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How good is your vet? It is a sad fact that some vets are not well educated with regard to FIV, and they can give very poor advice. How can the average person tell whether their vet is FIV-wise or FIV-ignorant? Here are some clues: |
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If your vet calls FIV “AIDS” – BEWARE! Most cats with FIV are actually very healthy, they simply have a virus that is slowly weakening their immune system, and which can take several years before it has any noticeable effect at all – whereas ‘AIDS’ is when the immune system has been completely overwhelmed by multiple secondary infections, which means the cat cannot deal with them and quickly spirals towards the end of its life – most FIV cats NEVER get AIDS, they live good lives and die naturally from all the usual causes of death that any cat may suffer, including ‘old age’! If your vet suggests that any illness an FIV has, is ‘because’ of the FIV – BEWARE! As mentioned above, FIV cats have a gradually weakening immune system, so when they are affected by any of the usual cat ailments, they may not be able to deal with it quite as efficiently as they might, so may take longer to recover, or need stronger medication. There are very few ailments that can be attributed to the FIV itself, so any vet who suggests otherwise should be questioned carefully; usually the treatment of ailments in an FIV cat is just the same as it would be for any other cat, it just may need a longer course of treatment. If your vet suggests that a cat with FIV (that is otherwise reasonably healthy) is going to die because of the FIV – BEWARE! This is covered in the first two items in this section – basically the only FIV cat that will die because of being FIV is one that has been a long-term stray, uncared for and having a poor diet, that has already succumbed to multiple secondary infections. This will not be the case with an FIV cat that is otherwise healthy, cared for and has a good diet. Cared-for FIV cats invariably die from exactly the same causes as non-FIV cats – FIV cats die with the virus, not from the virus. If your vet suggests testing a young kitten for FIV with the in-house test – BEWARE! Testing a kitten for FIV with the in-house test is a complete waste of time and money – the reason is that the test looks for FIV antibodies which are produced by the body in response to the virus – this is fine in adult cats, but not for kittens, because a kitten born from an FIV mother will inherit the antibodies from its mother but rarely the virus – so although it would test positive for FIV, it would likely not actually have the virus. The kitten will, over several months, lose its mother’s antibodies, and would then test negative for FIV. If it is important to know whether a kitten is actually FIV or not, there is a different test known as a PCR which looks for the DNA of the virus itself. This test is not widely available (Langford Lab, Bristol is one that does it). If your vet suggests that an FIV cat in your household will inevitably pass the virus to others in the household – BEWARE! FIV is NOT contagious – it is transmitted almost always via a serious bite. The virus is present in the saliva, but is very short-lived once out of the body (seconds), so it is when it is actually injected (by a bite) directly into contact with blood that it is transferred to another cat. If your vet suggests that FIV will be transmitted by sharing food bowls – BEWARE! This is a confusion with FeLV (leukaemia virus). FIV is not transmitted by the normal sharing of food bowls and mutual grooming. Although the virus is present in the saliva, it very quickly dies when out of the body. Secondly, even if another cat was to take the virus in by mouth, it still has to cross the mucous membrane in order to get into the blood stream. A good example of how efficient the mucous membrane is at preventing the FIV from crossing, is with kittens born to an FIV mother. As stated earlier, the kitten will not inherit the FIV from its mother, but the virus is present in the mother’s milk, which obviously the kittens will consume for several weeks, yet it is extremely unusual for a kitten to contract the virus this way. So if a kitten with that much exposure to the virus through its stomach does not become infected, how much less likely is it that an adult sharing a food bowl with an FIV would do so? If your vet suggests that an FIV cat must be kept away from other cats – BEWARE! As has been illustrated above, FIV will not be transmitted casually, but through a serious bite, so the question of mixing FIV and non-FIV cats is more a question of the nature of the cats. Basically, will they have a serious fight? Most cats, once neutered and given regular food and a place to live, will not fight. – a good example is our own Fivery, which has been home to around 20 male cats living communally for several years, with new ones joining fairly regularly. If the cats were to fight, it would be bedlam, but in the years since we have had the Fivery, we have never had a serious fight! Careful introduction of new ones is all that is needed. If your vet suggests that an FIV cat (that is generally healthy) should be ‘euthanased’ because of the FIV – CHANGE VETS! This is the extreme, but sadly does happen. All the foregoing should explain why putting an otherwise healthy FIV down just because it is FIV is, in our view, unpardonable (the politest word we can come up with). The only reason to end an FIV’s life is if it is suffering too much from secondary infections or other ailments that have proved to be untreatable – just like any other cat. |
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