Kitten FIV+ Question

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joshkierstead
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Kitten FIV+ Question

Post by joshkierstead »

My wife and I found a stray kitten of 6-8 weeks yowling outside our apartment the other day. Yesterday, we got him tested and he was positive for FIV. After doing some digging, it seems SNAP testing before 6 months isn't reliable. Is that what other people have found, as well? We're debating having him tested with the PCR that looks at DNA.

We'd be fine holding onto him until six months but also have three other cats who all tested negative. It seems a kitten isn't a likely spreader, but we want to be careful since we have a 1 year old male who tends to like to play fight and probably shouldn't be left alone with the little guy.
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YogiBoy
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Re: Kitten FIV+ Question

Post by YogiBoy »

Hi,

I'm surprised a vet would test a kitten so young, as if the mother is FIV positive then the kittens will have antibodies from her milk and so give a positive test, even though they are very unlikely themselves to be FIV positive. He will probably test negative if you test again at about 4 months old.

If cats are just "play fighting" they won't pass the virus on, it has to be a deep bite directly into the bloodstream to transmit.

Check out our page on FIV here: https://www.catchat.org/index.php/fiv

Good luck!
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