We see lot of very sweet cats testing positive for FIV, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus.  Often and unnecessarily , FIV positive cats are euthanized.  We don’t believe in euthanizing for FIV and we want to help everyone better understand this disease affecting many of our feline friends.

The majority think that AIDS is a disease that affects only people. Many do not realize that such a disease can affect animals as well. One of the animals most susceptible to AIDS is the domesticated cat.

Cats with Feline AIDS are said to be FIV positive.   FIV is the equivalent to HIV. Like the human virus,  FIV interferes with the cat’s immune system. Once the immune system is weakened the cat becomes susceptible to all forms of infections.

So are all cats at risk of contracting this terrible disease? What can cat owners and feline lovers do to protect our kitties?

To begin to answer these questions it needs to be stated that not all cats are susceptible to contracting Feline AIDS.

Un-neutered male cats, which are kept outdoors, are at the greatest risk of contracting this virus. The reasons for this are quite simple – un-neutered male cats are extremely territorial. This strong need to mark their own boundaries causes them to be more aggressive. An aggressive animal is more likely to become engaged in fights with other animals to protect their own domain. The virus is then spread through the blood contact that occurs with biting.

Although un-neutered male cats are at a higher risk of becoming FIV+,  female cats (spayed or non-spayed) are not immune to this disease. They can contract the virus from male cats during mating. The actual act of mating has not been proven to be the cause of this. The cause is that at times,  male cats will bite the neck of the female during mating. As mentioned before, the virus is spread once blood contact is made.

The next concern cat-lovers may have is in regards to their own health, the health of their families’ or the health of other  pets. It is important to remember that Feline AIDS is not transferable to other cats by sharing food and dishes or by cat-to-cat grooming. It is only transferable by blood contact through openings in the body.  It is impossible to transfer from cat to humans because this strain of the AIDS virus is unique to cats.

We belive that you can adopt an FIV cat if you have other cats in the household as long as the cats are all spay/neutered and not aggressive.  There is also a FIV vaccine that will keep your non FIV cats safe.

Overall, the best way to prevent a loved cat from contracting this virus is to keep him/her indoors and out of harms way, but it is also possible for FIV cats to coexist with healthy cats just as people do.

If you are interested in adopting one of our special FIV cats, please contact us for a list of FIV cats looking for homes.

Keep updated on our FIV + cats on our blog!