Don't Hesitate to Adopt a FIV+ Cat

The stigma regarding FIV+ cats has changed radically in the past 15 years.

This week’s blog will review the history of my two FIV+ cats, their life living with three uninfected siblings, and how these Professor’s Cats have been used in lectures to discuss infectious disease. The story will demonstrate how the impact of this diagnosis has changed amongst the experts since 2007 and has debunked many of the myths about FIV infection.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is in the same viral family as HIV and causes an immune-suppressing syndrome like AIDS but in cats. Even though FIV is a life-long infection, these cats can live a normal lifespan, but they may be more susceptible to infection than non-infected cats. The primary route of transmission is through saliva exchange from a cat bite, thus cats that live in stable social environments rarely are infected even if they share water and food bowls.

Tuxedo was my first FIV+ cat in 2007.

After bringing two strays home to Lynchburg, I started to let other homeless cats in for companionship in the apartment I rented while teaching in northern Virginia. Initially, I did not let the black and white cat in as he was a bully to the other homeless cats, but eventually, I acquiesced and let him in for food and play. I called him “Tuxedo” as his formal wear was complete with a cummerbund. I thought I was being original with the name… 🤣

The madness started when he bit me. We were playing one morning before I fed him. I turned to get his food and his four canines entered my calf. He was a feral cat, and I am sure he was just playing, but he was booted out. I rinsed the wound and I let him back in - I was lonely.

Since he was feral, I started worrying about rabies. The next day I took him to a vet to see if they could test for that. The vet told me to leave as she wanted nothing to do with an animal that bites. When I returned to the car, Tuxedo escaped and raced into the woods behind the vet which was over two miles from my apartment. I got vaccinated for rabies.

A couple of months later, I got a call from Mary, another crazy cat lady, who had been feeding a stray cat she thought may have escaped from the vet. The vet’s office remembered me. Mary states she would pay to have him neutered, but I had to take him back to my apartment. I was destined to be his human and I took him back to Lynchburg when I left my job soon after.

Tuxedo tested positive for FIV and my vet at the time floated the idea of putting him down since we had other cats. After being fixed, he was too much of a lovebug to consider that. We tried to find someone to take Tuxedo, but after failing at that we kept him separate from our other cats when sleeping or at work. We covered the food and water bowls when he was together with our other cats, Splashes and Slurpy. His isolation stressed him. He started excessive grooming which lead to fur loss. After a few months, Tuxie started showing his displeasure with this arrangement by pooping on our bed. Soon he was free to roam as he pleased.

Why was I fearful of getting rabies, but not FIV after Tuxedo bit me?

When I ask my student’s this in microbiology class, one of them eventually states - “because you don’t have sex with your cat”. The cutesy answer leads to a discussion of how virus recognition spikes allow the virus to enter cells. The spikes on the rabies virus can recognize cells of multiple species, while the FIV is specific for cats. This is a practical example students recognize and remember years later.

In the ten years Tuxedo was with us, he had medical issues typical of FIV-infected cats - two severe upper respiratory infections (URI), two dental cleanings, and one abscess. The most difficult was the URIs. These start as sniffles and sneezes, but progress to heavy congestion and a loss of appetite due to a limited sense of smell. During the first URI, my vet was hesitant to treat it with steroids which are the recommended treatment in a typical cat. However, these drugs suppress the immune system of an animal that is already suppressed. Once they gave the steroid the infection quickly faded. When he got the second URI a few years later, there was still some hesitation in giving steroids, but they were utilized sooner.

Tuxedo died of kidney disease unrelated to his FIV status after 10 years. Enter Mojito

His cat buddy Izzy, a playful long-haired cat, especially missed him. After about a year we started looking at the Lynchburg Humane Society website and noticed a beautiful gray male cat. When we walked into the group-housed room, he was the first cat to greet us.

We were hooked. The adoption specialist informed us that he had FIV and thus his adoption fee was waived. She also revealed that others had been hesitant to adopt him due to his FIV status. After our experience with Tuxedo, we had no hesitation in adopting another FIV+ cat. After about a week in our spare bedroom, he was introduced slowly to our other 3 cats who hissed and gave him a few swats. “Mojito” just stood there and did not make a sound or lift a paw. In the spirit of Tuxedo, when we kept him separate from the other cats for too long - he peed in the bed.

My FIV+ cats have been social and loving cats.

Since all my cats are fixed, they have good cat fun but do not bite to the point of breaking the skin. Antiviral medications are not recommended in the treatment of this life-long infection. You should make yearly visits to the vet and be prepared for the potential added expense of the occasional URI or dental cleaning. Mojito has lived with us for 5 years and has had one URI. This infection was immediately treated with a steroid injection and he recovered in about a week. The current practices in treating these infections have also greatly improved in the past 15 years.

I hope this blog debunks some myths that lead to the hesitancy to adopt FIV+ cats using my FIV+ cat experience and the current practices used by experts in the field. After talking to Jill Mollohan, the Executive Director of the Lynchburg Humane Society, I learned that the current practice at LHS and many similar shelters is not to test for FIV at all unless the animal shows signs of a hard-to-treat infection. Vets now recognize FIV as a manageable disease that typically does not diminish lifespan or quality of life if the cat is loved and cared for properly. Local Trap Neuter Return (TNR) programs should be supported to reduce the population of unneutered males as these aggressive animals are the most likely to spread FIV in the homeless cat population.

Please use the comments to share your FIV+ cat experience. In my next blog, I will discuss hyperthyroidism and how I decided to treat our skittish cat, Jethro.