I've had cats all my life and currently am housing 3. Took one cat (12y/o) to the vet for a skin infection and they break the news that she tested negative for leukemia, but positive for FIV. I brought my second cat (4 y/o) to be tested and she was "very positive". The third (2 y/o) is an adopted abandoned cat with severe anxiety and has not gotten checked out yet, but I can only assume its also positive.
I'm torn to pieces, I feel overwhelming guilt and fear and reading on FIV makes me feel even worse.
Please share any experiences with FIV+ cats, their lifespan, any issues you had from secondary infections and the like. My cats are my world and I just want to know if I need to prepare for years of pain, or if they can live normal lives.
Oldie here, havent used this board in years, but I definitely didn't want to ask Reddit
>>5004056 (OP)I don't know too much but my buddy's childhood cat got FIV, likely from a random fight since he was an indoor/outdoor cat. He lived a fairly normal life, though he wasn't allowed outside anymore to try and prevent spreading it. Same as with human HIV, what kills you is the secondary infections so cats can often live 5+ years after diagnosis as long as they're kept safe and are treated well.
Allegedly it's hard for it to spread through basic grooming, it takes a pretty nasty bite or a mother spreading it to kittens. The 2 y/o might be fine.
>>5004056 (OP)this is what you get for grabbing strays off the street
Huh. Cats really are african animals.
It's a nothingburger. When I was younger I volunteered at a place that adopted cats out of a thrift store setup, one of the cats that just lived in the store was older than I was as at the time(19) with FIV and we knew that because we had its records from back in the day
bunch of strays, I am not surprised
>>5004056 (OP)Please go and ask reddit, you'll get much better help there. Just ignore the meme and rhink of what's best for your cats, 4chan is not it.
LMAO catfaggot status POZZED
>>5004140Reddit would tell him to adopt more and more feral shitheads until mosquitoborne rabies made it to the US
Why do you let your cats buttfuck eachother?
>>5004056 (OP)Dang. They should have stayed out of the bath houses.
This is (an older pic of) Jasper. He showed up on my doorstep some 3 years ago a beaten and bloody mess, but was super friendly. We speculated he was older but how old I'm not sure. He has lived with three other cats, and to my knowledge, none of these others have inherited his FIV. Ultimately, if there is bloodshed, the risk is higher, but if not, it seems unlikely diseases spread. Same with FeLV.
He has lived an awesome three years. Got really fat, super cuddly, spoiled rotten with attention. I think he may have been someone's breeder and when he had gotten a problem (maybe they found out about fiv, or he had a tumor in his ear) they made the decision to kick him out. We had him fixed and he mellowed out.
FIV is not a death sentence. 12 is already an older kot. I think we thought Jasper was about that age when he showed up and he lived three extra years or so. We started giving him regular fluids for ckd and he actually bounced back from the brink. Unfortunately found out today, he's got cancer somewhere in his urinary system. What it is really is anybody's guess but they found some blood in his bladder when we took him in for a blockage and they tested it and that's what they found. The cancer is probably in there somewhere and yeah. He's still peeing and if the meds help then maybe I can spend a little longer with my bud and that'll be great. But it will make any infections happen faster and that's kind of unfortunate but it is what it is.
Why I say this is that it's never a death sentence. No vet will tell you put an animal down or even not release a wild cat. You have to watch more for signs of infection or disease, but honestly if you didn't know at all then what's it matter? If it isn't the fiv it could be the kidney or if not the cancer or whatever. Their lives are shorter and we do what we can with what we know. Tons of people have this same problem and their cats live good long lives. Can't change the past. Good luck friend.
>>5008412And the thing to is like you've given love to all your cats and that's always the most important thing. Their lives are better because you are in it. So keep your chin up.
>>5004251sounds better than hearing poor turd worlders like yourself endlessly screech about cats
