One of our little gang came up FIV+ -- how to do best for him?

Hi everyone,

One of our little (3-cat) gang of friendly semi-ferals was diagnosed with FIV when we took him in to treat an abscess (and get him neutered) last week. GT's generally fairly healthy (he's currently recovering nicely in our garage recovery ward). The vet advised an indoor life, preferably as an only cat or with FIV+ housemates. Well, we've currently got 6 indoor cats, all FIV- -- and we've read the studies that show FIV+ and FIV- cats can live together as long as they're fairly mellow and introduced properly. Well, GT's quite mellow, but several of our gang are not -- and adding somebody else to the cat politics would just add to the mess.

We've got no current prospects for a good FIV-savvy home (we've got folks on the case, but these things take time), and I don't think release is an option. What I'm considering is a large-ish (5' x 7') cat enclosure on our back deck (with lots of shelters and shelves and climbable things) -- we'd come and hang out with him every day (in addition to taking care of food/water/litter area) to get him further socialized to people.

Does this seem like a good (or "least bad") plan? I hate having him be in this kind of limbo (not quite homed, not free-living), but it seems like the best way to keep him healthy, and improve his chances of finding a forever home.

A bit of background:

We've been feeding these guys  for about 3 years now. We managed to trap and spay one of them (MM) about a year and a half ago (also adopted her surviving kitten), and had been planning to grab the boys (GT and Tuxie) for a trip into our local feral-fixing place. Unfortunately, family crises took up most of last year, so we could feed (and put up shelters in our yard), but weren't quite up to trapping the boys. Then, just about the time we got the family crises sorted out, our feral-fixers (Fix Our Ferals) had to close for an indefinite period -- and the other options are on the other side of the county.

Thanks for any thoughts and advice!

I've not yet had to deal with that situation and not sure what I would do if I did.  I don't think myself qualified to give you advice on the matter of the cat enclosure.  But, I think I've read before that (and I don't want to get your hopes up or anything) that false positives are possible if it was an ELISA test that was used, and that for confirmation a test of another type can be done.  Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could give further advice on how the tests work.

Thanks for the response! The vet didn't say what sort of test was used, but I suspect it was most likely the SNAP (FIV/FeLV combo that uses ELISA). We're considering re-testing him with Western Blot or IFA in a few weeks.

Okay, that's good.  I was really nervous to say something because I know that false positives are a minority of cases but at the same time knowing it can happen I didn't want to say nothing, either.

I was thinking though that a couple pluses of at least using a large enclosure would be that you could still more closely monitor his health/feeding and that it would prevent him from possibly spreading the infection to other cats.  Best wishes for you in finding a solution!

You mentioned that you have six indoor cats who have all tested positive for  FIV. Do you also have cats who don't have FIV? If all of your cats have tested positive for FIV, would it be possible to eventually integrate this cat into your household? 

From what I've read, SNAP tests are very reliable, except in the case of young kittens who may test positive if their mother was infected, or cats that have been vaccinated for FIV.

Cats who have tested positive for FIV will  eventually get the disease and become symptomatic, though it can take several years, especially if the cats are indoors and well-cared for. I think it's a wise decision to not allow him to be an outside cat. Even neutered cats can get into territorial disputes, and pass the disease onto other cats.  

I applaud you and others who care for these FIV positive cats inside your home, giving them a happy life with the time they have. It takes a lot of heart and courage. Prayers to you and all your kitties.           

I think the minus sign may have been a bit difficult to see (obscured by the em-dash) -- all of our indoor crew have tested negative for FIV. Thus, integration into the household would be problematic, especially since at least two of our indoor gang are known to be aggressive (and one bit another deeply enough to cause abscesses).  GT's a pretty chill guy, but he's undoubtedly got his limits.

I wasn't putting a whole lot of hope into a false positive on the SNAP test, given that he's a free-roaming (former) tomcat who's gotten into a number of fights. It also seems unlikely that his former owners (if any) would have vaccinated him against FIV.

I'm figuring that even if all we can do for him now is give him a protected semi-outdoor home (with good shelter, lots of toys and perches, cuddles, high-quality food, and health monitoring), he'll still be much better off than he would otherwise be -- and I won't be worrying myself sick every time he fails to show up at the food bowl.  I think of this cartoon, even though it always makes me tear up:  
Thanks for the kind words and prayers.