FIV & FLV TESTING IN FERAL KITTEN

Hi There,

I'm new to the forum and hoping to get some advice. I have two resident cats (both healthy and vaccinated indoor cats). We have recently found a 1 week old feral baby and have been bottle raising him successfully (now 4 weeks old). He seems very healthy but of course we are worried about FIV and FLV and have kept him separated. We are planning on testing him  before introducing him to our cats but the test is $170 CAN so we certainly don't want to do it more than once if possible. 

My question is what age would you do this test at for the greatest accuracy? I have had a lot of mixed advice and wanted to know from a "cat community" what is accepted practice. I know before 6 months there is no way to get 100% accuracy but I can't keep him alone in a room for 6 months so we have to test sooner. Plus the longer we wait the less chance of the others accepting him. My current plan is to test at 10 weeks and pray he is negative and if so treat him as healthy. Any other suggestions or advice. We will be heartbroken if he can't stay

Thanks!

I'd stick with your current plan assuming your other cats are up to date on their vaccines. 

BTW, he is a cutie. 

That's a lot of $$$ if your kitten is getting a snap test which probably costs about $5.  There is no reason to send the blood out to a lab, the combo snap test takes $10 min and is very accurate.  Probably the more important thing to do if you want to be sure is to test twice a few months apart in the unlikely event that the kitten was exposed right before the test was done and before antibodies developed.

Thanks for your comments I didn't realize the in office test was so reasonable, that sounds like a way better option! I'm going to call around a see who I can find in Toronto who will do it for a reasonable cost. I've already spent over $100 on kitten milk raising him plus the first vet visit so I'm really trying to keep costs down. Since he was only a few days old when we found him we're desperately hoping he wasn't exposed. Our two cats have all shots up to date including FLV.

The SNAP tests cost $30 wholesale, not $5 . Most vets charge a bit more than that to make a profit; my vet charges $40. I definitely wouldn't spend $170 on it though! The way the SNAP test is designed, there is almost no chance of a false negative, so if he tests negative you're pretty safe (even if he's too young, you'd think there would at least a few antibodies floating around!). The SNAP tests do have a fairly high chance of a false positive, though, so if he tests positive have the full lab test done. Even if that shows positive, at his age it may be his mother's antibodies, so don't do anything drastic.

Basically: if he test negative you can be pretty sure he's negative, but if he tests positive you want to investigate that further.

Hi There, We found a 4 day old feral kitten abandoned under our deck a few weeks ago and we have been bottle feeding him around the clock. He's doing really well and of course we have have fallen in love. My challenge is we already have two healthy female cats approx 7 & 8 (he's male).
I have two questions for the group:
1) what is the earliest age I can test for FIV & FLV. All vets in Toronto charge $150 plus to test so I can't afford to do it twice. My current plan is to test at 9 weeks and if he's negative assume he's clear and integrate him.
2) what are the odds my two female cats will eventually accept him?
Thanks so much for your help!
Here's little Pepper

One more shot of Pepper

What an absolutely adorable kitten! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

The kitten should begin receiving shots at 8 weeks old. Testing is not recommended prior to 6 months old, as you can get a false positive result due to antibodies received from the mom.

If your adult cats are up to date on their shots, it is safe to let them mingle with the kitten now.

Your females will accept Pepper after they get used to him!

With shots here we mean the usual Core vaccine - and possibly rabies too, if its used in your country (in Sweden it isnt.)

It stands still in my head re testing kittens, but it is seldom necessary, unless you clearly have suspiction of disease. 

So if he is healthy, you can begin to merge him with your residents.  It should go OK, they usually do accept kittens easily.

And plan on the usual vaccinating and neutering when the time comes.