A Fresh Look At FIV+ Cats -- One More Reason To Fix Your Cat

With 13 teenaged cats, I spend a lot of time sitting in vet clinic waiting rooms. I usually read a book, but sometimes I browse through the clinic’s vast offering of cat magazines. Last week I was glad I did as one of them pointed to an article on the Best Friends’ web site entitled: “FIV: Catching A Bad Case of Rumors”. The article’s well worth reading as it allays many of the fears and misconceptions associated with FIV. And I was surprised to learn that BFAS now permits FIV+ cats to be adopted by guardians with other cats in their home – cautioning them to keep the FIV cats healthy and take extreme care while introducing them to their others cats. Good advice for all cat introductions -- not just FIV cats.


But this is a sea change in shelter behavior. When FIV was first identified in 1986 it was swept up in emotion – largely due to its biological similarity to the human lentivirus HIV. Although it’s sometimes referred to as “Kitty AIDS” it is not – and it cannot be transferred to humans. Standard shelter practice was (and still is in many animal control shelters) to test for FIV and euthanize positive cats – even when they are ostensibly healthy. And even without performing a different test to verify the results of the first – a protocol recommended to guard against test errors. Because of this, even cats without FIV can be erroneously euthanized as well as kittens who may test positive as babies because their mother had FIV but are actually negative on tests performed after they turn 6 months old.

Allowing FIV+ cats to be adopted is good news – so long as the guardian is aware of the condition. Many cats with the virus lead long healthy lives with no outward sign of illness. Knowing that the cat has FIV helps too. Essentially cats with FIV have compromised immune systems so if they contract an illness they’re less able to shrug it off. Knowing this, their guardians can head off problems by getting veterinary help at the first signs of illness.

And if sterilized FIV cats are properly introduced to existing non-FIV sterilized cats, the risk of transfer is extremely low. The virus only lives for a short time outside the blood stream so it’s almost always transferred from one cat to another through deep puncture wounds – usually in fights between un-neutered male cats. Cat fighting is stable homes rarely leads to puncture wounds. Casual contact (shared food dishes, water bowls or litter boxes) doesn’t cause infection nor does most sexual contact.

Spaying and neutering cats is a highly effective way to stop the spread of FIV -- since it prevents the situations that often result FIV transfer.  And this is just another reason why free and convenient spay/neuter of all cats living indoors or out is so important.