FIV and FIP questions

Hi everyone,

There's a feral (stray? I'm not sure what the distinction is) cat colony in my complex. I feed them on my porch. I noticed that one who's particularly friendly (a lady told me that he'd been a house cat who someone dumped when they moved) had an abscessed foot on Sunday (his one toe was bleeding and really swollen). So I took him to Banfield on Monday, and they sedated him and cut his toe open to get a bunch of pus out (eww!). They also gave him a Convenia injection.

I decided that I was either going to keep him or find him a home at this point. He's so sweet and friendly, and seems really scared of the unneutered Toms around the complex (he himself is neutered- must have been TNR'd because has the ear clip).

I took him to the low cost today for the FIV/FeLV test and shots. They told me he is FeLV negative, but FIV positive.

I'm going to keep him. I'm getting divorced in a few months, and my husband is taking our other two cats, so he'll be my only one.

But in the meantime, what should I know regarding his health and exposure to the other cats? I plan to keep him in the master bedroom by himself until we separate and the other cats are gone. But my husband is nervous about his cats being exposed.


Also, I recently lost another cat (my Romeo) to either FIP or cancer, they were not sure which. The vet told me that I did not need to be worried that he transferred FIP to the other cats if that was what he died from. Is that true? My husband is worried about that as well. When we get divorced he was planning to possibly move back to his mom's house and she has two cats, so he doesn't want to expose them to anything bad.

Here's a picture of my new guy:

He really is such a sweet guy. I'll do what I can to give him a healthy and happy life.

I'm sorry to hear about the divorce.

This is an excellent article on FIP. FIP is a corona virus, and that can be spread from cat-to-cat (via feces and saliva), but the cat has to have a damaged immune system for it to "become" FIP: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/fip.html.

As to FIV, it is NOT easily spread between cats - but given your two were exposed to FIP, it's best to keep your FIV+ kitty separated because he does have a compromised immune system.

The FIV is NOT spread easily. Chumley lives with our 7 other cats in the RV with no restrictions. The ONLY thing you really need to worry about with other cats is proper introductions and the condition of their teeth and gums. FIV is passed by deep tissue bite wounds, and appears to need the deep tissue in which to... "cultivate." The other potential source of spread of infection is via the gums.

You do need to know that FIV cats often have problems with their teeth and gums, so a semi-annual trip to the vet for a dental check-up is probably a good idea.

But FIV is a very slow-acting virus that compromises the cat's immune system over time, and most live long lives and die of something else. However, if they do get sick, they usually do need more aggressive treatment - a stronger antibiotic, administered longer than normal. It's one of those things where if you think something is "off" with your kitty, normally we'd wait to see... but with the FIV kitty, it's best to get to the vet.

Other than that - the FIV virus survives outside of the cat for only a few seconds, so sharing food or litter boxes - even mutual grooming are NOT a problem. Normal rough-housing isn't an issue, and scratches aren't usually a worry - just keep their nails clipped.

You might want to click on the picture in my signature - it takes you to a page with good information about FIV.

Thank you for rescuing this kitty!

I didn't see the picture the first time! What a cutie - SUCH a kissable nose!!!!!!

Oh - was he treated for fleas and/or round worm and tape worm? It's really best just to treat with Revolution (which treats for all but tapes) and a drontal (which only needs to be administered once for the tapeworm) to make sure - and treat with Revolution once more in three or four weeks (to account for the lifecycle of the round worm). Then you shouldn't need to worry about internal parasites. We don't even bother with fecals anymore (unless we suspect giardia) - we just treat them assuming they've got at least round worm and tapes if they've been living outside.

I don't know much about FIP and FIV, but I just wanted to say how beautiful your new cat is. I hope everything turns out ok.

Originally Posted by LDG

Oh - was he treated for fleas and/or round worm and tape worm? It's really best just to treat with Revolution (which treats for all but tapes) and a drontal (which only needs to be administered once for the tapeworm) to make sure - and treat with Revolution once more in three or four weeks (to account for the lifecycle of the round worm).

Then you shouldn't need to worry about internal parasites. We don't even bother with fecals anymore (unless we suspect giardia) - we just treat them assuming they've got at least round worm and tapes if they've been living outside.

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Thank you so much for all the information! It made my husband feel a lot better, especially hearing about how your FIV kitty is around your other ones. I'm sure that my new guy will end up being around the other two at some point if he sneaks past out of the room(and the cats used to seeing each other through the glass patio door, and he came inside a few times before I realized what a bad idea it was (in case he had FeLV or something), so they're pretty cool with him already).

I meant to ask them for parasite treatment, and I forgot, argh. I'm surprised the vet didn't bring it up honestly. It probably just got overlooked because of the FIV. So I'll go back there and pick up some Revolution and drontal on Friday.

The people at the vet said that whenever he seems to be coming down with something (they mentioned respiratory specifically...my other two have herpes and their main hobby is getting respiratory infections), I can go in and get some antibiotics for him without bringing him in, because the stress of it and the germs that he'd be exposed to aren't good for him. I thought that was really nice. I'll also start giving him the lysine powder that I give the other two- are there any other supplements that you'd recommend?

And also- I have my other two on Taste of the Wild. Is that a good food for an FIV cat? Or should they not have grain free food for some reason? Sorry for all the questions!

Grain free food should be fine. A high quality food is good, actually. I know that kitties with problems with crystals do better on diets that are not grain free - all of ours are on prescription food (Hill's Science Diet c/d), so that's what Chumley's on (for now). We did move to all wet because we're pretty sure he was allergic to brewer's rice in the dry c/d, so now if we want to change his diet separately from the others, we can. His new vet said to not worry about that right now.

If your other kitties are carrying the herpes virus, it really is best to keep them separated, but don't stress if he sneaks past the door. Our Flowerbelle is carrying it (though knock wood she's never had a flare-up in .... seven years). But L-lysine is a very good idea for him too.

If you want to be more aggressive in treating the FIV to help slow down the progress of the virus in his body (most people don't), you can see if there's a vet trained in nutrition/herbology (western or chinese) near you here: http://www.ahvma.org/ and click on "Find a Veterinarian" - you can search in your area. The information in this FIV therapy website is amazing - but needs to be processed by someone trained. (!!!) Chumley also has allergy issues, which we're currently treating, and he does have gingivitis which we're going to tackle next, but then we'll start in on dealing with all this info. We're working with a holistic vet (a DVM trained in western and chinese herbs, nutrition, acupuncture and other things). Most regular DVMs don't know enough about all this stuff to help figure out the right mix, timing, or dosage. But this site is LOADED with information useful to someone who is: http://www.fivtherapy.com/ But I really don't recommend using any of the stuff suggested without oversight of someone trained.

I printed out basically everything and brought it with us to Chum's new vet. He's only had one appt so far, but the herbs she put him on have really helped with his diarrhea and his allergies. We're back for his second appointment at the end of January (it should have been early Jan but.... ). We're keeping a health journal for him here, though as he's got other issues, none of it really applies to your new baby yet, so it might just be boring right now LOL. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=224483

And ask away!

Thank you for the link! There's actually a holistic vet that works out of the same building as the natural pet food store where I buy the TOTW, so I'll make an appointment.

And I can totally sympathize with the allergies and diarrhea issues- my old cat had them terribly. It was so frustrating (and expensive!) to find a food she could eat. I hope the vet is able to figure something out for you guys! I'll go have a look at his health journal .