FIV - Adoption Resources

mytoys2u

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Hello,

This is my first time to this forum. I have two cats already and my mother, who had to be placed in a nursing home, had 4 cats of her own.

I brought the 4 cats to Houston to my local vet before introducing them to our household. Three cats checked out ok but one tested positive for FIV.

She is a beautiful 6 year old cat ... very loving and sweet (not a fighter at all). However, I have one agressive cat in my household already and cannot risk the infection of her.

Does anyone know of any FIV adoption resources? I REALLY want to place her in a home because she is just such a sweet cat and I've already fallen in love with her and just don't want to put her down.

Thanks
 
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mytoys2u

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My vet recommended in not so many words that I needed to put this FIV+ cat down ... of course, my reaction was no and to find her a good home ... but as I'm finding out, this may not be necessary to do in in all cases.

PLUS, after all my research, I found out that he had just run the simple office test which can result in a false positive.

I had called a wonderful shelter in Austin TX to talk about this and she explained that a determination of FIV+ should NOT be made based on this quick test because of the potential for false positive. She said that a Western Blot test or other "real" lab work should be done first before evening worrying about it.

This cat has been indoors only, has never fought with another cat to our knowledge and she came to my mother's at 8 weeks old.

I went to my vet to discuss, and he started out the conversation "I might not have researched this quite enough" ... and when he pulled out the lab results, even the lab said that there was a potential false positive and that a WESTERN BLOT should be run.

Exactly what the shelter woman told me! Thank goodness I called and talked to her. She was wonderful and I am going to definitely make a contribution this year to her organization.

The woman at the shelter then went on to further educate me about FIV+ and said that if I had a spare bedroom, it definitely would be safe to keep her (even with her companion of 6 years ... a cat who is 8 years old) if I'm afraid of one of my existing (aggressive) cats causing a fight with her.

So, I have decided to keep her even if she tests positive with the Western Blot test. Of course, I'm REALLY hoping it comes back negative. If it does, I'll be extremely relieved.

I have three extra bedrooms not currently in use, so space and privacy for this cat is not an issue. She is such a sweetie that I really want her taken care of no matter what.
 

clixpix

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I'm so sorry that it was necessary for your mother to move into a nursing home. I'm so glad you decided to keep all of them.


Hopefully her Western Blot test will be negative
 

cinder

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I have an FIV+, Pip, that I took in a little over a year ago. He's one of thirteen cats. I do allow him to interact with the others when I'm there to keep an eye on things. Kind of like your situation...he's very sweet, but I have a couple others who like to stir things up. I'm not 100% sold on the vaccine, although if I only were dealing with 2 or 3 other cats I would probably give it more thought. Mine are all indoor only, but if I FIV vaccinated I think I would also microchip.

A couple of vet clinics and a nokill shelter are supposedly trying to find a good situation to place him in, but so far they've not been successful. Truthfully, I don't expect him to ever be placed. It's a little more work to make sure he has quality time on the deck, with the other cats, with me each day, so it just depends on what you're willing to do. Having some extra space should make it much easier to deal with. If you feel uncomfortable allowing her to interact with your other cats, consider adopting a second FIV+ that is not showing any symptoms. Afterall...you just added 4 kitties to the family, what's another mouth to feed!
 
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mytoys2u

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Originally Posted by Cinder

If you feel uncomfortable allowing her to interact with your other cats, consider adopting a second FIV+ that is not showing any symptoms. Afterall...you just added 4 kitties to the family, what's another mouth to feed!
My husband (who is also a cat lover) has laughingly told me that I'm "testing his love for me" with a six cat household


So, I think I'd be pushing my luck with a seventh. Though last night he did say that if he and I both saw a stray he knew the number would go up to 7


I think I might be down one cat though soon ... One of my friends (who has never owned a cat) is fostering one of them now ... it's the baby of the bunch at 11 months old.

She spent 5 hours in the bedroom with it trying to get it "comfortable" and used to her this morning. The cat (who was scared to death 2 1/2 days ago when we dropped it off with her) is now laying by her on the floor getting an awesome "kitty massage" while it works its paws kneading bread.

Plus, she couldn't read her newspaper because he was he was on it all morning "batting at it". She had me stop over to make sure he was ok ... once I saw him purring, curled up against her ... I let her know that he's definitely OK.

She's mentioned several times now that she may "fall in love" with him and then what should she do?? I told her that she can keep him, but if she just wants to foster him, it's ok too and I'll take him back to my house once I get everything situated and the spare bedrooms ready for the new kitties.

My husband thinks there is a 100% chance she'll keep him. She keeps cooing over him and calling him "her baby" after only 2 1/2 days.

I think there may be another cat person in the making!!
 
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mytoys2u

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Originally Posted by clixpix

I'm so sorry that it was necessary for your mother to move into a nursing home. I'm so glad you decided to keep all of them.


Hopefully her Western Blot test will be negative
The Western Blot came back positive


The 6 yr old was playful this morning ... we have her separated with her companion of 6 years (a Siamese 8 yrs old who is FIV-).

We're keeping the cats (both FIV+ and FIV-) separated for a while to make sure that they are both otherwise healthy ... then we may try to introduce the FIV+ cat to our other two.

My new "cat vet specialist" actually has several FIV+ kitties of her own that intermingle with the rest of her cats and none have come up FIV+. Just have to make sure no one "starts" any fights ... but the 6 yr old is a run and hide cat ... not a fighter.

It was funny, I asked my new vet how many cats she had, and she said "We don't ask that question here ... but you can't hold your head high unless you have at LEAST 6!" I'm really going to like her
 
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