Desperately need advice

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Tfiga
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Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2019 7:04 pm

Desperately need advice

Post by Tfiga »

Two weeks ago I adopted a senior male cat approx 12 to 13 yrs old from our local humane society. He had recently had oral surgery to have nine teeth removed (10 teeth had already fallen out) and to be neutered. In addition he was recovering from an ulcer in his eye. Due to all this illness he is significantly underweight he ranges from 7.3 to 7.8 lbs but should weigh around 10lbs. After only a few days at home he still seemed sick, bad breathe, breathing was odd, walking very stiffly. I took him into my vet and they treated him for a mouth and ear infection and ran a battery of tests. Unfortunately the tests came back and he has FIV. I am panicked as I have a 11 yr old male cat with heartworm and I am afraid of him catching it. The vet said it is transmitted via bites only but some research I did appears to state that in the later stages that it could be passed via saliva. I have been site swapping etc and am not sure whether to stop or not. I am waiting on additional testing from the vets. His liver enzymes and white blood cell counts were "very concerning" so another battery of tests were taken. Anyone with experience with cats with FIV symptoms and infection to non-infected cats?
TIA
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Cat-FAQ
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Re: Desperately need advice

Post by Cat-FAQ »

Hi Tia,

This may be too late to reply to you about this, but just in case this is helpful...

Your vet is right, FIV can only be transmitted with deep bites into the bloodstream. It cannot be transmitted by saliva or on food bowls etc.
Yes, we have experience of FIV-positive and FIV-negative living together, as do many that we know, and no problems, and no transmission.

Please visit our FIV information page for the full facts, it may help put your mind at rest: https://www.catchat.org/index.php/fiv

Good luck!
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