I ask this question because I hear such a wide range of opinions from various people on the topic. Some people believe that a cat that tests positive for FIV is doomed, while others say that they know of many cats that test positive for it who have lead perfectly normal, healthy lives and died of typical diseases of older cats.
I wonder, specifically, how data on outcomes is collected and interpreted. When a person dies, there are procedures that kick in. A cause of death is determined and written down. But with cats, that doesn't happen, so how are FIV outcomes tracked? With vets, the data is potentially skewed by the fact that people often only take sick cats to the vet for treatment.
In my TNR colony, the matriarch's last litter of kittens tested positive for FIV at first, but then cleared those antibodies a few weeks later, indicating that the mother cat was probably infected, but she lived to be 19 and died of kidney failure.
I wonder, specifically, how data on outcomes is collected and interpreted. When a person dies, there are procedures that kick in. A cause of death is determined and written down. But with cats, that doesn't happen, so how are FIV outcomes tracked? With vets, the data is potentially skewed by the fact that people often only take sick cats to the vet for treatment.
In my TNR colony, the matriarch's last litter of kittens tested positive for FIV at first, but then cleared those antibodies a few weeks later, indicating that the mother cat was probably infected, but she lived to be 19 and died of kidney failure.