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- Aug 22, 2016
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Hello, fellow cat lovers! I’m not sure I’ve chosen the right forum for this question, but hopefully cat lovers here have experience with FIV+ cats and can advise regarding cohabitation with kitties who are FIV-.
Brief background: In late January, a stray started coming to my house daily for dinner. I’m a firm believer in “if you feed ‘em, fix ‘em”, so with help/guidance from a local TNR group, I trapped “Billy” and he was brought in for neuter/vaccines, etc. It was here that Billy tested positive for FIV. Because Billy showed signs that maybe he wasn’t truly feral, I took the rescue’s advice and decided to let him stay inside for a while until he healed, and until the weather started to improve. During this time, I’d also asses his purrsonality and see if he was suited to indoor life. If he wasn’t, we’d move forward with the “return” part of TNR when the weather wasn’t so harsh and build him a shelter. In just a few short weeks it became abundantly clear that Billy is decidedly not feral and probably one of the sweetest cats ever. Honestly, the transformation is shocking. My partner has also fallen completely in love (as have I, to be honest). The original plan was to rehome Billy but now we’d like him to live here. However…
I’ve been doing a lot of research and understand the risk of transmission to my three other cats is low. The problem is that it’s not “zero” so I’m struggling. Billy is a sweetheart and completely docile, but one of my younger cats is a total princess. There have been a few all out brawls, and though rare, they do happen. I’ve never seen blood but the odd chunk of fur gets left on the floor. We have very slowly been introducing them over the past few weeks and so far everything seems fine. My youngest still hisses at Billy but she generally leaves him alone. We’re at the point where we want to allow unsupervised interaction but I’m stressing. I love my babies and feel like I might be an irresponsible pet parent for introducing any risk that could be avoided. Part of me understands FIV + cats can live long, healthy lives and my partner is using this to make himself feel better - that it would almost be ok if there is an accidental transmission. I don’t know if I agree with that.
Previous threads here on this subject support that FIV concerns are really fear-based and the rational part of me understands this. However, the love I have and the need to protect my crew here isn’t based in the rational, which I suspect people here would understand fully. I love my fur kids so much. So, fellow cat lovers, the short version of my question is…what would you do?
Brief background: In late January, a stray started coming to my house daily for dinner. I’m a firm believer in “if you feed ‘em, fix ‘em”, so with help/guidance from a local TNR group, I trapped “Billy” and he was brought in for neuter/vaccines, etc. It was here that Billy tested positive for FIV. Because Billy showed signs that maybe he wasn’t truly feral, I took the rescue’s advice and decided to let him stay inside for a while until he healed, and until the weather started to improve. During this time, I’d also asses his purrsonality and see if he was suited to indoor life. If he wasn’t, we’d move forward with the “return” part of TNR when the weather wasn’t so harsh and build him a shelter. In just a few short weeks it became abundantly clear that Billy is decidedly not feral and probably one of the sweetest cats ever. Honestly, the transformation is shocking. My partner has also fallen completely in love (as have I, to be honest). The original plan was to rehome Billy but now we’d like him to live here. However…
I’ve been doing a lot of research and understand the risk of transmission to my three other cats is low. The problem is that it’s not “zero” so I’m struggling. Billy is a sweetheart and completely docile, but one of my younger cats is a total princess. There have been a few all out brawls, and though rare, they do happen. I’ve never seen blood but the odd chunk of fur gets left on the floor. We have very slowly been introducing them over the past few weeks and so far everything seems fine. My youngest still hisses at Billy but she generally leaves him alone. We’re at the point where we want to allow unsupervised interaction but I’m stressing. I love my babies and feel like I might be an irresponsible pet parent for introducing any risk that could be avoided. Part of me understands FIV + cats can live long, healthy lives and my partner is using this to make himself feel better - that it would almost be ok if there is an accidental transmission. I don’t know if I agree with that.
Previous threads here on this subject support that FIV concerns are really fear-based and the rational part of me understands this. However, the love I have and the need to protect my crew here isn’t based in the rational, which I suspect people here would understand fully. I love my fur kids so much. So, fellow cat lovers, the short version of my question is…what would you do?