FIV positive :(

Um, why not rehome a cat that tests FIV+ instead of killing it?

To the OP. I am not an expert on FIV but I work to rescue ferals, volunteer at shelters, and have a close contact with one of the biggest TNR organizations in my state, all have taught me a bit about FIV (along with LDG here on TCS). I do know for a fact that FIV is not casually transmitted like FeLK. Most rescues I have dealt with and in my amateur experience will NOT euthanize a positive FIV cat. A positive FIV cat can only infect another cat by delivering a deep tissue bite. If your FIV positive kitty is friendly with your other cats and not aggressive, then they can live long and happy, healthy lives together. Most cats living together never, ever bite to that extent. Bites like that are reserved for aggressive fighting of unneutered males over a female in heat or feral/stray (again, usually unaltered) cats fighting over territory, food, protecting their colony and kittens, etc. Most FIV positive cats that live in a home, that are sterilized, are loved and cared for, have stress-free environment will never inflict a bite serious enough to transfer the disease. Much luck to you This can be managed easily

You can find any breeder of any breed who will have strong opinions about which vaccines to give, when, and what brand/type. Also strong opinions about what to feed them. I don't see any difference with the Savannah breeders. . .some say one thing, some say another. There doesn't seem to be a clear consensus. If it was absolutely true that mod-live vaccines always made Savannahs sick, then all the breeders would agree on that.

I don't know enough about Savannahs to say whether they're really different from breeds with no wild blood. I know that even low-content wolfdogs can have special needs, although not all of them. But that's mostly behavioral, not health-related.

But there doesn't seem to be any evidence that a Savannah is any more or less susceptible to FIV or any other disease.

One of my mom's cats tested positive for FIV at the spay/neuter clinic. I'm inclined to say it was probably a false positive, but we haven't had her retested yet. Either way, I decided not to worry about it. She doesn't bite the other cats, and who knows, maybe she was vaccinated against FIV by her last owners (which would make her always test positive), although that seems unlikely. She's due for her shots so probably we'll have her retested then.

The topic of this thread is FIV, not whether a Savannah is a domestic cat breed. Please limit yourselves to relevant posts.

Haven't been back on since I posted last, but thank you for your thoughts and opinions. I also did not expect this to turn into such a debate.

Anyway... my other cat was tested this afternoon and it came back negative. Very happy that he is not sick, but hard too. They are such buddies and I can't imagine giving one up (which was implied by my vet). I was also told they must be separated.

They do fight, play fight. The older (FIV - ) cat will "bite" occasionally. He basically opens his mouth but has never bit down (from what I have seen). I have not seen the other (FIV +) ever bite. He is usually pretty gentle. He will be neutered next week and I hope this will help with the fighting too.

Am I understanding correctly that it does not spread by them sharing a water dish or littler box? It takes a deep bite from the infected cat to spread?

Originally Posted by snowy13

Anyway... my other cat was tested this afternoon and it came back negative. Very happy that he is not sick, but hard too. They are such buddies and I can't imagine giving one up (which was implied by my vet). I was also told they must be separated.

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I will just say that I agree with your veterinarian. But they are your cats and the decision is completely up to you.

To the OP, unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation about FIV, lots of myths, and vets who do not know the disease in length...
A great source of information can be found here: http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimal...e/cats_fiv.cfm
Laurie, LDG, has post valuable information as well - she has done a LOT of research and has a FIV positive kitty living with another 7 in her trailer, two of which are immune compromise.

Here is some info from that link I posted:

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.

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Hope your baby is ok....

Originally Posted by snowy13

Am I understanding correctly that it does not spread by them sharing a water dish or littler box? It takes a deep bite from the infected cat to spread?

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That's right, !!! So glad your other cat tested negative and I am sure it will stay that way . Much luck with both your kitties

snowy13,

more positive, reassuring info for you

http://www.caringforcreatures.com/index.php?p=fiv

http://www.v63.net/catsanctuary/mixed_households.html

http://www.catchat.org/fiv.html

And a beautiful article Living with FIV by Leslie Moran

http://www.moranscritterconnection.c...with_FIV1.html
http://www.moranscritterconnection.c...with_FIV2.html
http://www.moranscritterconnection.c...with_FIV3.html

I've had this article since it was first published in 2000 and very much want to share it with you.

No, FIV is not transmitted casually. Unless you have an immune compromised kitty, it generally takes a DEEP TISSUE bite wound - not a scratch, not a play bite - to transmit the disease.

All I can suggest is that you take your time, and read not just the information in this thread, but the links that have been provided.

Information I provided on FIV in a multicat household on http://www.fivtherapy.com (Casual transmission of FIV?) is not opinion-based, it is researched from published studies. Most vets are not well informed on the subject, so it's really up to you to learn about it, and decide where your vet stands on the "FIV knowledge" scale.

After extensive research, and discussion with the three vets (at three different vet practices) which whom my husband and I work closely with our cats and our rescue cats (we've been rescuing for 10 years), we decided it was OK for Chumley (FIV+) to live with us. He and Billy play and he grooms Billy extensively. One of our vets fought with us for FOUR years to save our kitty Tuxedo, who is immuno-compromised. (He's doing great, BTW). He put in hours and hours of work & research, spending weekends and evenings figuring out how to save Tuxie's life. And while he does caution us that having Chumley live with us is a risk - he believes that it is very minimal, and does not think we're making a mistake keeping Chumley.

If your kitties are best buddies... would you rather break them up to ensure that your older kitty doesn't get FIV? Or would you rather take the risk - being very minimal - that he does? FIV is a very slow-acting virus, and most kitties do not die from the disease itself.

And we're here for any questions, and support whatever decision you make.

Just wanted to add my support and reassurance. I've fostered four FIV+ cats, all adult males, including two in the past year, who have had contact with my own four kitties (who are neg). My vet, along with the rescue's vet, both very knowledgable and up to date on their research, assured me the risk to my own cats was virtually non-existent. They wouldn't have had contact with mine otherwise. The FIV+ boys I've fostered have been total lovers, not fighters, among the sweetest and most gentle cats I've encountered and have gotten along famously with mine. One of them, Danny Boy, was adopted by a young woman who later added two neg. cats to the family, again with the ok from her vet. Many folks I know have positive and neg. cats living together without issue and I wouldn't hesitate to adopt an FIV+ cat in the future.

Good luck to you and your kitties!

Hey everyone,

Thanks again for all of the information, advice, and kind words. We are going to watch extra careful their behavior, but as of now we will continue on as we were - keeping them together. The FIV+ one is such a sweet, lovable little boy and even when they do wrestle, he is usually very passive and has only used his back paws to "fight" back.

The fighting is not a constant thing and we will make sure to take extra play time with both of them to hopefully keep their activity up in other ways. We'll invest in some new and different toys too.

Glad things are working out for your guys! I suggest getting your FIV+ cat retested down the road using the Western Blot test. It's entirely possible it was a false positive the first time around. And again, FIV is ultimately not the boogeyman it's often made out to be. Raised well, they can live as long as regular cats. Good luck!

Many years ago (I won't age myself lol) I had an FIV+ cat - and 2 other kitties.... who never ever got it

I had first a female cat with a heart murmur - no other health issues.
I added an adult male cat - was feral and I tamed him - no health issues.
THEN I added my FIV+ kitty - all lived together just fine, with wrestling and playing and sharing dishes.

If they are already buddies I would say leave them to enjoy their life together - my vote is up there with "hard" for them to share it. I am not a vet but as I said I had experience with the situation first hand.

I do agree also that not all vets have all the information about everything and some even have somewhat ulterior motives (think about the unhealthy food they often push because they make deals with companies to do so, etc).

Good luck which ever path you choose though

Years ago, we rescued a stray who turned out to be FIV+. Luckily, our vet was up to speed on FIV transmission and told us there was no need to euthanize or separate from our other 3 cats as long as there was no vicious biting between him and our other 3 cats. He lived with us for 5 years before he passed away. He never infected our other 3, who all lived to 16 and 17, respectively. So as long as there are no vicious fights involving exchange of blood, I would not hesitate to keep an FIV+ kitty with FIV-.

From what I've seen at the clinic I've worked at, is that FIV is much harder to pass than FELV. Alot of people get the two diseases confused. In fact, many clients think that if their cat is tested positive that it means that the cat automatically needs to be put down. Not so, and my vet that I work for won't do it.
We have gotten false positives on the Elisa tests and if we do get a positive on an other wise healthy cat, we send it out to the lab for verification. If we get a positive at the lab, we tell the owner that there is a chance that the cat will fight it off on it's own and we retest in 30-60 days. We had to do this with a hospital cat that we had. She was kenneled for the duration, but came back with a clean bill of health on the second test. We have seen quite a few kittens come in that test positive as well. Young ones that are coming in for their first visit. If we get a positive we won't give vaccines and wait to retest. We have found that about 60% come back negative. Lately I haven't had much faith in the Elisa test, and hope that owners don't make rash decisions based on it.
FELV is the worst one as it is much more easily transmitted. Even then it isn't a death sentence as it can be managed. I wouldn't recommend having an FELV positive cat with a FELV negative one, but we have had owners that decide to pursue the disease and the cats live a decent relatively normal life. One owner even adopted another FELV kitty from an adoption agency, which I thought was cool, as that cat most likely wouldn't have gotten a home.

Cheer up, having FIV is not the end of the world for your kitty. FIV cats can live many years, and if they are lucky, they won't even go into the active stage of the virus for quite some time after contracting it.

My FIV+ kitty is as happy as can be, lazing around all day, being a pest at night and winning my heart over with his cute eyes and lovable purs. He currently is on no medications, doesn't need any special food and has the shiniest coat around.

Your cats also don't need to be separated as FIV is only contracted through deep bite wounds or mating. So they can continue to leave together in peace.

Thanks again to everyone for all your help and support.

Brooks had a few vet visits and they said he looks great. However, in the last few weeks now he has been peeing in places other then the litter box. The two main spots are right in front of the box and the bathroom rug. We can stop the rug by shutting the door. There have been some other times in the last few months around the house, but not until recently has it been almost daily.

Any thoughts? I know this can be a reaction to change, etc. Any other things I may need to look out for? It has been a few days now since his last one, but if it continues I will call and speak with the vet about it.

Originally Posted by snowy13

Thanks again to everyone for all your help and support.

Brooks had a few vet visits and they said he looks great. However, in the last few weeks now he has been peeing in places other then the litter box. The two main spots are right in front of the box and the bathroom rug. We can stop the rug by shutting the door. There have been some other times in the last few months around the house, but not until recently has it been almost daily.

Any thoughts? I know this can be a reaction to change, etc. Any other things I may need to look out for? It has been a few days now since his last one, but if it continues I will call and speak with the vet about it.

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I'd take him in and have him checked for a UTI. Peeing outside the box is usually a pretty good sign that he has one. Won't hurt to have it checked.

Originally Posted by RAFM

I'd take him in and have him checked for a UTI. Peeing outside the box is usually a pretty good sign that he has one. Won't hurt to have it checked.

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2nd this. Peeing outside the box is usually a medical problem. It's one of the few ways they have to tell you there's a problem.