While their lifespans are shortened, FeLV cats can live decently long, happy lives and many survive 3-5 years after diagnosis. This virus affects the immune system, so while FeLV is generally not painful in itself- it can cause many complications
Feline Leukemia Virus, despite the name, is NOT a cancer- but a retrovirus. It spreads cat-to-cat by saliva, shared bowls, feces and urine, etc. Humans and dogs can NOT get this and the virus does not survive well outside of the feline host- so it is manageable
Hi, I’m still alive! This is Benjamin, a former TNR cat that was DEFINITELY a macho tomcat in his day (look at that massive head, the pics don’t do it justice) Unfortunately he is FeLV positive (likely from his days on the streets) but doing ok! Lets talk about what that is 🧵
This is why you have to be VERY careful and vet your breeders. Know what you’re looking for when looking at pedigrees. Not everyone is truthful
This is the same phenomenon with a lot of “out of standard” fad colors such as the merle frenchie, and so on. It’s easy to either produce hung (forged) pedigree papers, or claim pure lines through DNA testing. We just don’t have the technology to trace back more than a few generations
The cross breeding to introduce this dilute color can be many generations back, allowing a DNA test to not show it. Most modern canine dna tests can only successfully trace back 3 or so generations. This is how a lot of people claim their silver lab is “pure”
Labs only come in black, yellow, and brown. Despite what people claim, they do not naturally possess the dilute gene to produce silver. All silver labs are a result of cross breeding somewhere down the line. Suspiciously, the first noted silver lab came from a Weimaraner breeder.
