+fiv Cats Sharing With -fiv Cats

[JuanMontero]

Recently I found an stray cat and decided to adopt him, but when the doctor practiced some analysis on his blood we get bad news: +FIV. Regarding that we already have a -FIV cat, the doctor's advice was to find a another home for the new cat and, in that way, to avoid the transmission of the disease to our pet. Nevertheless, the task of find a new home for the stray cat has led us to frustration and, in the meantime, he has spend six days, isolated, on the doctor's shelter. There's any risk of contagion for my healthy cat if I decided to take the infected animal to my home?

 

[Tobermory]

Yes, sadly. It’s transmitted through bite wounds and those can always occur when you introduce a new cat into the household and they work out territory issues. I volunteer at a sanctuary where they have both FIV+ and non-FIV+ cats in two separate habitats. They have adopted out FIV+ cats to households with non-FIV+ cats, but only when the FIV+ kitty has had its teeth removed because of stomatitis.

 

[jen]

I have lived with mixed FIV positive and negative cats for many years (and in the rescue world I also have many friends who have as well) and as long as they are all getting along there should not be a concern. They can share water bowls and litterboxes. It is spread through mating and deep bite wounds. So if everyone is fixed and properly introduced you should not have a problem. Yes, the FIV cat will likely have to have his teeth removed at some point as mentioned. But if it is a friendly cat and you introduce slowly I would not worry.

 

[jen]

Up until now it was also assume that FeLV positive and negative cats cannot live together either but I recently have been hearing of it being done as long as the negative cats have their FeLV vaccines and they all get along. I have not looked into this though. Perhaps others have heard this? Maybe someone else will chime in.

 

[budstud_64]

I just found out that I haver four cat that have FIV and four that do and there all in the same house im new to all this and worred about mine that do have it and what all I need to do to help my babies

 

[Elphaba09]

Give this a read: FIV Myths And Facts - FIV Cat Rescue

We have nine cats. Our oldest, Simon, was diagnosed with FIV when we found him near death in early 2014. Thankfully, my vet dispelled all the myths I had been taught to believe, like the extremely high risk of transmission by casual contact, grooming, and rough play. (I have worked with feral care for many years prior to that and had never been told otherwise.)

When we found Simon, he was "about" 8. He is now "about" 13. Since the main cause of FIV transmission is deep puncture wounds, our only concern was Simon getting along with the other cats. He is a big softy. He plays with the other cats, but we have never had to worry about him biting another cat.

He goes to the vet more than the other cats; however, it is for checkups to ensure his health, not because he is sick. He has had some problems with a back molar, but, thankfully, no stomatitis. We occasionally have tests run on the other cats just to be certain, but those are for our own edification.

 

[Elphaba09]

I just found out that I haver four cat that have FIV and four that do and there all in the same house im new to all this and worred about mine that do have it and what all I need to do to help my babies

Just make sure that they get along without any major fights. Read the link I posted in my previous comments.

This, by the way, is my FIV positive Simon with his favorite blanket:

 

[kittyluv387]

Up until now it was also assume that FeLV positive and negative cats cannot live together either but I recently have been hearing of it being done as long as the negative cats have their FeLV vaccines and they all get along. I have not looked into this though. Perhaps others have heard this? Maybe someone else will chime in.

Well vaccines aren’t 100% effective so there is some risk and I personally wouldn’t mix FELV positive cats into my crew. It is more easily spread as well. I had a false positive FELV cat and went through quite a bit and did a lot of reading on it. I did vaccinate my resident cats with boosters while the new kitty FELV false positive girl stayed in quarantine for 2 months for further testing.

FIV positive cats are fine to mix as long as they have a good introduction and no one is particularly aggressive. Have you heard of the internet kitty stars Cole and Marmalade? Marmalade the orange tabby has been FIV positive as a kitten and he has lived with Cole the black cat for many years without issue.

 

[mirmir]

I've had one FIV+ cat and multiple negative cats living together. My FIV cat passed two years ago (sweet boy in my profile picture) and diagnosed two years prior to his death but we suspect he had it for years because he'd always been getting sick. To my knowledge, my other cats never got the virus (they aren't tested but show no symptoms whatsoever). It requires deep bites or mating for virus to be transmitted and that never happened.
But, my cats were already living together when he got the virus because he was always an indoor/outdoor cat. It is very possible for your cat and this new stray cat to get into a fight because they don't now each other. I don't think it will be a problem if both cats are of mild temperament, but if that's not the case and if it's a strong possibility that they will fight, then it's a risk. But it's still a good idea to get them together to see how they would act.