Female cat FIV+ Taken to Sanctuary

I have 6 "kittens" in our home. They were born last August 2010 somewhere near our property. I eventually trapped them all after the mother disappeared. They've been spayed/neutered & given shots. The kittens were put in separate bedrooms in our house.

Over time they were let out of the bedrooms & we decided to keep the 6 kittens. They are wonderful.

I also eventually trapped the mother & had her spayed & given shots. She has been in a huge dog crate in our house.

We also have 4 adult cats.

I put the mother on the waiting list of a cat sanctuary that has an FIV+ section. It took 8 months but she finally was at the top of the list. I took her down there on Monday Oct 10.

She is in the quarantine room along with 4 other cats. The quarantine time is 3 weeks. She looks so sad. She is sitting in her litter box all day. Yesterday (day 4 in the sanctuary) she was lying next to the litter box. I opened the cage & petted her for about 10 minutes. She was so enjoying that.

When she gets out of quarantine, she will go in a separate FIV+ room with 9 other cats (about the size of a bedroom). They have a ramp that leads to a tube that takes them to an outside fenced area.

The employee that is in charge of the FIV room spoke with me yesterday & does understand my feelings. She said it would take a long time for her to get adopted due to the FIV+ status.

Does anyone with an FIV+ cat also have non-FIV cats? What is the chance of the FIV+ female biting another cat? She is not an aggressive cat.

We could keep her in a separate room for awhile. My husband isn't thrilled with this but I take care of the pets.

Any advice?

Sorry ..... obviously she is FIV+ ..... but I forgot to actually indicate that in my previous message!

I have both (Wendel's FIV+, the girls are not) and it's not a matter of worry for me or our vet. FIV isn't spread casually, only through mating or deep bite wounds, so as long as the cats involved get along peacefully I don't think there shouldn't be a problem. In our case, Wendel's a perfect gentleman to the girls, so it's not something we worry about.

I'm sure people will be along with more info soon, but that's my 2 cents.

There is no reason for FIV+ cats to be separated from non-FIV+ cats. It is not passed casually. Playing, someone getting scratched by a claw, sharing food and litter boxes will NOT transmit FIV.

FIV cats do tend to have dental problems, so dentals every 6 months are recommended, and you have to have the vet keep an eye out for gingivitis.

But given your current vet apparently recommended separation, you might want to consider finding a more FIV-literate vet.

We rescued an FIV+ cat last year (click on my signature picture for more information!), and he lives with 7 other cats (and us) in the RV.

Here are some excellent links for you:

http://www.v63.net/catsanctuary/vet_question.html
http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/living-with-fiv/
http://www.fivtherapy.com/fiv_casualtransmission.htm
http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimal...e/cats_fiv.cfm

The shelter/sanctuary where she is right now have separated the FIV+ kitties into 1 room.

The female cat we brought to the shelter is in a cage in a separate room in quarantine for the next 17+ days. Then she will go into the FIV+ room.

She was an outside cat....definitely a stray & probably feral....having litters 2 times a year. We're in a development & no one did anything about it. She showed up on our porch in July 2010 to eat food I left out & by August she had 6 beautiful kittens. We have the kittens living in our house.

I really wish I hadnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t taken her to the shelter. But they will release her to me if I request it…..but it must be done soon. My husband is not in favor of bringing her back……that is now the obstacle.

Originally Posted by LDG

There is no reason for FIV+ cats to be separated from non-FIV+ cats. It is not passed casually. Playing, someone getting scratched by a claw, sharing food and litter boxes will NOT transmit FIV.

FIV cats do tend to have dental problems, so dentals every 6 months are recommended, and you have to have the vet keep an eye out for gingivitis.

But given your current vet apparently recommended separation, you might want to consider finding a more FIV-literate vet.

We rescued an FIV+ cat last year (click on my signature picture for more information!), and he lives with 7 other cats (and us) in the RV.

Here are some excellent links for you:

http://www.v63.net/catsanctuary/vet_question.html
http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/living-with-fiv/
http://www.fivtherapy.com/fiv_casualtransmission.htm
http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimal...e/cats_fiv.cfm

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very nice answer. Agree completely.

Originally Posted by BHNJ

The shelter/sanctuary where she is right now have separated the FIV+ kitties into 1 room.

The female cat we brought to the shelter is in a cage in a separate room in quarantine for the next 17+ days. Then she will go into the FIV+ room.

Click to expand...

Yes, this would be because FIV+ kitties can get sick more easily than cats with healthy immune systems. They need to "quarantine" her to ensure the stress of being moved doesn't make any viruses she may have circulating "bloom" and transmit them to the other FIV+ kitties.

And of course, a shelter/sanctuary is different than someone's home. It is only responsible for such places to separate FIV+ kitties from the others. This would be true especially if the cats are not typically caged, because stress in shelters is quite different than homes, and cats may be more aggressive in those situations.

Originally Posted by BHNJ

I really wish I hadnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t taken her to the shelter. But they will release her to me if I request it…..but it must be done soon. My husband is not in favor of bringing her back……that is now the obstacle.

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I'm so sorry. I hope it's not because of a misperception about FIV.

I feel for you . You have a good heart and I can tell you really care about these cats. Gosh, if you think you could bring her back without the DH getting tooooo mad over it, I would do it. I understand the shelter needs you to make up your mind very soon. You can't leave them hanging on because that spot could go to another FIV kitty. She really does not have to live separately or in a cage as Laurie explained. This is such a misconception. If the FIV cat is NOT cat aggressive then there is never a chance that any one of your cats will sustain a bite deep enough to pass on the disease. I would just think long and hard, but quickly, before you make your decision to bring her back and let her live amongst your other cats. Good luck and

i really feel for you too.

That said I agree with the others who've posted that FIV positive and negative cats don't need to be separated. Most well-informed vets would tell you the same thing. For what it's worth, I've fostered 4 FIV+ cats who had regular contact with my own cats, who are negative. No issues whatsoever and I wouldn't hesitate to adopt an FIV+ cat in the future when I'm able. One of my FIV+ fosters was adopted by a young woman who later added two kittens, both negative, to the mix. Her vet was fine with it. A year later, all are doing well. It's a shame there still so many misconceptions about there about FIV. Most positive cats can live long, happy and healthy lives with good care and do just fine in multi-cats households.

Thank you all for your info, advice & comments.

The issues I was concerned about were:
Her being an FIV+ kitty & the fact that she was always an outside stray cat, would she be an OK indoor cat. I was also concerned how she would interact with my other cats. The more scared or nervous she was, the higher the probability she would bite another cat. I have to admit I was very, very concerned about FIV+. However, now I realize how low the probability would be of her bitting another cat, let alone a deep wound into a blood vessel.

My husband's issue is we have too many cats as it is. However......we have a large house & there is no "we are in tight quarters" issue. Also, I take care of the cats & my daughter helps out too.

The shelter is having an Octoberfest today & I'm hoping, really hoping, my husband will go down with the rest of the family to see the shelter & see Mommy Cat (the shelter has given her another name). She looks so scared in the cage.

Hi, I don't know where you are in NJ but my vet Dr. Stewart at Mercerville Animal Hopital has both fiv+ and fiv- cats of his own. A couple of years ago we rescued a kitten that first tested poitive for fiv but she eventually tested negative. Dr. Stewart was great in giving advice and we had decided that even if our kitty had tested positive with the second test we were keeping her anyway.

From everything I had learned the chances of fiv spreading in a house of indoor neutered cats is very rare, even if they bite each other and draw blood it still is very difficult to spread. The one thing I learned is even some veterinarians can give incorrect information about fiv. I was very surprised at all the incorrect information on the internet about fiv. I was scared at first but after we did a bunch of research I would definitely take in a fiv positive cat with my negitive kitties.

I do know the sanctuary where your kitty is and it is an amazing place! It is sad but they are probably correct in how difficult it would be to find a home for the kitty. I had rescued a litter of kittens last year and ended up keeping two of them since all the recue groups I know were loaded with cats and kittens. It's so sad how the bad economy is effecting so many animals.

I wish you luck on what ever you decide. I know how difficult it is to make these decisions! You have a big heart to help all these kitty's!
Jennifer

MaxMommy...

I live a few miles outside of Flemington, NJ.

I don't think I'll be able to convince my husband to agree to have the mother cat come back here.

My daughter & I have visited Mommy Cat every day since Monday Oct 10th. Luckily it's not far to drive. She is lying at the back of the cage & doesn't move. I pet her & she seems to enjoy that. But she just looks so sad. She has 2 more weeks to stay in quarantine.

I should have done more research on FIV before I placed her in the sanctuary. I know much more from the reading I've done......

Both my daughter & I have turned in paperwork to be volunteers at the sanctuary. We will receive training in early November.

I hope my husband will change his mind & I can bring her back here. But it looks very doubtful.

Update....

The 21 day quarantine period was up a few days ago & she is in the FIV+ room. There are 8 other cats in the room. The first few days they kept her in a cage. They then let her out during the day & put her back into the cage at 5:00 pm to spend the night in the cage.

We have visited almost every day since she was placed at the shelter. She enjoys my daughter & I scratching her but she doesn't come up near the front of the cage. Yesterday she was out of the cage & in a wooden structure with cubicles. She enjoyed the petting but didn't come out of the cubicle.

I'm wondering if she will adapt to this environment.

I'm still working on my husband to let me take her back to our home.

Keep working on your husband! I have a FIV+ cat that was once stray in my house, and she even gets her own bedroom lol My husband didnt want to take her in, but we had been feeding her and we were moving. I couldnt just leave her! so we tried with my other 2 cats, and they'd gang up on her. So i was too worried about fighting so she got her own bedroom. Shes a lot older though, probably around 8 or 9, so she's pretty content with her toys and a room to herself. Now that one of my other cats passed away im trying to see if my remaining cat will come around. My vet did advise to keep them separate, but she also advised me that cats that have been vaccinated for FIV will test positive for FIV. Based on how healthy my girl is, she thinks this could be the case. I mean she even has less problems than my 3 yr old boys have had, and has outlived one of them already! If this cat isn't showing any other symptoms, she may be just fine! Good luck getting to bring her back home

Oh poor kitty!  She doesn't need to be separated fro  the other cats.  My Lucas is FIV+ and I have 3 other cats and everything is perfect.  If they don't fight, they can be together.  FIV+ cats can have perfectly normal lives.

Thanks for sharing your experience with your FIV+ cat.

There are some other considerations that my husband has set......so it's not as easy as just adopting her back from the shelter.