How to Care for a Cat With Leukemia

Feline leukemia is a retrovirus that is transferred between cats. It can cause cancer, blood disorders and immune system deficiency. The life expectancy depends on what illnesses the cat develops. You can help make your remaining time together more comfortable for your cat and safer for other cats around it. Follow these steps to care for a cat with leukemia.

Instructions

1. 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.

2. Have your cat spayed or neutered. When a pregnant cat is infected the virus spreads to the kittens.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Watch her for any signs of illness or changes in health. If you notice any differences, call your veterinarian immediately.

6. 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.

7. 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.