How safe are my own cats?

syrisisabully · Oct 19, 2006

HI! I have a question, but first a little background info on me;
I have one cat of my own, almost 3 yr old male Maui
I have one foster cat Diva
I am in the middle of trapping, vetting and rehabilitating 5 kittens and 2 moms. I understand the work involved. All cats I catch have spots in my rescue, my friend and I have foster duties.
There is also an injured male cat I want to catch.
So FIP is airborne right? Even with fosters my own cat could catch this, the good outweighs the bad. With these feral cats, is the risk greater? If the disease is airborne, they (my own cats) could catch it even if an infected animal was secluded to one room right? My rescue does not test for diseases unfortunately.
I am mostly worried about the injured male Scar. The neighbourhood kids call him that. His ears are in such bad shape it looks like he has none, but they are folded over in a weird way. His eyes looked very pink. Hes been out there for over a year at least. I want to catch him as well.

Please help!!

celestialrags · Oct 20, 2006

I am not completly sure of FIP, but I think it is spread through saliva, and feces, ect, not airborn. But, I can't tell you that with complete acuracy. They can't share litterbox, food, water, ect. Also it is only contagious at a certain time, I believe, like when it is in the coronavirus form, but once it is full blown FIP, it is no longer contagious. but i'm not certain.
The male sounds like he has had real bad ear mites or/and frost bite to cause his ears to be the way it sounds like you are explaining.
Mabey you can find a vet or shelter to test them, the shelter I work at tests them and they just take a little blood and they have kits they use to test them with, they just put a few drops of blood on some thing and a few minutes later it tells you, so it is pretty simple, but i'm not sure of how expensive it is. I wish I could be more helpful to you, I am sure some of the really knowledgable people will be around soon and give you some helpful acurate info.
Good luck and welcome to TCS!

syrisisabully · Oct 20, 2006

Well I'm not sure about FIP being airborne anymore either...I'm pretty sure there is one diseases that is airborne and a couple others that can be spread through bites, food dishes, etc. But I can't find the info on it I originally found...so if anyone can help me with any kind of diseases and how I should approach this I would really appreciate it. I have a room for each cat by the way, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. One mom in one room, Scar in another, mom and 2 babies in another.

And thanks about ear mites and frostbite, thats what I think happened to him, too.

syrisisabully · Oct 20, 2006

COME ON nobody?

how do you guys go about the disease factor and your own cats??

jen · Oct 20, 2006

Do you mean FIV and FeLV? FeLV is spreadable very easily and is more common in intact outdoor male cats. FIV is only contageous thru very very deep bite wounds and mating, but they can share litter and food with cats who don't have it. People are even releasing FIV positive feral cats once they are neutered.

Mine are vaccinated and I don't worry about FIV too much. I have new cats tested for them though so I know. Also the tests are inaccurate when the cat is under I think 6 months old.

tnr1 · Oct 20, 2006

Originally Posted by SyrisIsABully

HI! I have a question, but first a little background info on me;
I have one cat of my own, almost 3 yr old male Maui
I have one foster cat Diva
I am in the middle of trapping, vetting and rehabilitating 5 kittens and 2 moms. I understand the work involved. All cats I catch have spots in my rescue, my friend and I have foster duties.
There is also an injured male cat I want to catch.
So FIP is airborne right? Even with fosters my own cat could catch this, the good outweighs the bad. With these feral cats, is the risk greater? If the disease is airborne, they (my own cats) could catch it even if an infected animal was secluded to one room right? My rescue does not test for diseases unfortunately.
I am mostly worried about the injured male Scar. The neighbourhood kids call him that. His ears are in such bad shape it looks like he has none, but they are folded over in a weird way. His eyes looked very pink. Hes been out there for over a year at least. I want to catch him as well.

Please help!!

First...I take my own cats to the vet to ensure that they are fully vaccinated. Second....until I KNOW that my fosters do NOT carry anything...I change my clothes between the foster cat and my own cats and I wash my hands thoroughly.

This is a really good site about FIP:

http://www.dr-addie.com/WhatIsFIP.htm

With 2 cats of unknown background and 5 kittens...I would try to set them up in a room where your own cat and foster cat cannot come into contact with them.

Katie

tnr1 · Oct 20, 2006

Originally Posted by SyrisIsABully

COME ON nobody?

how do you guys go about the disease factor and your own cats??

Syris....We at TCS do advocate you talk to your vet or your rescue group if you have concerns and cannot wait for an answer.

Katie

syrisisabully · Oct 20, 2006

My own cat and my foster are absoloutely 100% UTD on vaccines. The changing clothes thing and washing hands will be done. They (the ferals) will have their own rooms where they can't come into contact with my cats.

I would ask my vet or the rescue, but I was also trying to get some opinions from people who deal with ferals on a regular basis as my rescue does sometimes, but not often. I figured people who do this kind of thing all the time would have some useful information. I'm just worried about airborne diseases, maybe I'm a bit paranoid? But I'd rather be safe than sorry. Also, I am hoping to catch them all this weekend, yes thats a little bit of a crazy thought but I'm hoping if not all by the end of the weekend then by the end of next week. Thats why I'm in such a hurry for answers.
Thanks for the replys! If anyone has any advice, feel free
I'm here to learn.

booktigger · Oct 20, 2006

Have to say it is something I dont normally worry much about - my fosters are kept isolated a large amount of the time - was supposed to be all the time, but i keep getting long term cats where it woudl be unfair to have them in one room all the time (even if it is more space than they would get at the rescue)

tnr1 · Oct 21, 2006

I'm just worried about airborne diseases, maybe I'm a bit paranoid? But I'd rather be safe than sorry. Also, I am hoping to catch them all this weekend, yes thats a little bit of a crazy thought but I'm hoping if not all by the end of the weekend then by the end of next week. Thats why I'm in such a hurry for answers.
Thanks for the replys! If anyone has any advice, feel free
I'm here to learn.

And we appreciate that you are thinking about your foster and your own cat. I volunteer at a feral cat clinic and whenever I come home...I always wash my cloths and take a long shower before I let my cats near me. I think as long as you keep your "guests" in seperate rooms and make sure to thoroughly clean those rooms once they leave (and yes....washing hands and changing clothes are a must)..I believe you should be ok. I would HIGHLY recommend that the 2 mom cats that you trap be taken to the vet ASAP for spaying and shots....if the kittens are above 8 weeks of age....I would also take the kittens at the same time.

I would also recommend you pose your question here:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/feral_cats/

because there are LOTS of feral cat caretakers who post there. They can tell you what additional measures they take to protect their own cats when they trap and socialize.

Good Luck

Katie

jeanw · Oct 22, 2006

Originally Posted by TNR1

First...I take my own cats to the vet to ensure that they are fully vaccinated. Second....until I KNOW that my fosters do NOT carry anything...I change my clothes between the foster cat and my own cats and I wash my hands thoroughly.

This is what I do too.

naomih · Oct 23, 2006

You can ask the vet to run a simple blood test to determine whether the kitties are FIV+ or FELV+...no matter what the period of quarantine it is highly unlikely it will tell you whether or not hte kitty is FIV+ as many won't have symptoms til many years down the road but are still carriers (quite similar to HIV). I live in Australia and it usually costs about $20 to get the test done. That way you don't have to worry about it so much. Re FIV, I just had two street cat rescues that tested positive for it and did some research. I thought the Cornell University Veterinary Website had great info including info about how it is spread.... http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/fiv.html
Hope all the kitties turn out to be healthy. I'm rescuing a bunch at the moment too....you can read about mine at http://www.kittiesinthehood.com
Good on you for doing it & good luck with it!
Naomi

How safe are my own cats?

syrisisabully

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celestialrags

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syrisisabully

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syrisisabully

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jen

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tnr1

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tnr1

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syrisisabully

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booktigger

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tnr1

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jeanw

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naomih

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