help me FIV

for the past year we have had an intact male who we've named Mr. Whiskers coming to feed with our 3 TNR babies, the 3 TNR's are friendly but wont let you touch them, for awhile so was Mr. Whiskers but soon he was looking for petting and rubbing on our legs and just hanging out with us even after all the food was eaten. he got so friendly we wanted to adopt him, at this point he'd come sit on our laps, we have three indoor babies and cant have another without the landlady kicking us out and we really dont have the room in this size apt. well anyway my mom took care of our inside and outside babies while we were on vacation and she fell in love with Mr. Whiskers. after much thought she wanted to adopt him. last night before a big storm my husband caught him and confined him in our bathroom, he was ssuch a good boy. this morning i set out for the vet with him in tow to get him vaccinated wormed and neutered and then he was off to live the life of luxury as an indoor cat at my mom's. they did the standard testing for communicable diseases and he is positive for FIV (AIDS) i am heartbroken, my mom has one cat and the vet said that Mr. Whiskers could transmit FIV to him. i am at a loss as to what to do, he was quite healthy so the vt reccomended we neuter worm and treat him for fleas anyway. i feels so bad releasing him but we dont know what else to do. i'll be picking him up in an hour he's recovering from his neuter right now. does anyone have any suggestions please?

As long as they are neutered and get along, FIV positive and negative cats CAN live together. They can share litterboxes and food and water bowls even. I have quite a few friends with + and - living together with no problems at all. It would be much safer and he would live longer if he were kept inside. Outside he will be exposed to more things that can get him sick. FIV makes his immune system compromised. So if your mom is willing to take him in, introduce him slowly just as you would any other cat, then I would absolutely go for it!! Yay for him being saved from the streets and neutered so he cannot spread FIV anymore. It is only spread through mating and very very deep bite wounds. So unless your cats will routinely tear each other to shreads, it is HIGHLY unlikely it will spread to your moms other cat What your vet told you about it spreading, is FeLV, that is the one that spreads like crazy in every way. FeLV + and - cats are the ones who cannot live together.

Oh you could maybe get him on some sort of suppliments like L-Lysine to keep him immune system boosted

thanks jen, actually my vet did say it is only spread through bites and sexual contact, but iread some where today that sharing food and litter pans does it too. i'll talk more to the vet about him going to moms as i am on my way to get him now. thanks again and if any one else haas any isite it would be greatly apprecaited as he'll be in my bathroom overnight to recover ffully.

Unfortunately, many vets are misinformed about FeLV and FIV and pass that misinformation on to their clients. Just wanted to reiterate that FIV can't be spread through casual contact (sharing litterboxes or food/water bowls). I did a lot research into FIV when I fostered a male cat who tested positive in the spring and know many people who have cats with FIV and without living together without a problem. Sam had contact with my cats during much of the time I fostered him and there were no problems. In fact, if I'd been to able to add another permanent cat, I wouldn't have hesitated to keep Sam.

I hope your mother decides to keep this sweet kitty indoors and give him the pampered life he deserves good. Good luck!

hello all, were home, Mr. Whiskers is going to my mom's house on sunday, i talked to the vet and even though the FIV vacccine is only 85% effective and experimental we are going to get my mom's cat vacinated and have a structured introduction and then we are going to to try to give both of the cats the best life thay can have. since the recall scare my cats now eat Merrick before that they ate Friskies (garbage) i am now hoping someone can offer a good diet for our FIV + kitty. if any one has personal experiences with FIV cats i would love to hear from you either, here or please PM me.
right now i am wondering if our FIV guy can eat Serengeti dry, unfortunatley before i knew he was FIV+ i was switching him to a raw diet, which after research i know can harm him as he is FIV+. i thank you all for the help and compassion you give us.
also i heard through a TNR person in my hometown that she had a cat that was FIV+ and after herbal and dietary changes ended up negative, is this hogwash or what? i do know through my vet that some herbs can help......any one have any feedback ? thanks again.

Well I don't know for sure, but may he was a false positive in the first place so the second time around came up negative.

This is from Best Friends site:

FIV Facts

1. The Feline Immuno-deficiency Virus is a slow virus that affects a cat's immune system over a period of years.

2. FIV is a cat-only disease and cannot be spread to humans or other non-felines.

3. FIV cats most often live long, healthy, and relatively normal lives with no symptoms at all.

4. FIV is not easily passed between cats. It cannot be spread casually - like in litter boxes, water and food bowls, or when snuggling and playing. It is rarely spread from a mother to her kittens.

5. The virus can be spread through blood transfusions, badly infected gums, or serious, penetrating bite wounds. (Bite wounds of this kind are extremely rare, except in free-roaming, unneutered tomcats.)

6. A neutered cat, in a home, is extremely unlikely to infect other cats, if properly introduced.

7. Many vets are not educated about FIV since the virus was only discovered 15 years ago.

8. FIV-positive cats should be kept as healthy as possible. Keep them indoors and free from stress, feed them a high-quality diet, keep and treat any secondary problems as soon as they arise.


Â[emoji]169[/emoji] 2005 Best Friends. All Rights Reserved

i am glad you are going to give him and your mum's cat a chance, I personally would have no problems in having a + cat with my - cats (in fact, only one has been tested, so who knows what the other cat has?). I wouldnt go with the vaccine though, one of the issues with it is that if your mums cat ever gets lost, is picked up and tested, it will show positive, and there are some rescues who dont give FIV+ cats a chance.

This is an issue which requires a judgement call, based upon the condition of the cat itself. As was noted earlier, the disease is spread either by sex or deep bite wounds, and neutered cats seldom spread it. A relatively young FIV positive cat still has some good years left, assuming it's otherwise healthy--my personal judgement there is if the cat is going to remain inside it can and should be spared.

And old and sick cat with FIV has less quality of life. FIV will not kill it but will compromise it's immune system so that it cannot fight off the secondary infection which may kill it--slowly but surely.

Were I to trap a sickly cat that tested FIV positive I honestly believe I would have it euthanized--it would be better for the cat. I have two healthy FIV positive cats now--althought they did require extensive dental work.

FELV is another story. Like FIV it will not kill the cat but will weaken it so that secondary infections can be fatal. Unlike FIV it can, if the cat is "shedding" the virus, easily infect other cats simply by sharing food, water and litter. I have such a cat and must keep him isolated. That's no real life for a cat, but I didn't know any better. Any future FELV positive cats, especially ferals, will probably be euthanized. I haven't had to make that decision yet, but it's out there....

hi! I am sooo glad your Mom addopted Mr. Whiskers
I have two cats who are FIV+ and they are the best cats I ever had! Actually, my mom kept the older cat ( she is 12+ years and kicking it ) and I kept Joe, the younger cat ( he is about 5 years old or so) and he is the sweetest, greatest cat EVER!

Don't let FIV word scare you from getting any cats! I rescued from cats from the streets of NY and when I took them to the vet, they both were FIV+. Although I was a bit upset about it, the vet said not to worry and there is no reason whatsoever that they can't live full, happy lives! And they do!!

We moved to VA, and I had to take Joe to the vet to get his teeth pulled ( gum disease due to FIV) and the vet actually thank us for taking care of Joe!! So I told him we actually had another FIV cat and he thanked us again LoL, he said usually people do not want cats with FIV and they usually have a hard time to get adopted, which is very sad! There is nothing wrong with these kitties, I am so glad your mom adopted him!!

I want another cat, a kitten actually, and I am probbly goign to adopt another FIV kittie

Just thought I would throw in another word about FIV. We have a FIV+ cat and our others are FIV-. They all share litter boxes and food and water. She even bathes one of the FIV- cats. We have had her for 4 years now and the others are still FIV clear. Glad you are giving him chance!

I am so happy to hear that your Mom is taking this wonderful cat. May she enjoy his companionship and love for many years!

hello everyone,

just wanted to thank you all again for the info and for your thoughtfulness. Mr. Whiskers is doing very well, his health is fine and barring any illness he doesn't have to go back to the vet for six months. He fit right in to my mom's household and gets along fine, in fact he made himself comfortable right away the very first night he slept with my mom in her bed and continues to do so every night. he is quite enjoying his life as an inside pampered baby. you can see in his eyes how grateful he is that he doesn't have to sleep outside or fight off a colony at feeding time,he put on a pound too! and toys WOW he plays like a kitten. his favorite is actully my moms slipper, he takes it everywhere and kicks and spurrs it. All of your input and good wishes helped us decide to adopt him and are we ever grateful to you all now. I let everyone I know that its not the "death sentence" vets make it out to be. I do relaize that one day far in the future we will have to make that diificult decision but thats a far time away and we will treasure every moment we have with this special soul, we will never have any regrets. we love him and he is one of us. Mr. Whiskers thanks you all too and sends headbutts to all!! thank you all again so much!!!!!!1

i am really pleased to hear that, and hope you have lots of happy years together.