Right now, many rescues and shelter groups keep FIV positive cats secluded from non, believed there could be transmission of the disease...but now that is proven to be incorrect. For the person looking to adopt, now does NOT have to worry about mixing non with positive, except the possibility of health problems brought on by the FIV virus.
I think this is fantastic news! Think of the folks who feed outside cats, but were worried about mixing the potentially FIV-positive felines in with their home cats. Except for deep bite wounds, there is no transmission of the virus. They cannot get it from sharing litter boxes, food bowls, and group grooming. Humans cannot get FIV from cats either, or unintentionally spread it to other cats. The automatic euthanasia of FIV-positive cats can stop...read again...can STOP.
This new study was published in The Veterinary Journal for August, 2014. I found out about it via Catnip, from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. I have also read some anecdotal stories of folks who mix positives with nons for years, and never had a problem, but now the veterinary world can get on that same page. YAY!
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| Patty takes the news in stride |
Oh, and check out William of Mass Destruction; there are two new kitties joining the family! Congrats to William, Caroline, Elliott...and their human momma too...on adding brothers who are seriously bonded. They are so cute! Squee!
This is a great information. I've also read about this at another wonderful blog - Kitty Cat Chronicles. They rescued Sassy who is FIV+. She is living in separate room from others now but her parents are working on so they can coexist eventually.
ReplyDeleteYippee for Sassy!
DeleteWe've heard about FIV cats and non-FIV cats living together. As long as there's no real bad fighting between them, they should be okay.
ReplyDeleteThat's good news to learn! We hope this will encourage more FIV+ cat adoptions!
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning us! Just as we started to comment tonight we shut everything down because of a terrible thunderstorm overhead, and guess what? Just as my mom went into her room to check on the boys and close the windows, Elliott zoomed in and hid under the bed! He stayed there for at least an hour!
Our sanctuary was a part of the study that you discussed. Someone had commented that now the veterinary community would back off of segregating fiv+ cats from negatives (or just killing them outright). Sadly, this is very slow in penetrating the veterinary community. I have noticed a distinct lack of continuing education among vets.
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