Need some help on kittens, please

Hello,

I am new here, and I am needing some advice. Please forgive me if this post is a little long.

We had a young stray cat at work who finally warmed up enough to us that she would let us pet her. Anyway, she had a litter of kittens around July 4 which we could never find. We had an idea of where they were, but we couldn't get to them. She came up to us at work a few Saturday's ago looking like death walking so I took her home to care for her over the weekend. She started eating a little better, but I noticed her belly was blue looking. I got her to the vet on that Monday, and her belly had started opening up. She developed mastitis that turned septic so she was put down. That Saturday after work I went back over there to see if I could find the kittens because I knew they were hungry. Here they came. Seven of them. My aunt took two so I have been caring for five of them. They will be 7 weeks old this weekend.

One of them came up not feeling well so I had to take her to a vet two Saturday's ago. The only one that was open after work Saturday was Banfield. I took her there, and signed her up for one of the Wellness plans because I am planning on keeping her. Anyway, they did a FIV test on her this past Saturday that was included in the plan, and she came back negative. She was 6 weeks old when they did the test.

Well on Monday, a guy came into work who knew I had the kittens, and he asked if one got loose because he saw one up from our house. I said not that I know of so of course I had to go investigate. It was another kitten that looks about the same age as the others, and his nose/mouth was injured, and he had some green junk coming out of his eyes. I took him home in our garage away from the others. The next day I got him into my vet up the street from me, and he gave the kitten some antibiotics. He estimated his age at 5 weeks so he said he probably wouldn't be able to get enough blood for a FIV test.

It has been a long time since I have taken care of kittens so my questions is this: after his infection clears up, can I put him in with the other 5 kittens that I am caring for? None of them have been tested except the one I took to Banfield which came back negative. I don't want to infect any of the others, but I don't know how easily the disease is transmitted either.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. And again I'm sorry for the long post. I wanted to give all the background info I could.

Bless you for taking in these little guys.  So sorry about the mom cat, but you helped her and she didn't suffer.  I'm really torn on this one.  On one hand it would be better for him to be with the others to have playmates and to keep warm, but on the other hand, I totally understand keeping him separate.  Since he's already on antibiotics and has been since Monday or Tuesday, I would probably go ahead and put him with the others.  If he tests positive for FIV, it's not a death sentence, just something to be aware of regarding his health concerns for the rest of his life.  FIV+ kitties and those without FIV can coexist and live long healthy lives together.
 

stephanietx said:

Bless you for taking in these little guys.  So sorry about the mom cat, but you helped her and she didn't suffer.  I'm really torn on this one.  On one hand it would be better for him to be with the others to have playmates and to keep warm, but on the other hand, I totally understand keeping him separate.  Since he's already on antibiotics and has been since Monday or Tuesday, I would probably go ahead and put him with the others.  If he tests positive for FIV, it's not a death sentence, just something to be aware of regarding his health concerns for the rest of his life.  FIV+ kitties and those without FIV can coexist and live long healthy lives together.

 

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Thank you for the reply. So cats cannot infect other cats with just eating and drinking or through saliva? I've researched that it is through deep wound bites, but I was concerned about them eating together.

It is spread mainly through deep bite wounds, but can also be transmitted from a mother cat during birth.  The ASPCA has a good article on FIV.  http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/feline-immunodeficiency-virus-fiv   Most likely the play kind of bites that kittens experience will not be deep enough to transmit the disease if one of them should be infected.

Here are some threads on FIV for your reading pleasure.

http://www.thecatsite.com/newsearch?search=FIV

I am hoping someone with more experience dealing with both kittens and FIV will come along soon with more input. 

After reading one of those threads, I need to be more worried about FeLV instead of FIV. FeLV seems to be easily transmitted through saliva.