Would you adopt a cat that hasn't been tested?

[MissKitties]

I have 3 foster kittens at the moment. I rescued them, but have teamed with a local no-kill foster rescue program to foster them and get them medical care, etc. I've had them for a little over a week now. They've been to the vet, they're off their eye medication, and they've become far more social than they previously were. They're only about 3 months old and cannot be tested for FeLV or FIV until they're 4 months old (the next vet appointment I'm supposed to take them to). I haven't posted the kittens on Petfinder yet because I didn't feel they were ready to be adopted until they were done with their meds and more social and comfortable with human contact. Now the rescue seems to really want me to put the cats up on Petfinder and bring them to showing at the pet store that they do each week. However, I am now concerned with adopting them out without knowing if they are positive for FeLV or FIV. I know it isn't super likely that they have it, but I worry since they lived their entire first 3 months outdoors and encountered who knows how many of the several stray cats in my neighborhood. Their mother also lives outdoors 24/7 and I don't even know who the father is.
I'd feel horrible if someone adopted one of them and took them to the vet only to discover they had one of these diseases. It's bad enough that their new kitten has a horrible illness, but what if they no longer want it after that? Even worse, what if they already have a cat at home and he/she gets infected?
I don't want the rescue to think I'm being reluctant in posting the cats or getting mad at me for not trying to get them adopted asap. They're mainly a dog rescue, so I don't know if they really think about this aspect of cat adoption.
So, I'm asking my fellow cat lovers if you would want to adopt a kitten, not knowing if it has FeLV or FIV?

[white cat lover]

I would not adopt a cat that hasn't been FeLV tested for sure. FIV I can deal with, but all my fosters are FeLV tested before they come home (unless they are bottle babies, but I can keep them away from my cats no problem).

Why can't you see when the vet can them in soon to FeLV test ASAP? I mean - is there a reason you are waiting until they are getting fixed to test them?

[GoldyCat]

Why can't they be tested until they're four months? With my first kitten the vet said she was too little at 7 weeks, but he tested her at 10 weeks when I took her in for her second series of shots (booster).

When I brought Goldy into the house I didn't keep her separated from my cats. I did take her to the vet to be tested, but it was probably about a week later. Since my girls were current on their vaccinations (FeLV, not FIV) I didn't really worry too much about it. That's in addition to the fact that I had not yet discovered TCS and didn't know anything about rescues, slow introductions, etc.

[MissKitties]

Did I say I was waiting until they I got them fixed to have them tested? If so, I didn't mean to say that.
They cannot be tested until they are 4 months old because the test can be inaccurate before then. The kittens still have a great deal of the mother's antibodies until they are about 4 months old. This means that if the mother has FeLV and the kittens don't, it could still show up as being positive for the kittens. Likewise, if the mother doesn't have it, but the kittens do, it can show up as negative, etc. I am not making this up; it is all according to the vet. I asked about testing right away since I have my own cat who I don't want getting any diseases from these guys.

[white cat lover]

Ahh....I read it as "they can't be tested until they are fixed". Sorry.

Here we test them ASAP - I've even tested 6 week old kittens. Different vets will have different policies - I've heard what you are saying from some people, but never encountered a vet who had that policy.

[MissKitties]

By the way, I'm mainly asking this question to prove my own point about not feeling comfortable adopting them out until they are tested. I can be a bit over-protective with animals, so I'm trying to get some backup. Of course, if you wouldn't care about the cat being tested, I'd also like to know. If I were adopting a new cat from a rescue, I'd expect it to be tested. I just want to make sure others feel the same.

[LawGuy]

I did... but it wasn't really an "adoption" as in I intended to adopt a cat. It just kind of happened by itself and she still needs to get further tests for things like FIV and FeLV.

[ut0pia]

I thought that if the mother has it then the kittens also have it...

[LawGuy]

No. From what I've read FIV doesn't have to pass from mother to kittens, and supposedly is not as common as I would have thought.

[ut0pia]

My vet told me that if the mother or father had FeLV and FIV then the kittens will also have it..He said it's like human HIV- it gets passed through bites, mating, or placenta..If that's not the case then I have no reason to test Jake..Maybe I need to research more

[icklemiss21]

Our vet wont test them that young, he says there are too many false positives from antibodies that result in kittens being euthanised. We usually test the mothers before the kittens are adopted out. We just have a return policy that if there are issues with the kitten we will take it back.

Our kittens go up for adoption at 8-10 weeks and none of them have been tested and very few are positive when tested at 4-5 months by their owners. One that was recently, the owner was happy to keep.

We do however insist all cats in the household are up to date on all vaccines before any of our animals go home (tested or untested)

[MissKitties]

While it is popular belief that if the mother has these diseases, the kittens will too, this is not always the case. While it is common for a mother to pass it on, it does not always happen.

The problem is that I don't believe this rescue has any policies about bringing cats back and what not. They don't have many strict policies about cats since they are mainly a dog rescue. They started off as a dog rescue and have taken on cats since they are always getting so many pleas for help for cats. Anyway, they don't really have a say in who adopts the cats-only the foster parent does. I still have to have the people fill out an application and everything, but I decide. I don't really know if this means I can make my own "return policies" or not.

And I know that these illnesses are rare in the scheme of things. But as I mentioned, I only really worry about it in these guys since they lived their first 3 months outdoors, their mom is an outdoor cat, and I don't know who their father is. There are many stray cats in the neighborhood that seem to gather around their former house.
I've also seen apparently healthy kittens have these diseases. These guys looks perfectly healthy now, but I cannot know for sure.