Pets are susceptible to many of the diseases they are routinely exposed to. Unfortunately, cats are particularly susceptible to disease considering that a large percentage of felines are allowed to roam freely. Indoor pets can be exposed to contagious illnesses, even if they never go outside the home. Incubation periods vary from disease to disease, and pets may appear "healthy" while harboring infection from viruses. Some animals may be asymptomatic for their entire lives, while in other pets symptoms may not become evident until weeks, months, or even years after they first become infected with a disease.

Prevention is the key to eliminating the spread of major infectious diseases in pets. Preventive vaccination is less costly than treatment, avoids suffering, and helps limit the transmission of disease. There are vaccines available for Feline Leukemia, and FIV, but it is strongly recommended that your pet be tested before administering the FIV vaccine*. Dr. Barkley may recommend periodic testing of your feline, particularly if your cat is exposed to infected cats (for example, those that go outdoors unsupervised, those that live outdoors, or live with other cats that might be infected). Research to date has shown that FIV and FeLV only affect cats.

* It is strongly recommended that you test your cat for FIV before administering the vaccine, as giving the vaccine will turn the FeLV/FIV test result positive, and potentially cause a mistake in care, or treatment, if the cat were to be tested again, without an owner, or veterinarian, knowing that the cat had been vaccinated and was actually a "false-positive". For this reason, we would also recommend any FIV vaccinated cat to be microchipped, so that they would be easily identified as a "false-positive" on such tests, and avoid potentially fatal action on the part of a veterinarian, or animal shelter.

SEE ALSO: Feline Leukemia Virus , and Feline AIDS