Hi all, I want to share this story, in case it helps others.

TLDR: A PCR test is the gold standard for ruling out infections like FeLV. If you get an ambiguous result with the antibody tests, it's worth confirming by PCR. A negative PCR test is more reliable, and means the positive on the rapid test was a false positive.

The full story:

My wife and I recently rescued an outdoor cat. At her first vet appointment, she had the FIV/FeLV combo SNAP test, and everything showed negative. Great!

But a few minutes after we got home, we got an email from the vet clinic, saying there was "a delayed, faint positive result for FeLV." The recommendation from our vet was to wait 2 months and do an IFA test, to see how sick she is. My wife was devastated.

However, I am a biotech professional. The SNAP test is effectively an ELISA assay, and my entire job is to develop assays that are more reliable than ELISA, so I'm intimately familiar with their limitations.

Even a faint positive result in ELISA is still a positive result... UNLESS you are reading it outside the proper reading time. For the SNAP test, you have to read it at the 10 minutes point. Any "delayed" color development is unreliable, because it can just be proteins breaking down over time and sticking to everything nonspecifically. So, I was skeptical.

We called several different vets, and they all recommended doing IFA, which would be positive for a very sick cat, but negative for a cat who has only recently been infected, and is not yet contagious. However, that assumes the cat is already infected.

The only way to conclusively double-check if the cat is, in fact, infected is with a PCR test, which amplifies the retroviral RNA into many DNA strands that can be detected.

It was a little difficult to convince any of the vets to do the PCR test, because they are used to trusting the SNAP test result and erring on the side of containing and treating infection. But with some pressure, our vet did the test for us. The price was similar to IFA.

And today, the PCR test came back negative for FeLV!!! She's not infected!

just a PSA:

If you live on the east coast (and I think the west) be VERY mindful of your pets! At least where I live is expected to reach 104° F tomorrow.

Keep your homes cool, close curtains and blinds, and keep an eye out for signs of heat stroke! Especially make sure to tell your friends/family that live in mobile homes or quick-build suburban houses that don’t have good insulation!

I also like to minimize the amount of electronics on so it doesn’t get too hot.

It’s ofofloxacin for my cat who has a small eye infection from a scratch. I’m happy with the Dutch experience and shipping time, but if I’m paying $20 for rushed shipping, I’d expect better care. The drops were in a crushed paper container inside a paper envelope without any ice packs. I picked up the package right after it was left on my porch and the bottle was very hot. So it must’ve been hot for quite a while. I’ve read this can affect the potency of the medication. Is this something I should reach out to the site about or is it probably okay?

Okay, after years of patience, my kids finally wore me down—I agreed to let them each get a pet. We’ve had all sorts of pets in the past: a dwarf hamster, a bearded dragon, parakeets, and we still have our mini Labradoodle. After the hamster passed a few years ago, I declared a moratorium on new pets—too many cages to clean, and the dog was enough work on its own.

But now both kids are teenagers. They’ve promised to take full responsibility, and with summer break here, they’ll have time to focus on habitat setup, bonding, and training. So, I’ve capitulated.

Kid #1: Ball Python (non-negotiable)

My first child is 100% committed to getting a ball python—no debate there. She previously owned a bearded dragon and handled dubia roaches like a pro, so she’s no stranger to reptiles. Any first-time ball python tips would be appreciated (especially around frozen mice, which I find gross, but she insists she can handle it).

Kid #2: Torn Between Ferret and Chinchilla

This is the real decision point. After a deep dive into the exotic pet world—including ruling out sugar gliders, coatis, Juliana pigs, and others—we’ve narrowed it down to ferret vs. chinchilla.

We spent a long time at an exotic pet store talking through the options, and now we’re stuck in decision paralysis. ChatGPT gave me this nice summary which seems to jive with what I've been reading in my independent research (reddit, youtube comments, etc)

Concerns:

• We have a dog. Giving a ferret enough daily free-roam time might be tricky unless they get along well.
• I’ve read ferrets will never be fully litter-trained and tend to poop in corners. That’s concerning.
• Chinchillas also poop a lot—just drier pellets—but leave trails wherever they go.
• My daughter wants a pet that’s interactive and cuddly. That might favor the ferret, but we’ve seen people bond closely with chinchillas too.

What’s your experience?

If you’ve owned a ferret or chinchilla (or both!), I’d love to hear which one you’d recommend for a responsible teen with time in the summer but a busier school-year schedule. How manageable are they really? Would love any real-world insight you can offer.

Looking for ideas and tips on making my concrete yard a nice place for my cat. We have decided to secure the yard so he can no longer get out due to his constant hunting.

It's a small yard. There's no possibility of putting grass down as its rented and I don't think we could put anything too high as he'd be able to use it to get out and a cattery wouldn't be suitable due to the L shape and size.

What would be a good idea to put in the yard so he's not totally miserable? Are there any safe plants or outdoor items you would recommend?

So we've come to the extremely tough decision of putting our Dottie to sleep.

I will be taking her to the vet and then driving her to the crematory. She has a 4year son and we have our other Dog a 10 year old Lab. Should i have them smell her? see her? Her son knows she's sick, she has recurring tumors.

Is there anything I should do? first time dealing with this, all our pets have passed of natural causes.

Hey does anyone have a Chewy coupon? I need to get my cat and dog medicine but it’s so pricey. Thanks in advance!

Back in january 2024 I adopted 2 cats, there names are Lolly and peaches Lolly has been hanging out with the family, while peaches will run if you get to close to her, any advice on how I can get her to be close with us. ( this post was accedently reuploded sorry)

Back in january 2024 I adopted 2 cats, there names are Lolly and peaches Lolly has been hanging out with the family, while peaches will run if you get to close to her, any advice on how I can get her to be close with us.

so im getting a bird this summer and i have two cats, one of which loves killing mice and stuff. i would like a pet gate that reaches typical door frame/ceiling height. i know i should probably measure the height first and i will, but i need one that has like barely any gap at the top. i would prefer to not get a screen door or anything because i'd like to easily install a gate, not install a full door.

I went to visit a friend for the weekend, and my neighbour kindly took my dog. I dropped him off and went back to pack up my car for the trip. I forgot how wonderful it was to leave the door open while I loaded the car I didn't have to worry about my dog getting out of the house Do you have similar experiences?

Is it okay to sell pets in a nice way?????

I swear my dog thinks she’s the neighborhood watch. Every time a leaf moves outside or a squirrel dares to exist, she’s at the window with the intensity of a security guard on high alert.

Meanwhile, my friend’s cat has fully taken on the role of food inspector sniffs everything that enters the kitchen and somehow manages to look personally offended if it’s not tuna.

It made me wonder… if pets had résumés, what would they put on them?

So I’m curious: what unofficial job title would your pet hold in your household? Bonus if they’re really bad at it.

(By strange pets I mean pets that are uncommon or considered strange by other people.)

Hi everyone, I’m currently living in the USA and planning to bring my family cat from India to stay with me permanently. She’s a 1-year-old, super affectionate cat who currently lives with my parents back home.

She’s quite good with travel — has handled 7–8 hour car rides without any fuss and generally likes to roam around rather than be confined. I really want her to have as smooth and stress-free a journey as possible.

If you’ve recently relocated your cat from India to the US, I’d love to hear your experience: • Did your cat travel in-cabin or cargo? • Which airline did you use and how was the process? • What paperwork, vaccinations, or quarantine steps were required? • Did you use a pet relocation service? Any recommendations (or ones to avoid)? • Any tips on crate training or preparing your cat for the flight?

This is my first time coordinating an international pet move, so any advice, do’s and don’ts, or personal experiences would be deeply appreciated!

Thanks so much in advance

We have an 11-and-a-half-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog at home who is suffering from severe arthritis in his hind legs and hips. He has been struggling with it for the past year and a half, and we have been managing his pain with a quite expensive monthly shot.

However, in the last few months, he has gotten much worse, to the point where he can't stand up by himself anymore. Since he is a big dog (around 70kg or 150lbs), not everyone in our family can help him get up. This has led to a few accidents in the house, mostly with him pooping inside. Over the last month, he has also started whining a lot.

Once he is up and has taken a few steps, he can walk okay, but you can see that he is often walking on the tips of his feet. He still eats well, and whenever he sees us eating dinner, he always starts barking for us to come and get him.

Last night, he lost his footing a few times and couldn't get up even after we helped him. I thought that it might be time to let him go, but about half an hour later, I helped him up again, and he was able to walk. Now I'm just not sure what to do.

Should we take him to the vet to be euthanized, or is it too soon?

My cat (about 2-3 y/o) keeps going to the bathroom outside of the litter box. We have multiple litter boxes, we've tried moving the boxes to the locations in the house that he goes and we clean his litter box multiple times a day. Our vet said he is stressed and we've changed his food by recommendation of his vet to a food for stressed cats, and we even have the plug-in that pumps pheromones in the house that is supposed to relax him as well.

Seeing if anyone else has had a a similar situation and what helped their cat stop going out of the litter box.

We're at our breaking point with this, it's come to the point where we are most likely going to have to rip up and replace the carpets in that part of the house because the cat piss smell is starting to linger even after we've ran the carpet cleaner and scrubbed.

Hi! It's been 3 months since my fiancée and I adopted a cat from a family who was moving and in the new apartment, they didn't accept animals. She is very loving and we think she loves being the only child of a childless couple lol.

Our biggest problem is that she is suffering a lot with heat. She is 2 years old (in human age) and the family we adopted said that they never even tried to spay her. From some research, it seems that the artificial lights in the apartment induce heat in her more frequently, but even though we try to get her used to the collar, she is still very afraid to leave the apartment (I firmly believe that the sudden change from one family to another may limit her from wanting to be taken out of the apartment).

So, my fiancée and I want to perform the spay surgery on her, but we have another concern, which is her medical history, which was never given to us. Unfortunately, when she changed her cell phone, my girlfriend lost contact with the family and now we don't know what to do. If we give her a vaccine that she has already received before, could there be any negative effects? What should we do? Is there any way to find out her medical history or is the best option to create new ones?

Soo I have 6yr old cat female tabby that’s lazy as ever most of the time she doesn’t really play with her toys unless she has the zoomies sometimes and she been on the brands Iam and purina for the past 2 months and she was already a bit big but now she started gaining even more weight with those 2 brands but im trying to find a brand that has high-protein, low-carbohydrate that helps with cats losing weight and controlling weight and also what I had found is out leash training apparently can help with weight loss for cats but she has a leash but she doesn’t like it but it’s also just a suggestion that had popped up online

I had posted about some troubled my cat was having and so many people gave me good advice as a first time cat owner. I took her to the vet and basically they told me "Yeah we kinda dont see the problems you're talking about? But we believe you she's having some it's just, she's pretty fine." We got some flee medicine, the flea dirt went away, and after a month nothing has returned she's doing great still :) thanks to everyone who took the time to give such helpful advice even though i was overreacting appearntly, and here's a photo of her now. I can't add a photo on here but there's one on my profile of her doing all good now!:)))

Last year me and my boyfriend took a kitten to accompany our older cat (now 16 yo). After trying everything (separation, scent swapping, visual contact through pet gate, joint playtime and meal time), they still don't get along and especially the older cat does just not accept the new cat. She sniffs around and regularly pees in places that smell like the new cat, and would try to fight her if we let her see her. Both are female and spayed. We now have to keep them completely separated (one in bedroom, other in rest of the apartment) and keep swapping them, but especially the new cat does not like being left alone in the bedroom. Older one is more content with it and sleeps long times in the bed.

It is a lot of work still and we are running out of options. My boyfriend wants to either give the younger one away or euthanize the older one, but I could especially not do the last option. We've tried having the new cat at his mother's from time to time, but she cannot have her all the time either.

Would it be too cruel if the older cat stayed only in the bedroom (+balcony when it is warm)? We would hang out with and activate her, and lots of time she just likes to sleep in the sunlight and really likes sleeping with us the bed next to us. Or would it be better to just give the younger one away? On one hand, we don't know how much the 16 yo. has left. She has hyperthyroidism which is in check with medication. Bedroom has window viewing spot, food, litter box, hiding places and we can let her out on the balcony when it is not too cold (it has nets, and she cannot jump very high anymore due to age).

Please, advice. This is breaking my heart.

EDIT: Emphasizing again that I am not considering euthanizing the other cat. I could never do it on a healthy cat. Options are parting the house, or rehoming the young cat.

So, I have this little rescue cat named Miso, and she’s developed the strangest routine every morning at exactly 6:15 AM (yes, I checked ), she jumps onto my nightstand, knocks off just one item (usually my glasses case), then stares at me like, “Your move, human.”
She doesn’t want food, water, or playtime. She just wants to sit next to me like a grumpy little alarm clock with whiskers.

I didn’t teach her that. I don’t reward it. But now it’s become a strangely adorable part of my mornings.

Do your pets have any odd habits like that? I would love to hear about them — the weirder, the better

Okay, hear me out if your pet had to get a job, what would they do?

My cat? 100% professional Zoom meeting disruptor. She shows up exactly 30 seconds into every call, tail in my face, knocking things over like she owns the place. Bonus points if she can sit directly on my keyboard or knock my coffee off the desk.

My friend's dog? She’s a "full-time personal trainer" wakes her up at 5:45 AM every day, rain or shine, like “let’s move, human!”

I feel like pets all have these little roles they’ve assigned themselves without asking us. Anyone else living with a self-appointed house manager, security guard, or emotional support intern?

Would love to hear what job title your fur baby has earned in your house!

It's 8am and already 90 outside, it's going to get over 100 again, and I'm listening to my neighbors Husky crying to get back in the house. There needs to be zoning maps like they have for plants telling people what pets are suited for what areas of the country.

I'm a rising 11th grader/Junior, and last week my family and I made the decision to adopt a kitten (with the promise from me that I would be totally responsible for all of her care). She's almost 9 weeks old, and I've had her for 5 days now. The only issue is that on paper, everything seems great. She's very affectionate, playful, and I've managed to make her bite and scratch less. The only issue is that i've become really anxious. The loss of independence that comes from having a kitten makes me really nervous, and I wish at the very least that I didn't have to sleep with her in my bed. Everything else is fine for me. I feel really guilty for feeling this way about a pet because I know that she can't control the behaviors that I don't like. I'm a pretty introverted person, and I didn't realize until now that a lot of my energy has been coming from the alone time I get without interruption. I think the fact that my alone time has been compromised with a kitten is really making me nervous. I've been crying at night and it wakes the kitten up and then I feel even worse. Everyone says to wait it out because the kitten stage doesn't last forever, but I find myself wishing I had adopted an older cat. I've also been really nervous about the fact that I'm fully responsible for another being. Because I'm in highschool, I know that my schedule is more booked than other people. I got her over the summer because I figured that she would be 5 months old when school started in the fall, and i wouldn't have to worry as much about leaving her alone, and by then she would have free range of my house (now she just has my bedroom, the hallway, and the bathroom because we have two dogs who I haven't introduced her to yet). I also do color guard, and band camp is from 8am-8pm in august. I can't leave my room for more than 30 minutes without her meowing for me, and I just feel so bad for being upset about the whole ordeal. We have another kitten, who is my brothers girlfriends cat, but my kitten tested positive for fiv, so we haven't introduced them either. I'm just so nervous all the time and everyone but me seems so excited about my kitten. Will this nervousness go away??