Litter of 6 Kittens Possible FIV

I was feeding a mother cat that was pregnant. She's been around our development for maybe a year? I saw her with kittens in May. I've been feeding her since early/mid July. She had her 6 kittens in mid August. They have taken up residence under my front porch. The kittens have grown & are a healthy size.

The mother disappeared for a few days so I figured she was done raising them. I trapped 1 orange kitten on Nov 1st with a Hav-A-Hart trap. On Nov 2 I took the kitten to vet for an initial check up. I wanted to make sure the kitten was healthy as I have 5 indoor cats (4 are strays & 1 came from a NJ shelter). Then I was going to try to trap the other 5 kittens.

Vet did the FVRCP shot and FeLV/FIV Test. One hour after I got back from the vets, the vet called to tell me the FIV Test was positive. I was so shocked & upset. He mentioned it could be from the antibodies from the mother??? I've read that the FIV immunization causes any subsequent FIV test on a cat to come up positive.

Vet recommends to re-do the test in 1 month. Or.... trap another kitten from the litter & get that kitten tested.

Since the mother is a stray I would "assume" that she was never immunized for FIV so probably the kitten does have FIV??

I would appreciate any suggestion or information.

Also, if the kittens do have FIV where would I be able to place them?

I don't know LOTS about it...but when I took very-pregnant Elsa into the vet, they tested her for FIV and said they would abort if she had it, the babies would die anyway. So from that I got that if the babies are healthy and thriving, at least they weren't BORN with FIV...

Most vets don't give FIV vacs. The side effects vs protection doesn't really make it worth it. And yes, once vaccinated for FIV a cat will show as FIV positive on ELISA tests.

My recommendation. Catch all of the kittens that you can. Keep them in their own room. This will help with taming and because they may have some other viruses that are more contagious - if you have another cat. FIV itself is only spread through direct contact and not that easily.

Then do as the vet suggests. Retest or consider testing with another test beside the ELISA snap test.

FIV kitties, if they live and stay healthy, can have normal lives. So if they are positive you could try looking for groups that help may help rehome some of them. Or if you don't have any cats (or know friends without cats) you could easily keep them yourself.

I hope it was a false positive and I hope you can catch the rest of them.

ETA: I just saw that you do have cats. Keep the kitten(s) separated - as you should anyways. Start asking friends. These kittens will also be a challenge to tame but since you're already a cat owner I bet you have the skills to do it.

Some rescues will take FIV kittens ... Unfortunately they are few and far between...

I would defiantly recommend the follow up test ... and if you can trap and afford to care for the other kittens do that ...

Please see the Cornell University Feline Health Center web site regarding kittens and FIV (the information I'm referring to can be found under the question, "How is infection diagnosed?"):

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/fiv.html

According to the site, kittens born to an FIV+ mother can test positive for the virus up to six months of age, because they have received antibodies from her milk. In other words, these kittens may not actually be infected, which is probably why your vet is recommending they be tested again when they are older.

Sending vibes that they will turn out to be negative!

There are two people on the board who rescue & currently have FIV+ cats. They will likely be of more help than I can.

But my understanding is while yes FIV can be spread, it is through fighting/deep wounds. IMO, it's most commonly seen in intact males.

We rescued an FIV+ kitty this summer (click on the picture in my siggy, it'll take you to a great article). I learned a lot about it.

As Motoko points out via Cornell, there's no point in testing kittens for FIV before they're at least six months old, so the vet that tested them clearly knows little about FIV. (That they tested positive only tells you that they were most likely exposed to it via their mother. That a mother passes FIV on to her kitties is unlikely. But they do test positive for the antibodies until they cycle out of their system. And even if a cat tests positive on a snap test, you really can't be sure it's not a false positive. You have to progress to the Western Blot test - it is usually pretty expensive. One vet up here charges $135 for it, another charges $145 for it. But it tests for two specific antigens. Again - no point in going this route until you have a positive snap test after they're six months old).

FIV+ kitties can live normally with FIV- kitties if you do proper introductions, because FIV is a virus that lives outside of the body for a short period of time - we're talking seconds. So a knowledgable vet would have to say it's not impossible, but it's highly improbable, that FIV will be passed from cat-to-cat by grooming, sharing a food bowl, a water dish, or litter boxes.

We work with several vets because of our rescue work. All of them say they have clients with FIV+ and FIV- kitties living indoor-only, and to date they have not seen any of the FIV- kitties become FIV+

Think of FIV as HIV. You can only get HIV from another person by having sex or sharing needles. Since kitties don't share needles, and sterilized kitties don't have sex, the risk of kitties being roommates and passing FIV to each other is basically nil. You can live as a roommate with someone and share the same food - and not risk becoming infected with HIV. Same thing with cats (basically).

Cats that are FIV positive do tend to have a problem with their teeth over time, and you do need to stay on top of that. If you have a non-FIV kitty with something like bleeding gums, then there's a risk.

But for the most part, FIV is passed between cats via a deep, penetrating bite wound. Or via sex (and even then, if the female is healthy, she may not contract the virus).

So if you make proper introductions, there won't be fighting, so the non-FIV infected kitties aren't at risk.

We're in Northern NJ and couldn't find anyone to adopt him or a shelter to take him. There is an FIV sanctuary in NJ, but it has a 2-year wait list. So we kept him. (A decision we do NOT regret!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)