Questions about FELV/FIV Tests

[psy]

I have rescued a stray that had been coming around my place for a few months now that I had been taking care of. The other day he showed up hopping on 3 legs obviously injured so I caught him and put him in my kennel away from my 3 cats so I could bring him to my vet. When I took him to the vet I had him tested for FELV/FIV and vaccinated and a complete examination. He tested negative for FELV/FIV and heartworm. The vet says he seems to be in perfect health. His temperature was normal his weight is good, he has a lot of fleas which we treated him for.

I have been reading online about false negatives for these kinds of tests and I am wondering if they are very common. I have 3 cats who I choose not to vaccinate because they never go outdoors and also because of the risk of injection site cancers. I am considering keeping this cat as he is a beautiful and loving animal but I need to know if it is safe to let him into my house wth the other cats since he has tested negative. My concern is because of reading about false negatives. I have no reason to think he is infected with anything but since he has been outside I have no way of knowing what or who he has come in contact with. He was neutered when I found him and seems to have no evidence of fighting.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[momofmany]

I'll speak for FeLV because I am more familiar with that disease and the testing for it.

The Elisa, or stick test that a vet uses to test for the disease only tests for exposure to the virus, not that they have the full blown disease. I would say that there are far more false positives using that particular test than false negatives. When a cat is exposed, their bodies immediately try to fight off the virus, and even without being vaccinated, they fight it off more often than not. When vaccinated, they fight it off at a higher rate, but only roughly 90% of the time. During this time when they are trying to shed the virus, results on the Elisa test can be wrong.

FeLV is not spread thru casual contact, as the virus itself is not very hardy outside of a host. It is typically spread thru fighting or mating, but can be spread thru prolonged casual contact with other cats. By prolonged I mean months of sharing food, water, litter boxes and grooming each other.

If you have serious doubts, see if you can isolate him for 30 days and have the tests rerun. But if the cat is seriously healthy and is testing negative, I personally would have no fears for mingling the cats. People who adopt from shelters go thru this with every cat adopted. A shelter runs the same test and adopts out if they show negative.

 

[strange_wings]

Since he was neutered he may have even been vaccinated for FeLV. Don't forget for get him dewormed for tapes and roundworms. But if he's looking good after all the deworming is done and seems like he'll integrate well, I see no reason not to introduce him.

 

[maxmommy]

I rescued two kittens over the summer. One tested positive for FIV one tested negative. My vet said that there can be false positives in kittens because they can have their mothers antibodies in their system still and to retest the positive kitten at six months. We were lucky that my positive kitten tested negative when we retested her. My vet never recomended retesting the kitten that was negative from the start. I assumed that false negatives were not an issue. In my research I did read about false positives but not negatives. I would call your vet to put your mind at ease. Good luck with your kitty!

 

[psy]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I would really like to keep this kitty he is so beautiful and loving. I am worried that 4 cats might be too many though. I can afford them and I work at home so they never want for attention but I still wonder if 4 is too many.

 

[strange_wings]

See Who Has The Most Cats.

As long as you can provide for them, keep things clean, and make sure they do have their own spaces (cat trees), it doesn't matter.

Don't let others opinions rule you - having multiple cats/pets does not make you some weird outcast.