| Title: | Meower Power is Valuing Differences |
| Notice: | FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY |
| Moderator: | MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO |
| Created: | Sun Feb 09 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jan 11 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 5089 |
| Total number of notes: | 60366 |
Recently, our town's water dept. issued a warning on drinking tap
water without letting it run for 5 minutes first. One of our cats
loves to drink from the tap and did so, quite frequently, before
we learned of the water problems. This same cat, was recently
diagnosed as having leukemia, after 6-7 years of excellent health.
My concern is whether there could be any connection, since I've
heard that animal leukemia can be transmitted through water. I
am considering contacting the health department and finding out
if these new found water problems could be connected in any way
to causing health problems (or diseases) in animals.
I don't know if there's any connection, but if so, it's somewhat
alarming.
If you have any comments, or know of any information, about this,
I would be interested to hear.
Jerri
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 235.1 | RAVEN1::HEFFELFINGER | Tracey Heffelfinger | Thu Apr 17 1986 13:20 | 10 | |
5 mins??!! That's an expensive glass of water!
I doubt seriously that your cat got the disease from the water.
Everything I heard about FeLV is that it can't survive for very
long outside of the body. It has to be passed by secretions like
cats grooming or biting one another. (Like AIDS for lack of a better
known parallel.)
tlh
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| 235.2 | DSSDEV::TABER | It mattered once | Thu Apr 17 1986 14:48 | 25 | |
In general, when a water utility issues a warning to let the water run for a period of time before drinking it, they're trying to get you to flush out material that is between the main and the service to your house. This sort of warning is often issued after the utility cleans its pipes or does major repair work that might introduce chemicals or silt into the line after it has left the treatment plant. The water mains tend to flush themselves fairly quicly, but the service to your house needs to be flushed by using water in the house. If they were suspicious of biological contamination (bacteria) there would have been an orde to boil the water and a big fuss in the local papers. Sometimes you'll also get a warning when a new well comes on-line because the well could have vegetative matter (alge or rotted leaves) that gives a brown color and odd smell to the water. Again, if there was a suspicion of health hazard, there wouls have been a special warning. Federal drinking water standards are very tough, and the penalties for violation are likewise fearsome. My folks owned a water company in Norther New Hampshire for several years, and the reporting and testing that go on are amazing. By all means, call the city water department and ask why the warning was given...they're used to answering questions like that. But I don't think you'll find a connection. >>>==>PStJTT | |||||
| 235.3 | Very much like AIDS | ERIS::CALLAS | Jon Callas | Mon Apr 21 1986 18:00 | 7 |
In fact, the two viruses (FeLV and HTLV III) only differ by about 40
codings, and you might consider FeLV to be feline AIDS. The gentleman
who developed the FeLV vaccine is now turning his attention to the AIDS
virus. Lest someone ask, no don't worry, there are very few things you
can catch from a cat (and vice versa), and these aren't among them.
Jon
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