What is the survivability of Feline Panleukopenia? Well, it’s not an easy question to answer, so I’ll talk about my own experience and give you a few studies.
My Experience
When people hear I have a lot of experience with panleukopenia, they often ask what the survival rate is. In my experience with kittens 4 to 8 weeks old where at least one kitten has developed symptoms, 50 to 60% survival rate with basic treatment.
Why do I say this? Well, I took a sampler of litters where at least one kitten developed symptoms and had tested positive for panleukopenia.
In a litter of 8 where all developed symptoms, 3 survived. In a litter of 4 where only 2 developed symptoms, all 4 survived. In a litter of 7 where 5 developed symptoms, 4 survived. In a litter of 2 where both developed symptoms, 1 survived.
So out of 21 kittens, 12 survived, or 57% survival rate. This is not all the panleuk kittens I’ve taken, but a good sampler. I’ve had litters that “tested positive” that never developed symptoms and survived.
What the Studies Say
Official studies on survival rate of panleukopenia will give a wide range of survivability. For example, a 2018 study found only 20.3% survived. However, this study reviewed Medical records of cats treated for FPV infection from 2011 through 2013. It’s unclear what treatment, if any, was given. It’s also possible, since these cats were all admitted to a hospital, that these reflect only cats or kittens with severe panleukopenia.
Another study showed results closer to my own experience. As it states, “Survival rate was 51.1%. No significant correlation was found between outcome and living conditions, age, vaccination status (unvaccinated versus one or more vaccines administered), or severity of clinical signs.”
Which leads me to my next point
You Can NOT Predict Survivability of Panleukopenia.
Isn’t Cali cute? She’s a perfect example of how you can’t predict survivability of panleukopenia. She tested positive at the shelter and was already symptomatic before protocols were started. The vet looked at me and said “she’s not likely to survive.” I agreed with her, but thought the other 3 had a chance as they hadn’t any symptoms.
She was smaller than her siblings and only 4 weeks old. She hadn’t been vaccinated prior to symptoms. The odds didn’t seem in her favor. Although she did get sick, she made a complete recovery. You can never tell until you try.
But Euthanizing Panleukopenia is Never Wrong
After saying how you can’t predict survivability of panleuk, you may think I may be advocating for people not to euthanize. That’s not what I’m saying. While feline panleukopenia can be treated successfully without a lot of cost (unlike canine parvovirus) it’s not easy to treat for two major reasons:
- It’s extremely contagious. My second case of panleukopenia, Scamper, contracted it because someone touched a cat with panleukopenia (but not symptomatic) and then touched her. It’s that contagious.
- The virus is hard to kill and can survive months, if not years in the environment. It has to be killed and not everything will kill it. For example, Lysol does NOT kill it.
I am very cautious about taking panleukopenia and always consider what else I have. I won’t take panleukopenia if I have kittens who are at high risk for contracting it. (I consider high risk kittens who are too young to be vaccinated or kittens who are very sick.) When I take kittens with panleukopenia, they are always kept away from everything else. I wear special clothing and shoes. Anything that goes in that room is sterilized before it is allowed anywhere else—and that includes myself. I go more into how to deal with panleukopenia in the home.