Hello everyone! We live in a small suburban community that seems to get more than its fair share of feral cats. In the past, we've adopted a couple, TNR'ed a couple of less friendly ones, and fed an ever-changing herd of them. Currently, we have one big black tom that has been coming by for the last few months. He is extremely friendly and we've named him Sherman the Vermin (because if my hubby, children, or I are outside, he's pestering us for food and attention). Over the last 2 weeks, I noticed him losing weight and then more recently, wheezing and sneezing. After giving him the "burrito treatment" with a towel and shoving him into a carrier, I took him to the vet today. Poor Sherm has a URI, fleas, tons of parasites, and worst of all, FIV. The vet gave him treatments and antibiotics to clear up the URI and parasites and I brought him back home to his outdoor shelter that hubby built. We should be able to get him neutered in a couple of weeks when the URI has cleared up. I would love to bring him indoors then, but we have our limit of cats here, including 2 that are very geriatric and high-maintenance (not to mention the 4 children under 9). The local vet seems to think that as long as we keep an eye on him for infections and keep him from fighting (neuter), Sherm will be able to live a relatively healthy outdoor life. But I still feel so badly for this poor cat. He obviously had a home once since he is so social, but they didn't bother to neuter him and either abandoned or let him run free. When we first met him, he was really beat up from a cat fight, so I'm sure that's where the FIV came from. Does anyone have any tips for caring for and extending the life of this kitty? TIA!
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Taking care of feral FIV+ cat
- Thread starter jakrum421
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make sure he has a nice outdoor shelter:
http://store.stabobspethouses.net/
http://www.feralvilla.com/
or build one of your own
http://store.stabobspethouses.net/
http://www.feralvilla.com/
or build one of your own
We rescued a feral with FIV two years ago. We brought him inside full time. But last year another feral turned up FIV+ (he was friendly, and we were thinking of adopting him out). We were beyond our limit, so couldn't bring Baloo inside.
Cats with FIV tend to have dental problems. IF you can get a dental done every six months, that will help a lot. If not, at least annually. I don't know how far you want to go in helping slow down the progression of the disease. But if there's a holistic vet in the area, they may be able to help you figure out the right doses of these herbal supplements and how/when to use them. http://www.fivtherapy.com This is the most comprehensive site on FIV.
Our Chumley (the one we brought inside) was a health mess when we first rescued him. Our regular vets weren't able to solve his issues. We found a holistic vet. (A DVM trained in Chinese Medicine, nutrition, and Western Herbs). We'd printed out the 2nd treatment protocol (the herbal one that Bud's parents preferred) and brought it with us. She wanted to get him healthy first, then figure out how to proceed. Well, she got his diarrhea cleared up in four days (the others had us try things for 5-6 months at that point), and his obsessive itching/grooming (his abdomen was bare and he had bald patches on his legs) in a couple of weeks (took a lot longer for all his hair to grow back. :lol3: ). VERY INTERESTINGLY, the ingredients in the chinese herbal pill she prescribed for the allergy situation (actually, as she's trained in Chinese medicine, technically we were treating an "extreme Yin deficiency," and an "extreme spleen Qi deficiency." :lol3: ) overlapped quite a bit with a number of the herbals in Bud's therapy.
So we just kept Chumley on those pills. :nod:
Now... she insisted at our first visit that the most important thing we could do for him was support his health with the best food possible. She wanted us to feed him raw food. I wasn't ready for that (this was November 2010). She insisted we stop the kibble, and that we did. We switched all the cats to timed meals, wet food only, and used "high quality" grain-free canned foods. We also put him on a probiotic (just a human acidophilus+bifidus supplement by Natural Factors) at her STRONG suggestion. :lol3: It took me over a year to do the research that convinced me to go with raw feeding, but in January of this year, we transitioned all the cats to a raw food diet.
About two weeks after being on the diet 100%, Chumley stopped eating his pill. :lol3:
We'll probably be heading back to the vet next month to discuss next steps. He stresses over the medication thing, and apparently doesn't want pills in pockets. I'm not sure how we're going to proceed - or if we're just going to leave it at the probiotic (sprinkled on all our cats' food at one meal a day at this point) and the raw food and regular dentals (he had three teeth extracted at the last one) or.... ??????? :dk: We'll see.
But I do suggest finding a holistic vet if there is one you can get to that gets good reviews. I have some wonderful, amazing vets, truly. But my experience over the past two years says that Western medicine is just not as good at helping with immune-disorders as Chinese medicine is (if you can find a good vet trained in both).
....and thank you for your rescue work!
Cats with FIV tend to have dental problems. IF you can get a dental done every six months, that will help a lot. If not, at least annually. I don't know how far you want to go in helping slow down the progression of the disease. But if there's a holistic vet in the area, they may be able to help you figure out the right doses of these herbal supplements and how/when to use them. http://www.fivtherapy.com This is the most comprehensive site on FIV.
Our Chumley (the one we brought inside) was a health mess when we first rescued him. Our regular vets weren't able to solve his issues. We found a holistic vet. (A DVM trained in Chinese Medicine, nutrition, and Western Herbs). We'd printed out the 2nd treatment protocol (the herbal one that Bud's parents preferred) and brought it with us. She wanted to get him healthy first, then figure out how to proceed. Well, she got his diarrhea cleared up in four days (the others had us try things for 5-6 months at that point), and his obsessive itching/grooming (his abdomen was bare and he had bald patches on his legs) in a couple of weeks (took a lot longer for all his hair to grow back. :lol3: ). VERY INTERESTINGLY, the ingredients in the chinese herbal pill she prescribed for the allergy situation (actually, as she's trained in Chinese medicine, technically we were treating an "extreme Yin deficiency," and an "extreme spleen Qi deficiency." :lol3: ) overlapped quite a bit with a number of the herbals in Bud's therapy.
So we just kept Chumley on those pills. :nod:
Now... she insisted at our first visit that the most important thing we could do for him was support his health with the best food possible. She wanted us to feed him raw food. I wasn't ready for that (this was November 2010). She insisted we stop the kibble, and that we did. We switched all the cats to timed meals, wet food only, and used "high quality" grain-free canned foods. We also put him on a probiotic (just a human acidophilus+bifidus supplement by Natural Factors) at her STRONG suggestion. :lol3: It took me over a year to do the research that convinced me to go with raw feeding, but in January of this year, we transitioned all the cats to a raw food diet.
About two weeks after being on the diet 100%, Chumley stopped eating his pill. :lol3:
We'll probably be heading back to the vet next month to discuss next steps. He stresses over the medication thing, and apparently doesn't want pills in pockets. I'm not sure how we're going to proceed - or if we're just going to leave it at the probiotic (sprinkled on all our cats' food at one meal a day at this point) and the raw food and regular dentals (he had three teeth extracted at the last one) or.... ??????? :dk: We'll see.
But I do suggest finding a holistic vet if there is one you can get to that gets good reviews. I have some wonderful, amazing vets, truly. But my experience over the past two years says that Western medicine is just not as good at helping with immune-disorders as Chinese medicine is (if you can find a good vet trained in both).
....and thank you for your rescue work!
Last edited:
Oh! :doh3: My brain just isn't working right the last two days. :lol3: Here's a link you can use to search for a holistic vet: http://www.ahvma.org 
HI 
and welcome!!! Laurie has supplied you with some of the best info. on caring for FIV kitties. I just want to pass along vibes to Sherman and a thank you for caring for the homeless kitties. Good luck with Sherman and hope he feels better soon. 
and welcome!!! Laurie has supplied you with some of the best info. on caring for FIV kitties. I just want to pass along vibes to Sherman and a thank you for caring for the homeless kitties. Good luck with Sherman and hope he feels better soon. 
