Daniel has FIV.

A few months ago, a friend of mine brought over a cat he'd noticed roaming his neighborhood. He seemed to belong to somebody, since he was obviously well-fed, etc. However, we ended up keeping him and calling him Daniel.

I often let my cats (seven of ten) play outside for a couple of hours during the week. One day Daniel came home with a gaping wound; he had obviously been in a fight. With some topical antibiotics, the wound healed, but we took him to the vet anyhow to be fixed and get him his shots. The vet did some tests, and Daniel tested positive for FIV (kitty-HIV). The vet said Daniel probably caught it in his recent fight (FIV is transmitted through bites, and especially when it is a weeping puncture wound). I've been told that with care, Daniel can live a pretty normal life.

My question is can Daniel transmit FIV to my other nine cats. They never fight with one another, and they will be inside cats from now on since some feral kitty outside is getting everyone sick. But I'm unsure if my other cats can get it via the litterbox, kitty dish, or water bowl. Should I separate them? I'm very worried for all my babies. If anyone can enlighten me, it would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I'm having all the kitties tested for FIV.

I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty Daniel. I know there are a lot of knowledgable people here that can answer your questions. Just wanted to send some good vibes your way.

Sadly you other cats can get it from sharing litter boxes, food bowls, water sources and from fighting. FIV cats should be kept separate from all the other cats. And the other cats should be tested, and then retested in 3 months. If on the second retest they test out clean, it would be your choice to let Daniel out with them at this time.

With Daniel having FIV this opens him up to being very susceptible to secondary infections as well as mouth problems.

Your litterpans, cat beds, food bowls etc should be disinfected as well or tossed out and new ones given to the FIV negative cats.

If it's not practical to keep Daniel separate from the others, you may find it could help to use a bleach/water concoction to spray the litter tray areas every day. That should kill off the virus. Also, wash any towels/pillows etc where he sleeps, regularly, and try to make sure he doesn't share a food bowl with the others.

We have a possible FIP+ cat, and it's impossible to keep him separate from the other three, so we take these precautions instead. I don't know if the corona virus is similar to FIV or not, but I would imagine these basic precautions should help you. And if your cats never fight, that's a big plus also. BTW, none of our other three cats have shown any signs of FIP and they've been living together with Jeffrey for over a year now.

I have to be honest, I don't know how contagious the FIV virus is, but this is the way we have coped with FIP so far, which is also a very nasty, contagious disease. Hope it helps a little!

Woah! I thought FIP was very contageous!

I'm going to disagree with Hissy just a tad. Please read the Cornell University Vet School web page about FIV. It gives a very scientific (yet easy to read) discussion of FIV. They say that although FIV is contagious, if the cats do not bite each other, the risk of transmission of the virus is very low. There is always a chance that casual contact will spread the virus, but the possibility is slight.

However, if the new cat is aggressive toward the others, you will need to think long and hard as to whether he would be safe to have in your household.

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/Public/FHC/fiv.html

Further to lotsocats' message, I believe the same more or less applies for FIP. I've done a lot of research on this, and many vets seem to be of the opinion that even if you shut 200 cats in a room sprayed wall to wall with the corona virus, very few of them, if any, would pick up the virus, and even fewer, if any, would develop the disease itself. However, I might not have been totally clear in my earlier post - Jeffrey has an elevated corona titre which does not necessarily translate into having FIP. But of course there's still a chance he could transmit the virus to our other cats. So I was just saying that in over a year, none of the others have shown any signs of illness and I believe that the precautions we are taking have helped towards this, and that similar precautions could help you prevent Daniel from spreading the FIV virus to your other cats - as long as he doesn't bite them/fight with them etc.

Regarding FIP, a good internet friend lost her cats to FIP when she brought home a kitten who was infected. All but one of her entire cat family died after being in casual contact with the kitten. Perhaps this was an unusual event, but I would never bring a FIP positive cat into a home with other cats. (Of course some might say the exact same thing about FIV!)

With FIP nothing is predictable, so I don't know if this is unusual or not, but it's very sad in any case. The problem is, by the time you find out a newly arrived/rescued cat/kitten has FIP/FIV or whatever, they are already well and truly ensconced into your home (and heart!) and been in contact with your other cats. So then you have to find the best way of dealing with it.

If Jeffrey ever develops FIP itself, which we of course pray that he doesn't, we would probably isolate him from the other three during periods of infection. In the meantime, we are taking precautions to minimise the chance of the corona virus spreading, and I think these precautions could be useful for anyone who has a cat with a contagious disease - if they are unable or do not wish to isolate them for whatever reason.

When I found out snowwhite had FIV I flipped! I cried for three hours so hard I couldn't do anything. After I calmed myself I went to the vet to have her kittens tested. ALL of her babies are negative.
I had a very long talk with my vet and he made me feel ALOT better. Snowwhite is not a biter, and research has shown the FIV is about the same has HIV as with how it is transmitted. It is transmitted through blood or sex. So since she and everyone is fixed, and she is not a bitter the risk is very low. He said just to keep a very close eye on her and at the first sign of sickness to bring her in because she could go down hill faster then an fiv - cat.
Snowwhite is actually the healthies out of all my cats, when there is a cold going around she is the only one that doesn't catch it.
I worried about, but if she could nurse her babies that were inside of her and them not have it, I feel fairly comfy that it is not that easy to transmit.
My vet also said that FIV is a fairly new discover, and that there are many fiv+ cats that there owners do not even know they have it.
Fiv cats can live a full healthy live, my vet said he has seen fiv cat live for 16+ years.
If you have any questions or just want to talk please feel free to email me. I know how scary it is when you first find out.
We treat snowwhite no different then any of the other cats. We just keep a close eye on her to make sure she is feeling okay.

Thank you Renae for the updated information. These two diseases have so much misinformation about them. It is only recently where experts are beginning to really study the disease in depth. I apologize for putting outdated info on the board. Happily, I have never had to deal with these diseases but one time. The cat was PTS because the disease was so advanced in him he didn't have a chance.

I have a 16 year old cat that is FIV+ and he has never infected any of the others. I have 3 others right now, and have had several pass away since we found out he was infected. I have them all checked regularly, and so far, so good.

I have 3 FIV cats the oldest being 14.I let them with my other cats as they do all get along.FIV use to scare me but after having 3 cats with it and having no health problems,I realized as long as I fed them the best food and gave them the proper health care they would be fine.Hope your Daniel will be fine.Good Luck.

my thoughts go out to you and Daniel. i know exactly how you feel....my little baby boy was diagnosed on Tuesday as having FIV. I too have another cat which I am worried about being infected. I've done a lot of crying this week but have also done a lot of reading on the web.....the chances are good that it won't be transmitted from what I can tell and as long as you promise that you will never compromise on proper and fast treatment at the vets then it should be ok.

think about having your other cats tested........i've thought about little else this week and have decided not to....

consider:

if they get tested....what will the results go to prove? will you realistically want to get rid of Daniel if the others come back negative? if the answer is no (and please let it be no - the poor little mite) then testing them is pointless

just concentrate your efforts on keeping them well and safe and of course well loved

Howdy,
I had an FIV+ stray female that was 10 yrs. when we took her in.....she had never been spayed and had kittens that we placed.....anyway, at the time I also had 5 other cats....we got her spayed and front declawed.....I did my own research and found the liklihood of actual transmision came from scratching and biting....this old cat had 2 teeth left and was declawed....what was she going to do....Long wonderful story (she was a WONDERFUL cat)short, she ate, slept and drank from the same bowls as my other cats did..no problem. With a male you may have the territorial aggression until things calm down, my female did this for a long time. ( she would be intimidating and aggressive, a spray bottle of water does wonders)

She passed away after 2 bouts of breast cancer that went to her lungs. She came to be the "mother" to all my other cats....good nutrition, being an indoor only cat added the years to her life, my vet said.....It can be worked out....

the vet said "There are worse things than having cats with FIV"

I would concur with those that say not to worry unduly about FIV. Of course you need to exercise caution, if your FIV cat is agressive to the others he will need to be rehomed to an inside-only single cat household.

I have an FIV ex-stray and 2 docile pampered persians. I have researched extensively and spoken to many vets and the outcome is that unless there is a serious puncture wound inflicted, transmission of FIV is unlikely.

The only thing you have to look out for is keeping Daniel free of infections as much as possible and he will be less resistent to recovery from anaesthesia, should he need to have an operation. Having said that FIV Ferdy has recently gone through a very serious operation, and although he lost much fur due to the trauma, he is now very, very well.

Thank you to everyone who has reponded so far. I really appreciate your support.

Daniel is doing very well

I just wanted to share with you about something that I have been treating my 5 fel luk positive cats with. It's called Mega C. It is just supplement that you give daily. It has greatly improved the lives of my positive cats. You would never know they have it! The website is www.belfield.com. Check it out and if you have any questions about it feel free to email me at [email protected].

I am give another supplement called DMG along with a liquid vitamin.
I gave all 3 of these when I first found out they were positive. I did this for about 2 months daily sometimes twice a day. Now they only get it on occassion, if they are sick or need a little pep! They all have done a complete turnaround since finding out they were positive.

If you would like more info on any of these, let me know.