Indoor cats shouldn't mingle with local colony, right?

Crackerboo · Apr 10, 2022

Hi All,

My wife and I have, after much anxiety and painfully learned lessons, successfully TNR'ed three kitten siblings that showed up to our back deck early last spring. We've had in place for a while now two cooler-type shelters and an outdoor feeder and waterer. Now a year old, they are slowly becoming more trusting of us. One of the two females has become trusting enough that yesterday, for the first time ever, she has allowed us to pet her. In fact, the more we pet her, the more she seems to enjoy it and reciprocally does her head bumps, and cheek rubs; rather strongly at times, and does little nibbles of our hands. It's quite adorable.

Am I correct in thinking that we ought not to allow our three indoor-only cats to mingle directly with our outdoor cats? Our indoor cats DO have limited contact with the outdoor cats via a screened-in window box, like a small catio, that our indoor cats can enter to be "outside." The outdoor cats often lounge on top of this window box and play with our indoor cats through the screens on the window box. My main concern is feline HIV. I don't know if the outdoor cats have that, but I know that our indoor cats have tested negative for it.

Thanks for any advice!

rubysmama · Apr 10, 2022

Probably not, especially if your indoor cats aren't up to date with their shots, or get regular flea meds, etc. But probably your vet would be the best one to advise you, since they'd have the records for both your indoor cats, as well as the outdoor ones.

Thanks, btw, for TRN'ing the kittens and caring for them. And nice that one of the females is learning to trust you, and enjoy being touched.

Crackerboo · Apr 11, 2022

Thanks for the reply, Rubysmama; I'm not worried about fleas or anything, we keep our indoor kitties treated with flea meds, and they're up to date with their shots. My main concern is if the outdoor kitties have the feline HIV and if they could spread it to my indoor kitties.

di and bob · Apr 11, 2022

From what I have researched. most diseases such ad HIV and FeLV (which my cats have) are transmitted through fighting (deep bites into a muscle) and mating. Since your cats are healthy, the chances would be very low to transmit these diseases. There are MANY documented instances of letting HIV cats mingle with others and not transmitting the disease if there is no fighting. I have had only one cat out of three actually be diagnosed, but treat all three as if they have it. Diagnosing them wouldn't change anything, I would never separate them. I can't let my cats mingle with the outside cats, because the outside cats may transmit any virus, even a cold, and that could definitely be fatal to my cats with their lowered immune response. I wash my hands every time I feed or arrange blankets, etc. with the outside cats. Older cats (over a year old) have been shown to fight these diseases and live on for years. my cat is an example of this. He had been very sick on and off, I thought it was kitty colds, etc. then one time I was told he had 'days' left to live, it was horrible he was skin and bones and had only taken licks of food for two weeks. if they can hold on long enough, their bone marrow will make more cells. He is alive and happy, perfectly normal after almost three years! I do give them all DMG to build up their immune systems, and LifeGold for cancers every morning. They are all 8 and 9 years old now. Keep up on your inside cat's vaccinations at least, it could save their lives. we had distemper sweep through our ferals and so many died, our inside cats who were in contact with them at that time, were fine because they were vaccinated.

Crackerboo · Apr 11, 2022

Thanks for the reply, di and bob. That's excellent that your kitties are doing so well! Your comment about how HIV and FeLV are transmitted makes me feel better. Our indoor cats and the outdoor ferals have always been curious about each other, and even play together (sort of) through the closed sliding patio door. With your comment, I may feel comfortable enough to allow our indoor kitties to (when leashed and supervised) go out on the back deck with me and interact with the outdoor kitties if their curiosity is strong enough. One of our girls is actually the sibling of the three outdoor ferals. We were able to trap her and socialize her when she was still pretty young. We were going to adopt her out, but fell in love instead and became a three cat household. Oops.

di and bob · Apr 11, 2022

Just make sure no fighting starts. Ifshe is leashed that should help. I or start out with a cat outside in a larger dog cage. Then they could interact pretty close and you could see how they do.