On Jul 22, 10:52*pm, 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 have 5 FIV neg female cats and started to foster a FIV pos older
male
cat. I spoke with several vets about mixing them together and was
happy to hear that FIV can only be passed through a deep bite
wound. I kept him separate for a couple of months, then brought
him out in a carrier for an hour or so every day to let the others
get used to his smell. Everyone got treats when he was there.
After a couple of weeks of that I started
to let him mix with the others when I was at home and able to
keep an eye on them. He has had the run of the house for a long time
now. Fortunately, they all get along well. Once
in a while a little slapping squable - but they have always done that.
Everything has been going well for over a year. If your cats
don't fight with each other now, the FIV+ cat is not aggressive, and
you introduce them very slowly they should integrate fine.

Best of luck with integrating the new kitty into your home.

Debbie