Pets
Related: About this forumDoes anyone have experience with FIV+ cats?
Sadly we just had the test confirmed. One is positive, the other is not and we are going in to get him vaccinated this week.
Our kitty is the picture of health, still gaining weight and energetic but we know it will not be like this always.
We kept them inside for the longest time until they learned how to sneak out between the dogs legs when they went out their electric dog door. This is the result.
I guess I am looking for suggestions for down the road when his health begins to decline. I have read a lot about it but I also would like to know from people here what their experience has been.
Thanks. Will check back later.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)He ended up being FIV positive. If your cat is anything like Bojangles (named for the huge junk he had when she found him---soon to be gone when he was fixed), he can have a wonderful healthy life. Bojangles lived for at least 10 years after she adopted him with FIV. When it finally affected his life, it went pretty fast downhill.
The biggest problem that she had was that every time there was anything wrong with the cat, the vet always just said "well, you know, he if FIV positive". So she did have problems getting the care that she would have gotten with another cat. She got to the point where she refused to take the cat to the vet---she treated him at home up until the end. I guess the last straw for her was when she went to the vet because the cat had diarrhea, and had a lecture about "you know......". She got home and realized that the vet had not even given her something to treat the problem at hand. So she gave him Imodium a/d and it cleared up....and he was fine for years after that. I would suggest you stand up to your vet if you run into any excuses.
The cat never did seem to suffer from pain. He did stop eating, and he got very weak. But it did not appear that he was suffering.
I am sorry to hear that you have bad news. But the good news is that even without any treatment for this, the cat had a wonderful and long life despite it.
MuseRider
(34,136 posts)Thank you
Our vet would not do that. She took care of my old cat, who we knew was dying from lymphoma, until the very end. I was giving him sub cutaneous fluid and she was willing to come to my house and put him down when he started screaming and was unsure where he was.
She kept our lab at her house after he swallowed a bottle of doggie aspirin so she could watch him to see if her treatment had been effective enough.
I think she knows what we expect from her thankfully. That would really anger me, that attitude.
I am encouraged by your sisters story. This little guy had such a small chance of living from the start and he is now 3 1/2 and a big, strong kitty. We love him so much that we were crushed with this diagnosis. If we can just keep him healthy maybe we can have a similar outcome.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)I just know that it is possible for a cat to have a good life living with FIV. Your vet sounds like a wonderful vet and person. You are lucky to have her and I am sure she will help you through this. I guess you just have to watch your furbaby closer than you would a normal cat. It will have to be an indoor cat from here on---you don't want to have to worry about infections from being in contact with other cats outside. That is probably the biggest risk.
I have no doubt that your vet will be able to reassure you as well.
MuseRider
(34,136 posts)He will get the best we can give him, and we are pretty good at giving all our furbabies lots and lots of good love and care. Why else would you ever have them?
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)the occasional false positive FIV. And cats will also test positive if they have received the FIV vaccine (which is why it's unpopular).
FIV cats can live several uneventful years. Just keep them indoors so they can't fight with neighbor cats and spread it, and make sure they don't fight with their housemates (it's spread by biting, no close personal contact). They usually live normal lives and often die of unrelated normal diseases before the FIV gets them.
Good luck.
MuseRider
(34,136 posts)We had it confirmed with Western Blot
Our kitty stays very close to our house, they escape out the electric dog door between the dogs legs. We never intended for them to be outside. I think he got this from the feral I feed, they do not like each other and the feral has not be neutered. I feed the feral at the barn where my cat does not go but it does come hunt around our house. It is the only cat I ever see up by the house. He also could have had it from birth, he was a local rescue.
He really does not go out much. Our other rescue is negative but we will be vaccinating him and will always watch them both closely.
I guess I would say they are 90% indoors and when outdoors are never far and quickly come home when called.
Sounds like a lot of justification. I can't tell you how horrible this makes me feel. It is next to impossible to keep them inside, we have tried closing the door to the room with the dog door but my husband (not blaming but...) can't ever seem to avoid letting them out in the room together.
Right now our kitty is very healthy. Upper normal in weight and sleek. I have been finding conflicting reports about success with anti-oxidents but I think it must be just a normal variant in the disease process between different cats.
We certainly have a lot of daily contact with him so if anything out of the ordinary creeps up we will catch it right away. I guess this is the best chance he has at not getting too far along with an illness that could send him on a downward spiral.
Hoping for lots of good years with him, he is a very sweet boy.
Thank you for your kind, and experienced advice.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)The biting is the risky behavior.
MuseRider
(34,136 posts)but thanks for the clarification.