I adopted a stray cat who was diagnosed with FIV.

Hi. We've had a stray cat at our house for a month or so. We decided to adopt him because he is so sweet and follows us around like a puppy. We took him to the vet to be neutured etc. and found out he has FIV. Does anyone have experience with this?

We have another indoor cat who is used to being queen of the castle about 10 years old. How do we go about introducing them?

Any other safety precautions/tips?

How many days should you keep cats in separate rooms when introducing a new cat before you know for sure they won't fight?

Thanks :-)

"graciedv" wrote in message
...

Hi. We've had a stray cat at our house for a month or so. We decided
to adopt him because he is so sweet and follows us around like a puppy.
We took him to the vet to be neutured etc. and found out he has FIV.
Does anyone have experience with this?

We have another indoor cat who is used to being queen of the castle
about 10 years old. How do we go about introducing them?

Any other safety precautions/tips?

How many days should you keep cats in separate rooms when introducing a
new cat before you know for sure they won't fight?

Thanks :-)


--
graciedv

FIV is only transmitted through deep bite wounds. An FIV+ cat and an FIV-
cat can coexist in perfect harmony.
Since the new cat was just neutered, I would keep him separated at the
minimum for a week, let his hormones calm down. There is no set time for
separation for intros. What I usually do is first exchange something with
each cat's scent on it, like I would take the bed out of the new cat's room
and swap it with your other cat's bed. Let them get to know each other's
scent. Then open the door a crack, and they will sniff each other. If
hissing ensues, then I close the door and try again another time. I start
letting the new cat out for supervised visits with the other cat and see how
it goes.
Others have advice for more involved intros. I've been lucky that I haven't
really had to do those. My cats have usually accepted a newcomer in a
couple days to a week.


--
-Kelly

KellyH wrote:
"graciedv" wrote in message
...

Hi. We've had a stray cat at our house for a month or so. We decided
to adopt him because he is so sweet and follows us around like a puppy.
We took him to the vet to be neutured etc. and found out he has FIV.
Does anyone have experience with this?

We have another indoor cat who is used to being queen of the castle
about 10 years old. How do we go about introducing them?

Any other safety precautions/tips?

How many days should you keep cats in separate rooms when introducing a
new cat before you know for sure they won't fight?

Thanks :-)


--
graciedv

FIV is only transmitted through deep bite wounds.

Not true, at least in my case. Madison (RB) may have gotten FIV that
way, but he didn't transmit it to Tuppence by a deep bite. She was
spayed, he wasn't at first. He died of it, she has been hanging in
since 95 (or 94, I can't remember when she was dx'd). They never
fought, and would only occasionally wrestle with nips, but no deep
bites.

Until we got her FIV under "control", we were told that we could not
get any new cats until she died. The vets in the area knew I had her
(it was shared around through a "memo" kind of thing). After we got it
controlled (to their satisfaction) we were allowed to get a new cat.

None of the others has ever tested positive for it, and they are
checked every other year.

snipped very good information
--
-Kelly

Smokie Darling (Annie)

"Smokie Darling (Annie)" wrote in message
oups.com...


KellyH wrote:
"graciedv" wrote in message
...

Hi. We've had a stray cat at our house for a month or so. We decided
to adopt him because he is so sweet and follows us around like a
puppy.
We took him to the vet to be neutured etc. and found out he has FIV.
Does anyone have experience with this?

We have another indoor cat who is used to being queen of the castle
about 10 years old. How do we go about introducing them?

Any other safety precautions/tips?

How many days should you keep cats in separate rooms when introducing
a
new cat before you know for sure they won't fight?

Thanks :-)


--
graciedv

FIV is only transmitted through deep bite wounds.

Not true, at least in my case. Madison (RB) may have gotten FIV that
way, but he didn't transmit it to Tuppence by a deep bite. She was
spayed, he wasn't at first. He died of it, she has been hanging in
since 95 (or 94, I can't remember when she was dx'd). They never
fought, and would only occasionally wrestle with nips, but no deep
bites.

Until we got her FIV under "control", we were told that we could not
get any new cats until she died. The vets in the area knew I had her
(it was shared around through a "memo" kind of thing). After we got it
controlled (to their satisfaction) we were allowed to get a new cat.

None of the others has ever tested positive for it, and they are
checked every other year.

Do you suppose she actually had it all along? I mean, it can be dormant. It
seems every clinical paper I've seen says they really think it's bite wounds
(or probably copulation too) that transmits it.

Karen wrote:
"Smokie Darling (Annie)" wrote in message
oups.com...


KellyH wrote:
"graciedv" wrote in message
...

Hi. We've had a stray cat at our house for a month or so. We decided
snipped for brevity only


--
graciedv

FIV is only transmitted through deep bite wounds.

Not true, at least in my case. Madison (RB) may have gotten FIV that
way, but he didn't transmit it to Tuppence by a deep bite. She was
spayed, he wasn't at first. He died of it, she has been hanging in
since 95 (or 94, I can't remember when she was dx'd). They never
fought, and would only occasionally wrestle with nips, but no deep
bites.

Until we got her FIV under "control", we were told that we could not
get any new cats until she died. The vets in the area knew I had her
(it was shared around through a "memo" kind of thing). After we got it
controlled (to their satisfaction) we were allowed to get a new cat.

None of the others has ever tested positive for it, and they are
checked every other year.

Do you suppose she actually had it all along? I mean, it can be dormant. It
seems every clinical paper I've seen says they really think it's bite wounds
(or probably copulation too) that transmits it.

Well, in Denver (where I got her), the vet at Fitzsimmons Army Medical
Center was new, and he wanted to run a bunch of blood tests, just
because. Once I was assured that they wouldn't be taking tons and tons
of blood (she was only 6 weeks old when I "rescued" her from some
meanies), I agreed that he could run his gamut of tests. Everything
came back normal (although some of her levels were low, since she
hadn't been properly weaned imo only).

I had asked the vet who diagnosed her (Bingham) if it were possible
(that she'd had it longer and nothing to do with Maddy), and he said
anything was. He had been studying FIV in cats, and didn't have any
"live" ones (he asked for and received permission to necropsy Madison).
He told me that FIV cats could live long, relatively productive lives
if cared for. I asked if it would cause her pain, and he said no,
so... He also wanted to study a live cat with FIV.

She was born 1/31/89, and was diagnosed in Spring of either 94 or 95.
Could it have remained undetected that long? Because she has always
been so skinny, whenever I took her in for her check up, the vet always
ran a full panel. Since finding she has FIV, I discovered that Bingham
(who'd been her vet from 92 through 99) had been testing all my babies
for FIV.

Madison slipped in through the cracks (he was my brother's cat and when
R moved, I got Maddy), and wasn't taken to a vet (R had records of
Maddy's shots, so I waited until their normal visit stupid, stupid,
stupid, stupid!). I've never done that since, but it's too late to cry
over it now.

He (Bingham) said that he believed it was from some of the "nips"
though they barely broke the skin. They had put her "under" to clean
her teeth, then shaved off all her hair, we do this every year, because
she mats so bad and her teeth were never great (still think it was
being weaned too soon that contributes to that). She didn't have any
scars from bite marks (and considering Maddy's teeth, she would have
gotten infected if it'd been deep).

She's still around, but I think she's beginning to see the bridge, and
it's breaking my heart. So far, still eating alright, but I can see
I'm going to have to make a tough decision sooner than I'd like.

Smokie Darling (Annie)

"Smokie Darling (Annie)" wrote
Not true, at least in my case. Madison (RB) may have gotten FIV that
way, but he didn't transmit it to Tuppence by a deep bite. She was
spayed, he wasn't at first. He died of it, she has been hanging in
since 95 (or 94, I can't remember when she was dx'd). They never
fought, and would only occasionally wrestle with nips, but no deep
bites.

Until we got her FIV under "control", we were told that we could not
get any new cats until she died. The vets in the area knew I had her
(it was shared around through a "memo" kind of thing). After we got it
controlled (to their satisfaction) we were allowed to get a new cat.

None of the others has ever tested positive for it, and they are
checked every other year.

Sorry if I spread misinformation. Everything I've ever read says FIV is
transmitted through deep bite wounds and/or intercourse. Could it be that
Tuppence mounted her while he was unneutered?

One more thing to add for the OP: Get a Western Blot test for FIV. The
"snap" test that is done at the vet's office can sometimes be incorrect,
I've seen it happen. The Western Blot is a little more costly (about $50, I
think) but well worth it.

--
-Kelly

She was born 1/31/89, and was diagnosed in Spring of either 94 or 95.
Could it have remained undetected that long? Because she has always
been so skinny, whenever I took her in for her check up, the vet always
ran a full panel. Since finding she has FIV, I discovered that Bingham
(who'd been her vet from 92 through 99) had been testing all my babies
for FIV.

I think so. It seems I read (I'm sure someone here can correct any misinfo
here) that it can be dormant many years. I'm thinking the longest I've heard
it like 8 years. At any rate, I would just bet she had it, but it just
didn't blow up until later. Did he run panels later than when she was such a
young kitten? Because I believe that you have to keep testing past 6 months
of age to be sure.

Karen wrote:
She was born 1/31/89, and was diagnosed in Spring of either 94 or 95.
Could it have remained undetected that long? Because she has always
been so skinny, whenever I took her in for her check up, the vet always
ran a full panel. Since finding she has FIV, I discovered that Bingham
(who'd been her vet from 92 through 99) had been testing all my babies
for FIV.

I think so. It seems I read (I'm sure someone here can correct any misinfo
here) that it can be dormant many years. I'm thinking the longest I've heard
it like 8 years. At any rate, I would just bet she had it, but it just
didn't blow up until later. Did he run panels later than when she was such a
young kitten? Because I believe that you have to keep testing past 6 months
of age to be sure.


From 92 until present, the panels are/were run every year (especially
on the negatives). Anything is possible, but considering that she was
being tested and never tested positive until Maddy was in the house,
that's what I'm thinking happened.

Smokie Darling (Annie)

KellyH wrote:
"Smokie Darling (Annie)" wrote
Not true, at least in my case. Madison (RB) may have gotten FIV that
way, but he didn't transmit it to Tuppence by a deep bite. She was
spayed, he wasn't at first. He died of it, she has been hanging in
since 95 (or 94, I can't remember when she was dx'd). They never
fought, and would only occasionally wrestle with nips, but no deep
bites.

Until we got her FIV under "control", we were told that we could not
get any new cats until she died. The vets in the area knew I had her
(it was shared around through a "memo" kind of thing). After we got it
controlled (to their satisfaction) we were allowed to get a new cat.

None of the others has ever tested positive for it, and they are
checked every other year.

Sorry if I spread misinformation. Everything I've ever read says FIV is
transmitted through deep bite wounds and/or intercourse. Could it be that
Tuppence mounted her while he was unneutered?

Well, that's always possible (Tuppence is the girl, Madison was my
brother's boy cat), but I'd think there would have been a heck of a
fight over it.


One more thing to add for the OP: Get a Western Blot test for FIV. The
"snap" test that is done at the vet's office can sometimes be incorrect,
I've seen it happen. The Western Blot is a little more costly (about $50, I
think) but well worth it.

--
-Kelly


Smokie Darling (Annie) - who had heard any bite that breaks the skin
could pass it, deep or otherwise.

graciedv wrote:
Hi. We've had a stray cat at our house for a month or so. We decided
to adopt him because he is so sweet and follows us around like a puppy.
We took him to the vet to be neutured etc. and found out he has FIV.
Does anyone have experience with this?

We have another indoor cat who is used to being queen of the castle
about 10 years old. How do we go about introducing them?

Any other safety precautions/tips?

How many days should you keep cats in separate rooms when introducing a
new cat before you know for sure they won't fight?

Thanks :-)


--
graciedv

The best thing you could do for him would be to have him put to sleep.
Why do you want him to go on suffering?



IBen