Vet visit coming - FIV test question

So Oliver goes in for his yearly vaccs next Monday afternoon.... not really a big deal, I just know he wont be a happy camper after a car trip and 5 injections.... my question is this - anyone have a cost estimate for the second, more conclusive FIV test? I received Oliver from a friend who had rescued him as a stray last fall... I was told when she gave him to me that he is FIV+... I never asked which tests were done to determine this and am thinking about getting that second test done (I cant pull the name of it from my brain right now, but those of you in the know will understand what I mean).... I know this is gonna be a pretty costly trip just because of all the meds he'll be getting, so I'm trying to figure out how much more it would be to get this test. I'm also going to see if his old charts ever did get transferred to my name (I had asked them to do it, but don't know if they did) so we can see what tests were actually done on him... I'm thinking if they only did the one, common, test that he may be testing false positive if he had been owned before and vaccinated against the disease, although I can definitely see how he could have picked it up as a stray.... any insight is welcomed! thanks!

Iam not really sure about the different FIV tests....but the ones I got my kits was 43.00$.......

as for false positives and such...I have no idea...I know the vaccination is pricey....My cats aren't vaccinated for it as of yet because they are indoor cats......

I hope it is a false positve....and you kit is healthy...good luck

If his first test was a year ago, I would recommend just testing him again with a standard ELISA test.

If he is vaccinated, he will test positive no matter what test is used since there is no test available that can tell the difference between a vaccinated cat and an infected cat.

The odds are that he has FIV, but he is likely to have a long life with relatively few medical problems nonetheless.

If it were my cat, and I had an unknown history I would have him re-tested. Usually if you get a cat that tests positive for FIV on a snap test, they re-test in 6 months to a year. If you get a positive or a negative you can request a western blot to make sure both tests match. The western blots are fairly expensive, I would say anywhere from $60 to $100.

OK thanks.... I'll probably have them do the snap test again just to see what happens... I'm not all that concerned about him having FIV as he's indoor only and an only cat, and I know all about the disease and how to handle it - I guess it's just more that I want to be totally informed and not just assume... he's a very happy and healthy kitty otherwise!

So Oliver went to the vet today... and he was the best behaved boy ever! I was so proud of him and of course ran to petco to get him a new toy for being so good! I talked to my vet about the whole FIV situation... she said there is only one clinic in the area that vaccinates against FIV and they WILL NOT vaccinate non-desexed males and he was in tact when he was first brought in as a stray and tested positive... so basically there's a very high chance that he actually has it and I decided to save money and not have the western blot sent in - like I said, I have no problem with him having FIV, I just want to know as much for sure as I can about my kitty... she was very happy with the monster overall and he didn't even flinch when she vaccinated him! I'm so proud of my little boy!

What's he get 5 injections for? My cats get a feline-combination shot every year, and a rabies shot (required by law) every 3 years. So that's two shots every three years, and one shot in the years between. Same goes for my dogs, they get a canine-combo shot every year and a rabies shot every 3 years.

Amber

He only ended up getting two - the distemper combo and rabies.... was supposed to get luekemia too, but since he's inside only she didnt give it to him... on the cards the vet sends out, they list the individual components of the combo shot... sorry, shoulda been more specific!