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Should FIVs be homed as 'indoor-only' and 'only' cats? Many rescues, if they home FIV cats at all, insist on them being homed as “indoor-only”, and “only” cats; indeed, this is often the “official” advice given by organisations. Although we recognise the thinking behind this, we think it is misguided, and would like to put a different view forward. |
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There are a number of factors about FIV that leads to the traditional view, which generally includes 'transmission of the virus' and 'protection of the FIV and other cats'. Points to ponder: What are the health implications of a cat having FIV? How easily is the virus transmitted? What is the best environment for an FIV? What are the downsides of the traditional view? The reasons normally put forward for isolating the FIV are to keep the FIV away from other infections and prevent it from passing the virus to another. So lets look at each point in turn: The health implications of having the FIV virus - The virus is a very slow developing one; it can take many years before any noticeable effect is detected, and even then it is usually just a slowness to recover from minor infections, and an increase in frequency of such infections. As this would possibly happen to a cat, who is getting older anyway, it makes it difficult to say just what influence the FIV is actually having. The virus affects the immune system, gradually (over several years) weakening it, but remember that this also happens to some degree to any cat simply through getting old. A decline in the efficiency of the immune system can be a result of other factors as well as FIV, and much could depend on an individual cat's history - for instance, at an early stage in its life, if a cat is a stray, it may well have to survive for some time on a very meagre and poor diet - as food is the essential for life for any animal, a poor diet or semi-starvation is bound to have a bad affect on the body - we believe a period of very poor diet (such as a stray would experience) can have a much stronger effect on the development of, and general health of the immune system, and is potentially far more damaging than the FIV. It would be interesting to compare a group of rescued strays without FIV, with those strays now in our sanctuary who have FIV, to see if there are any differences in health problems throughout their lives - we suspect they would be very similar. It is noticeable that the oldest cats in our sanctuary are those who have a known history - in other words, those known to have had a reasonable diet in their formative years and beyond. These are the ones who seem to have no health issues until quite late in life, at which point they would be expected to have problems even if not FIV. It is true that most FIVs that come into rescue, have had a period of being a stray, in which they probably had a poor diet, so would be expected to have a weaker immune system anyway, so the combination would indicate a greater problem, yet the majority still go for years without health problems. So again, it is not certain how much effect the FIV virus actually has. The view that FIV cats are "ill" is unfounded. In our sanctuary, there are many FIVs that are not seen by the vet from one year's end to the next, and that is repeated year after year. Although, it has to be remembered that vets may have a tilted view of this; you should remember that, by the nature of their work, vets tend only to see cats when they are ill anyway, and many of the FIVs that are ill, are those that have been brought in from being strays, and have therefore not had the benefit of being cared-for over a length of time, and are therefore more ill than most - again this would be true with non-FIVs too. Vets simply don't see all the healthy FIVs, so are often unaware that what they do see is not representative of FIV in general. The point we are making is that the FIV virus is not the terrible problem that it is often made out to be; many cats with FIV would not have any health problems and consequently can be treated just like any other cat. Sadly, most people's reaction to FIV is over-stated, often grossly so. The next point to ponder is transmission - how likely is it that an FIV cat will pass on the virus to other cats? The fact that FIV is quite common, leads some to think that it is easily spread. That is not actually the case. It is generally spread in areas where there are stray un-neutered male cats. These cats will fight to establish a territory and to acquire food or females. It is these fighting strays that do all the damage, as the virus is transmitted to another cat's blood directly through the skin by way of a bite. A group of feral cats can spread the virus not only amongst themselves, but also to domestic cats over whose territory they travel. So, any cat that is outside is vulnerable if there are stray cats in the area. When a cat in neutered, and fed, which usually happens when a rescue cat is taken in hand, then they lose the hormones that cause them to fight, and they lose the need to fight for territory, food and females. This makes the likelihood of their spreading the virus extremely small - and remember, even if the unlikely was to happen, having FIV is 'no big deal'! It is sometimes suggested that an FIV cat, sharing a home with one or more non-FIV cats, could give the FIV to the others - although in theory this is possible, in practice it is very unlikely. As long as a cat is introduced to others carefully, they will rarely have a serious fight - rough play, possibly, but that does not transmit the virus. There are very many examples of FIV cats living happily in households with other, non-FIV, cats for years and never passing on the virus. (see here for examples) Some will suggest that the sharing of food bowls is a danger of spreading FIV. This is not true. There are two main reasons why it is not true: Firstly, the virus, although present in the saliva, does not survive outside the body for more than a few seconds; and secondly, taking the virus in via the mouth is not dangerous - the mucous membrane is a very good barrier preventing the virus from getting into the blood system. By way of an example to illustrate this: kittens born to an FIV mother are protected from getting the virus from her before birth by the placenta, which does not allow the virus to pass to the kittens. However, there is a great deal of the FIV virus in the mother's milk, of which the kittens consume a vast quantity over a prolonged time. Yet it is unusual for a kitten to contract FIV because of this; the vast majority of kittens born to an FIV mother do not contract the virus. So, if kittens, with an undeveloped immune system, and who consume a vast quantity of virus-laden milk do not contract the virus, how likely is a cat to get the virus from licking a bowl that was previously licked by an FIV? So sharing of food bowls is not a realistic danger worth considering. The question of whether being kept as an indoor only cat is best for an FIV, has a couple of areas to consider: what are the dangers of allowing an FIV to be an indoor/outdoor cat, and, is the indoor-only environment the best for their health? Lets take the health issue first. Again, there are two aspects: psychological and physical health. Most FIV cats that have picked up the virus as strays will need to make a large adaptation to live an indoor-only life, and many will find it very distressing, having been used to the freedom. It is true that some will be only too pleased to have a home, and be more than happy never to go out again, but we believe they are the minority. One of the biggest aggravators of poor health in any animal is stress, and the stress of keeping a cat indoors against its nature could have grave health implications; we think that in some cases it is actually cruel to force them to stay indoors all the time. On the physical health aspect, we have had cause to think recently, as the FIVs in our sanctuary live outside, with constant access to heated chalets, but essentially they are outdoor cats. We have contact with very many FIV owners across the world, and have been concerned that many seem to experience more health problems that those in the sanctuary - examples of gingivitis/stomatitis (mouth and gum problems) is one example, it is suggested that, in general, 50% of FIV cats suffer from gingivitis/stomatitis, yet since we have had a sanctuary with dozens of FIVs, we have only had two cases in ten years. Another example is URIs (upper respiratory infections), or 'sniffles and weepy eyes', which seem also to be frequent amongst indoor only cats, have been remarkably unusual in the sanctuary. As the main difference is that the sanctuary cats live outdoors, we wonder whether this is the reason. It makes logical sense, as being outdoors means they are living in a constantly changing air flow, as opposed to indoors where essentially they are breathing in air that has been accumulating all the exhaled air over long periods; not to mention any deoderising and other chemical elements in the house air. So, our experience would suggest that it is healthier for cats to have free access to the outside, even if they spend some time indoors. We believe this to be true for all cats, but especially for FIVs who may not have the same resistance to airborne infections. On the question of safety regarding letting FIVs go outside. We need to analyse just what the dangers are. Those that specifically relate to FIV are: the danger of passing the virus on; the danger of picking up infections. The only way an FIV is going to pass on the virus to other cats it might meet outside is through a fight in which it gives the other cat a serious bite. Assuming that the FIV is now neutered and properly fed, it will not look for a huge territory, and is not likely to aggressively defend a territory. The most likely reason for it to get into a fight would be if it encountered an aggressive neighbouring cat, or stray. As an aggressive cat is most likely to be un-neutered, then it is quite likely that it is already FIV, so there is very small danger of the FIV infecting another. The much more likely occurrence would be for a non-FIV cat being attacked by an aggressive stray and picking up FIV from it. So, in terms of transmission, it is probably less of a danger for an FIV to go outside, than a non-FIV. If it is known that there is an aggressive neighbouring cat or stray in the area, it would be best to see if they could be dealt with (trap the stray, negotiate with the neighbour for the cat to be neutered). As for picking up an infection whilst outdoors, it has already been illustrated that it is probably healthier to be outdoors, than indoors, and the likelihood of meeting and being infected by another cat, is slim - except if there is a known feral or stray colony in the area, in which case, again, they should be made the focus of attention to change the situation. You can see from these points that we would consider it more dangerous both psychologically, and physically to keep an FIV as an indoor-only cat. So for those who recommend that an FIV cat should be kept as an only cat and an indoor-only cat, we hope these notes will make you think again. And to those who suggest that an otherwise healthy FIV cat that cannot be kept as an indoor-only cat should be euthanased (which, sadly, some "respected" organisations recommend), we hope you now realise how terribly wrong that advice is. Don't forget that the biggest danger of all from letting a cat outdoors, is from cars, and cars do not differentiate between FIVs and non-FIVs, they kill them both! So to summarise, it is in our view wrong to insist on an FIV cat being homed as an only cat and an inside-only cat because of the virus. FIV is not easily transmitted once the cat is neutered and properly fed. It is healthier for an FIV to have as much access to fresh air as possible. |
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