Is FIV contagious?

stephanie93

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I had always thought that FIV was only contagious through deep bite wounds, that the saliva had to get deep into a cat's system for them to be infected. Everyone I had talked to said this. But I was recently talking to a lady who works at an FIV sanctuary, She told me that FIV can be spread through saliva, so the cat has to be isolated from FIV - cats. i have a cat who is FIV but there's no way to separate her from the others. Has anyone heard anything about this? Does anyone know if FIV is contagious through saliva?

Stephanie
 

ldg

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An FIV sanctuary? Or FeLV?

If she really works for an FIV sanctuary, that is incredibly sad that she's so misinformed. :(

Here is the Cornell brochure on FIV: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/fiv.html

The primary mode of transmission is through bite wounds. Casual, non-aggressive contact does not appear to be an efficient route of spreading FIV; as a result, cats in households with stable social structures where housemates do not fight are at little risk for acquiring FIV infections.
I have an FIV+ kitty living in an RV with us and 7 other cats. He's been here for 3 years. He is very close to one of our other cats, Billy. He and Billy groom each other literally for hours a day. They just had dentals, and for the heck of it we asked them to do the SNAP test on Billy. He's still negative. :)
 
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