"wjcollins" wrote in message
ps.com...

We just had our adult cat tested for FIV and Feline Luekemia and Scooty
tested negative; I was curious when the vet recommended against having
the kitten and cat innocculated against FIV, and I was hoping you could
shed a little more light on this subject for us.

Specifically, what our vet said was that the FIV was not "that
effective," and should the cat get out (both are indorr-only cats)
and someone finds them and takes them to the vets, the vets would be
inclined to put the cat down, since the innoculation would give a false
positive (because of antibodies from the innoculation) that are
indistinguishable form the actual FIV antibodies from real infection.
What do you think? I do not know this vet well, yet she seems to
really "care" about the animals, and does not seem to "only be doing
her job." We are new to this area.

What does everyone think?

He's right. The present FIV Snap and immunoblot (Western Blot) tests can't
differentiate infected cats from vaccinated cats. The new FIV DNA test that
does differentiate infected cats from vaccinated cats isn't readily
available yet and there isn't an in-house version- and I doubt there ever
will be since it involves PCR technology.