not have let them put the kitten down if that's the only thing that was wrong with it! Being sick could have been treated. Most vets try to talk people into putting them down because they are not "normal." Unfortunately, many people do buy into what the vets say about the disease and put their cats down as soon as they hear they have this disease when they really do not need to be put down. We have a cat who is + at our shelter and he is 20 years old. Out of almost 300 cats at our shelter he is the oldest. I think you could have been a real blessing to that cat and possibly adopting another cat who also has the same disease. Sadly, many shelters do not keep cats who are not "normal" and will put them to sleep, not ever giving them a chance. Even though the only thing you would really have to do with these guys is make sure they are kept indoors and not exposed to cats who do not have the disease. I just think if more people wouldn't look at FIV/FeLV as such a bad thing and if there cat did happen to be + then those people would be able to be a big blessing to other cats who are sitting waiting for a home at the few shelters that do keep + cats. Its unfair to the + cats to say Im going to put you down so I can go get a "normal" cat.
9. Sorry to hear you had to have your kitten put down. I don't know much on the subject of FeLV but came across some advice here http://www.catflu.biz/feline-leukemia.html which says you shouldn't consider introducing a cat or kitten into your home which hasn't been tested for FeLV.