New mommy!

Let me start by saying that I've never owned a cat before, several dogs but no cats. I apologize if any of my questions seem silly or have been answered before.

About 5 days ago I found a teeny little kitty tangled in a pricker bush outside of my house. I waited a while to see if the mom came back, but heard the cries for over an hour and decided it was time to save the wee one. So I untangled it and brought it inside for what I thought would only be one night- boy was I wrong. This little kitty has adopted me so quickly! I am now mommy and she cuddles up to me every chance she gets. The first day or so she was very attached to me and obviously nervous and uncomfortable, but in the last few days she has really opened up and become quite playful and fun! Still a MAJOR cuddler but also love to explore and get into things.

I decided it was time to bring Lil Bit to the vet. I brought her this morning and she was seemly very healthy. Her ears, eyes, paws, and fur looked great, temperature was perfect, her energy was great, stool looked just right, she played when prompted but was mostly calm and just curious while on the table- not even nervous, and she weighed in at a whopping 13 ounces! He determined by her teeth that she's roughly 4-6 weeks old.

Then we got her test results back and she tested positive for feline AIDS and feline leukemia. I am incredibly heartbroken. I don't want this little wee one to live one second of a difficult life. But my major concern is that my roommate already has an 8 year old cat. Now, we have kept them completely separate as of now, since we were waiting to get these tests. The cat got the feline leukemia vaccine as a kitten, but has had no boosters since.

Can someone please answer some questions? I asked the vet a lot today but in he middle of all this news and my little breakdown at the thought of her ever getting sick, I didn't retain enough of the information.

Can you fill me in on the precautions we need to take?
The dr said there's a chance the feline AIDS was a false positive depending on how long ago she nursed her mom, if the mom has AIDS it may have ingested it via the milk and the test could come back negative down the road.

What kind of care is needed for a cat with feline leukemia and feline AIDS? Can it live a long life? Or is it destined to get sick? Will it need medications and/or surgeries?

All these concerns sparked other concerns since I left. Can the kitten be born with rabies? Or can it contract it from nursing? Would I know if it had it by now? If not how long can it take to show signs? Also can you contract it from a cat that's not showing signs and maybe just a carrier? What if I've caught it? How do I know?

SO MANY QUESTIONS!! Please help!!

-nervous new cat mommy

I need to add that in my line of work I tend to get lots of cuts and scrapes, and I have been letting the kitten lick me and I can't positively say that she hasn't licked any open wounds. She also may have scratched me a little bit as I have 2 tiny little scratches on my arm that I think may have come from her. Tiny little scratches but the skin is open.

Oh dear, thank you for saving this little one and giving her so much comfort and joy! I know more about FIV than I do FeLV, so I'll try to fill you in on that part.

FIV is not transmittable to other species, and it requires a deep bite to be transmitted from cat to cat. Testing for it in kittens is also very unreliable and false positives are common, so testing again after 6 months is recommended. Even if she is FIV positive, the prognosis is pretty good for cats who are well cared for. There is low risk of a neutered/spayed cat transmitting it to another cat, and many of them live nearly normal lifespans before their immune system starts to weaken and the disease becomes active.

FeLV is also not transmittable to humans, but it is easier for cats to contract, usually through extended grooming and sharing of food and water. Most adult cats have already built up a natural immunity, and it is likely that the FeLV vaccine confers immunity for a long period of time if not for life, but keeping the cats separate for now is prudent. I believe many cats contract the virus but their immune systems can defeat it. Unfortunately, in cats where it develops into FeLV, the prognosis is not good. Their immune system becomes very weak and most do not live more than 3 years. I have not had firsthand experience with FeLV myself, so I'm not very familiar with how reliable the testing is and whether or not you have reason to be concerned yet. Cornell's website explains that a test can be done to see whether a cat has the primary stage of the virus or the secondary, so I would ask your vet for clarification on what test was performed and what the results indicate. As with FIV, it may be too early to tell and she could need to be retested later in life, but I'm not as sure how that works.

Rabies can only be transmitted once the animal begins displaying symptoms. Rabies can supposedly be latent for several days/weeks, but in all of the abandoned outside kittens that I've seen come through the shelter, I've never heard of one developing rabies. Ask your vet if you are in a high-rabies area, but I do not think rabies is likely.

For both FIV and FeLV, keeping the immune system strong gives the cat the best chance, so a healthy, nutritious diet and low stress levels are very important. Wet food with a high protein content and low levels of plant material and carbohydrates are best for cats (or you could feed raw, but you'd have to be very careful that everything was pasteurized and pathogen-free because of her lowered ability to fight off disease). Minimizing her exposure to sources of disease would also be very important, keeping her indoor-only. Keeping from having contact with the other cat might also be important for this as well in case he is a carrier for anything that her immune system wouldn't be able to handle.

As for you, keeping your scratches clean is a good idea to prevent infection from standard cat saliva bacteria, but as far as contracting disease is concerned, you should be fine.

I'm hoping for the best for this kitten! Remember, even if the FIV isn't a false positive, it's a very livable disease. And I'm hoping the FeLV virus was in the early stage and she will be able to successfully fight it off, now that she has you to help her. You might want to look into and ask the vet about lactoferrin, which has been found to give the immune system a boost in cats.

This thread contains more info from people who know more about FeLV testing: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/225010/false-positive-felv-retested-negative

So basically, she should stay separate from other cats, but she'll need to be tested at least one more time in a month with ELISA, and then possibly sent out to a lab for another test before you know for sure. I'm sorry you can't have a quick answer to this, I know you must be worried. But it's wonderful that you rescued this kitten so young and you can provide her with a safe home and give her the best chance possible to grow into a healthy adult cat.