brad wrote:
Hi there,

I have three wonderful female kitties (ages 3,6,14) that I adore.
All three have been spayed and all are healthy and negative on
diseases. A few years ago I placed an FIV+, neutered, solid white
male with an older lady. A few weeks ago she passed away. The kitty
is now nine years old, slightly overweight, and loves to get in
people's laps. Except for an occassional ear and mouth infection,
he's in good health despite the FIV. For now, he is living in my
guest bedroom.

I've grown attached to this guy and because I'm having trouble
finding him a permanent home, I'm considering keeping him and mixing
him with my 3 females. But I'd feel terrible if they got FIV from
him! From what I read, about the only way he could give FIV to my
cats is via a serious bite. I doubt he would do that to them, but I
can't guarantee that it would never happen. Two vets here in Dallas
claim that an adult cat can't contract FIV even from a bite wound
because there's not enough virus in the saliva to give it to an adult
cat. But I've not found any scientific literature to back that up.

I'm really torn over this. I know he gets lonely in my guest
bedroom. And I'll sure miss him if I do eventually find a home for
him. So I'd love to mainstream him with my cats. But are the risks
just too great to my exising cats? One of my females tends to
irritate cats with a lot of play, so it's possible that she might get
bitten by him over the years. Is it too risky??

Thanks,
Brad

I had a non FIV+ Burmese who lived to 23 years in spectacular good
health cohabiting in the last 5 years of his life with a FIV+ Burmese.

My FIV+ Burmese made it to 14 years (and 4 days!) also in good health
until the last 3 months when everything went wrong.

I think as cats are solitary creatures loneliness is for the absent
human and not other cats. If other cats are available then they may well
sleep together and possibly play hunt.

So as long as you or other humans are available I think the little
fellow will survive quite nicely - quarantining him may well extend his
life by not exposing him to infections the other cats might be carrying.