Hi all,
I have a question about FIV transmission. Long story short, 5 years ago I had an FIV+ cat (Bonnie) who was elderly and not aggressive and never exhibited any signs of the disease (she eventually died of kidney failure at age 15). I adopted a second cat (Oliver) who had tested +'ve for FIV on the snap test but negative on the DNA test. Oliver bit Bonnie once when we first adopted him--literally the first minutes he got home. He was never re-tested. When the FIV vaccine came out, my vet recommended they both get it since it can also limit the severity of symptoms. Problem is, once they've been vaccinated they will always test +ve for FIV, even if they don't have it.
So my question is could Oliver have contracted FIV from Bonnie by biting her rather than being bitten? He's had a couple of URI's lately and I'm a bit concerned about his immune system. Or would a blood panel indicate if something was wrong? There's no point in getting an FIV test since it will be +'ve anyway. My vet didn't seem too concerned when he bit her but now I'm wondering if we should have retested him then.
**I think I may have found the answer to my question:
"The FIV virus is present in the saliva, and for transmission to another cat to take place, the live virus has to enter the bloodstream or the recipient cat.
There are two main reasons why FIV isn't transmitted via shared bowls or mutual grooming as is sometimes wrongly suggested:
Firstly the virus is very fragile, and does not live for long once outside the body - it is destroyed by drying, light, heat and basic detergents - normally the virus will be long-dead before any surfaces come to be cleaned, it is the initial drying that sees off the vast majority of the virus, and this will normally happen in seconds.
This is why the route of transmission is primarily via a bite, where the still wet saliva containing the live virus is effectively injected through the skin directly into contact with the blood of the recipient cat.
The second reason is that the mucous membrane is a fairly effective barrier to the virus, so even if some virus does enter the cat's mouth, it is very unlikely to cross the mucous membrane, so will likely die within the stomach. It has been suggested that, for the virus to actually infect a cat when taken in through the mouth, there would need to be ten thousand times as much virus present for it to achieve a cross infection."
...does anyone have any thoughts on why else Oliver might have started getting URI's?
I have a question about FIV transmission. Long story short, 5 years ago I had an FIV+ cat (Bonnie) who was elderly and not aggressive and never exhibited any signs of the disease (she eventually died of kidney failure at age 15). I adopted a second cat (Oliver) who had tested +'ve for FIV on the snap test but negative on the DNA test. Oliver bit Bonnie once when we first adopted him--literally the first minutes he got home. He was never re-tested. When the FIV vaccine came out, my vet recommended they both get it since it can also limit the severity of symptoms. Problem is, once they've been vaccinated they will always test +ve for FIV, even if they don't have it.
So my question is could Oliver have contracted FIV from Bonnie by biting her rather than being bitten? He's had a couple of URI's lately and I'm a bit concerned about his immune system. Or would a blood panel indicate if something was wrong? There's no point in getting an FIV test since it will be +'ve anyway. My vet didn't seem too concerned when he bit her but now I'm wondering if we should have retested him then.
**I think I may have found the answer to my question:
"The FIV virus is present in the saliva, and for transmission to another cat to take place, the live virus has to enter the bloodstream or the recipient cat.
There are two main reasons why FIV isn't transmitted via shared bowls or mutual grooming as is sometimes wrongly suggested:
Firstly the virus is very fragile, and does not live for long once outside the body - it is destroyed by drying, light, heat and basic detergents - normally the virus will be long-dead before any surfaces come to be cleaned, it is the initial drying that sees off the vast majority of the virus, and this will normally happen in seconds.
This is why the route of transmission is primarily via a bite, where the still wet saliva containing the live virus is effectively injected through the skin directly into contact with the blood of the recipient cat.
The second reason is that the mucous membrane is a fairly effective barrier to the virus, so even if some virus does enter the cat's mouth, it is very unlikely to cross the mucous membrane, so will likely die within the stomach. It has been suggested that, for the virus to actually infect a cat when taken in through the mouth, there would need to be ten thousand times as much virus present for it to achieve a cross infection."
...does anyone have any thoughts on why else Oliver might have started getting URI's?
