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Years ago we found a beautiful stray, grey tomcat living in our greenhouse which we fed. We arranged with our local Cats Protection to have him neutered and were going to take him in. Unfortunately he tested positive for FIV and was destroyed.
We had a conversation with our vet about the likelihood that our own cat had picked up the disease and the vet seemed pretty positive about FIV cats living long, good quality lives (if I recall correctly one of her own was FIV positive).
We've suddenly found ourselves feeding a lovely black & white tomcat which seems in reasonable condition but is ravenously hungry, extremely nervous and fully intact & roaming, so probably stray (maybe recently so); our 2 girl cats don't seem particularly bothered by him.
Obviously getting someone to scan for a microchip is useful but our vet suggests Cats Protection for this. We've looked at FIV online and most organisations (including some [url= https://www.cats.org.uk/oxford/feature-pages/fiv-feline-immunodeficiency-virus ]Cats Protection branches[/url]) suggest that FIV isn't a death sentence and that FIV cats can lead long happy lives (although they advise against contact with other cats and sharing bowls - which would be a problem with our two). However, [url= https://www.cats.org.uk/glastonbury/volunteering-page ]our local CP branch[/url] is fairly blunt about FIV stating -
Sick or FIV/FEL positive feral cats have to be euthanised. Otherwise they can face a slow and painful death.
and I'm a bit uncomfortable about getting them involved if they end up euthanising a cat that could live a happy life.
What's the general view on FIV cats and long term health? There would obviously be issues/risks keeping him with our two girls and I don't think he'll ever be an indoor cat.
I'm aware that he's not been confirmed as stray or FIV, but as a fully intact male he's undoubtedly been in fights (and may currently be carrying a small wound).
We're not really sure of the best course of action.
We haven't recommended euthanising FIV positive cats for some considerable time, assuming that they are healthy. They should however be if possible isolated from other cats if possible. Many can live fairly long and normal lives. Not so simple if it is an outdoor cat with possible contact with your own. It hasn't ended up being as transmissible as was expected in the early days, so it is possible for an FIV positive cat to live with FIV negative cats without transmitting it if they don't fight. Not sure I would encourage that though.
As an aside, FIV is highly prevalent in African lions, without any evidence of a negative effect on their health, even during outbreaks of other diseases.
I'd have thought the first course of action would be a diagnosis rather than guesswork. I mean, have you any reason to suspect he is infected beyond 'another one was'?
I'd be more worried about an intact tom roaming about, they're an ecological menace. Don't vets snip strays for free?
It's not common enough that you would assume - as Cougar says you need a diagnosis before you judge. No we don't do them for free - but you can usually get vouchers from the CPL, although it is not expensive.
I’d have thought the first course of action would be a diagnosis rather than guesswork. I mean, have you any reason to suspect he is infected beyond ‘another one was’?
Yes, it would make sense of course. Part of my reticence is whether, should he test positive with the Cats Protection, he'll be euthanised immediately or we'll get some say in the course of action taken; we're also not entirely sure that he's stray and having someone else's pet cat put down would be a bit of a faux pas (if he is a pet, our vets think it highly unlikely that a cat left intact would've been chipped).
We could try and catch him and take him to the vets to be scanned/tested ourselves but we're a little concerned of scaring him off completely (our two girls had to go to the vets today for their annual health checks and flu boosters, and that was trauma enough); at present he is at least getting fed. Perhaps there's the possibility of borrowing a chip reader as, once he's settled down and eaten, he'll be petted and stroked and purrs like crazy (so not feral).
In terms of concerns about his FIV status, it is guesswork to a degree but being an intact male does hugely increase his risk.
He's also exhibiting some odd (to us) behaviour in that he meows constantly and only stops to eat (or when you're stroking him) and starts again immediately after finishing (it's not the yowling we'd associate with a tom looking for a mate, but we could be wrong).
I don't know of course, but I think / hope that you're worrying unduly.
A friend of mine recently 'adopted' a stray, he's gone from skittish as hell to moving house with them. Softly softly and patience is key.
Some cats are more vocal than others. One of our kits yells the place down every time she needs a poo.
Our rescue had to be fully tested, and whilst FIV wouldn't be a problem, we already had a cat, and its generally not advised.
He did test positive for calcivirus (cat flu) so we had to manage that, and our current cat was vaccinated for cat flu. His manifested in mouth ulcers and gingivitis. Our vet recommended all his teeth coming out. That was three years ago, has been as fit as a fiddle since, and we have another 3 cats (all vaccinated on arrival) with no issues.