Can FIV positive cats live with other cats? The answer has to be a qualified yes. It is safe for FIV positive cats to live with other cats by which I mean cats not carrying any diseases. Although, it cannot be said to be 100% safe at all times, it can be said to be 99% safe dependent upon cat management. I hope that I have been fair in making that assessment (wrong? – please tell me). There has been some confusion or some uncertainty about the safety of putting non-FIV positive cats with FIV positive cats in the same environment be it a cat shelter or a multi-cat household.
The classic veterinary response with respect to transmission of the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is that it occurs when a FIV positive cat bites a non-FIV positive cat and it may be passed if a queen becomes infected while pregnant and passes the virus to her unborn kittens. In fact the well-known Drs Carlson’s and Giffin’s Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook has stated in one edition that FIV positive cats should be isolated from other cats. This information would seem, now, to be out of date.
Important research carried out by Anette Litster on cats at two rescue centres found that there was no transmission of the virus between FIV positive cats and non-FIV positive cats, both horizontally or vertically.
By “horizontally” it is meant between different cats and by “vertically” it is meant between infected mother and her unborn kittens.
In one cat rescue centre there were 138 cohabiting cats of which eight were FIV positive (six male neutered and two female spayed). After several tests over years of exposure between the cats there was no evidence of any transmission of the virus.
In another rescue centre records indicated that from five FIV positive queens with 19 kittens all 19 kittens tested FIV negative which suggests that vertical transmission had not occurred.
Obviously, this study does not categorically state that transmission will never occur between cats and between queen and unborn kittens but it strongly suggests that transmission is very difficult for this virus and rarely occurs.
The fact of the matter is that when transmission is through a cat bite (whereupon the saliva which contains the virus is injected into the receiving cat) it has to be said that bites of this type in multi-cat households and in cat rescue centres are obviously very rare and if they can be avoided through proper management then there will be an almost zero possibility of transmission between cats it seems to me.
In the past I have been criticised for failing to spell out the lack of danger from FIV positive cats at shelters. It is important because FIV positive cats are more likely to be euthanised unnecessarily simply because they are FIV positive. This is wrong based on the above research.
- Photo: Harmonious group – Photo by Bibi
- Lister’s page on PubFacts
- Search results on PoC for ‘fiv’.
Thank again, Gail.
Will be checking out the Natural Balance.
Dee, I wish you the very best for Princess. I feel your pain. Prior to getting Shadow’s gum disease under control, I had to literally wrestle him (no easy feat!) in order to syringe his Clavamox in his mouth. His mouth was so bad, even petting him anywhere near it was impossible. After a couple weeks of physically restraining him, his mouth got to a point that I could put the Clavamox liquid in his wet food and we’ve done that ever since.
It’s not easy seeing your baby in pain of any kind, so I admire your fortitude. FYI – If Princess doesn’t need to lose weight, Natural Balance has “Original Ultra Whole Body Health” which is chicken, salmon & duck. It’s like a pate, but it’s very loose – the 1st ingredient is chicken broth. It slips right out of the can without much effort. It can be purchased at PetCo. Perhaps that may also help in your quest to feed your baby if you want a change. Whatever you do, it is with love and I’m sure Princess is a fighter.
Thanks Gail.
Yes, her teeth were checked and are OK. As a matter of fact, when I first saw her swollen glands and the distress she had trying to eat, I thought the problem was her teeth.
Dr. Fleck said that her pain was from those glands and any mouth motion made it worse for her.
Food is a real issue still. Dr. Fleck gave me cans of a/d which I watered down and syringed. She hated it. So, right now, I’m mixing it with KMR and her very loved Friskies turkey pate and she’s lapping it up. I’ll do something different when I feel certain that she’s going to stay stable for a while.
In the shelter, the measurement we use in the feeding regimen is roughly 3-oz (wet) per feeding, twice daily per cat. In a separate dish (dry) is 1/4-cup per feeding, twice daily. We don’t mix wet and dry in the same dish because sometimes cats don’t like it and either won’t eat it all or only eat some and it’s a waste of food.
The leftover wet needs to be tossed after about 30-minutes to avoid bacteria (think of potato salad left on a buffet for over 30 minutes without refrigeration…yuck!). The dry food can be left even if the cat doesn’t finish it during that feeding as it won’t go rancid. Should the cat not finish the dry for the next feeding, we only add the equivalent to make up that same 1/4 cup – we don’t add another 1/4 cup on top of the initial leftover. Because of the sedentary environment of the shelter cats, the volunteers take turns with the cats in a cage-free setting we’ve got set up and play with them, with string toys, laser pointers, playing chase – anything to get them to move and be enriched.
At home, to keep the bantam weight of my two, I use the same measurement for wet, but for dry I measure the same 1/4 cup, but I split it between them (each having 1/8 cup). Sure, they fuss but once I start playing with their toys (tossing balls, squeaky mice toys, playing hide & seek), they soon forget about the food.
Thanks a lot Gail for that information. Very useful.
One thing I forgot to mention regarding a better grade cat food, wet and dry, is the difference in their litter box habits. While on supermarket food, their stink was atrocious! Since they’ve been switched to better food, their stool has that firmness vets love to see, their elimination is more regular and the stink isn’t so bad. They also don’t need to use the box as often as they did before. Huh. Who’d have thought?