Visiting Relatives have cat with FHV-1

annieshuman

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We will be visiting my mother's over the holidays, and I just found out that my brother and his family will be coming as well. They recently adopted an adult cat with active FHV-1. She's been on antibiotics and they say she's doing a lot better. My mother and I are concerned over whether this can be spread to our cats through clothing, bags, etc. that are brought from my brother's house. My SIL is claiming that if your cat is vaccinated that it won't get it, but from what I've read it looks like the vaccine only lessens the severity of the disease, but does not necessarily protect against it. Has anyone dealt with this and if so are there any precautions that we can take to keep our cats safe?
 

stephanietx

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Personally, I wouldn't worry about it unless you have a FHV pos. cat yourself or a cat with a compromised immune system. If your cats have FHV, they would've had a flare up by now and you'd know it. Many cats are exposed to it and never have any negative effects from it. Mainly, it affects cats that are young and have compromised immune systems or cats that are already infected with the virus. Then, they have it for life. If your brother's cat does have FHV, the antibiotics aren't going to cure it, but it will possibly take care of any secondary infection the cat might have.

Stephanie
 
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