can I introduce new FIV+ cat to my 12yr old old FIV- cat?
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:33 pm
Title is the long and short of it I suppose.
I have an intact male who is 12 years old, and in good health, if not at a risk for diabetes, at his age. He is not fixed (long story) but its somethine I do intend to have done this year, 'cause his urine is STANKY.
Anyways, the husband and I have purchased a new home that needs some work before its ready to be lived in (can't get the electric on yet, need to get that redone first) And as we started walking to the new property we noticed that someone was leaving catfood, and boxes and baby blankets etc.
We finally see the cat about a week later for the first time, and I left a note to get in contact with the person leaving food for this baby, and to get his story more or less. So turns out this guys been out here for over a year, and he was abandoned with a few others, but the neighbor or someone had called animal control, and this guy was the only one they couldn't catch.
My husband managed to coax him into the carrier and bring him home, after realizing that he is also intact, decided to put him up in a room of his own in the building adjacent to my current house. He's got i t pretty good up there, litter box, food, water, heater, window. just hours of silence until this crazy woman crawls up through the floor with more food or water (we get in via a trapdoor to avoid walking around the outside of the house)
So we get him to the vet today 24-12-20. and we run all the tests and he comes back as FIV positive, and on top of that this poor boy has heart-worms.
HEART-WORMS, that's ... like act of god rare. they said my options were to rehome him or euthanize him and I swore to this cat and my friends I was not going to do that again this year (I picked up a dying kitten last week whose spine was broken, and lost a 5 year old to sudden genetic liver failure in october)
So rare they don't have the medication for it in office and I have to order it online.
I've been doing some reading,a s the vets gave me a basic run down of FIV, and it seems pretty 1:1 with Human AIDS, which Im very familiar with. (in-law) and some sources say to keep FIV+ cats in their own single cat homes, and others say that the risk of transmission between cats just chillin' in a house together is 1-2%.
at the moment my husband thinks he can find a home for this guy. but we've ordered the heart-worm medication already, something we really don't have the budget for but this guy was an unexpected expense. And my husband I think is over estimating how easy it is gonna be to find a home for a cat. with cat aids. with heart worms.
I plan on getting my 12 year old, Kiku fixed after the new year, and I do NOT know how old this new guy is. he looks to be fully adult but young or old I can't tell. he is low energy, which was why I wanted to bring him inside, For an outdoor cat he wasn't moving much and I had CONCERNS.
His apetite seems fine, he urinates, eliminates, rubs rubs rubs on me when I come around, then goes back into his space to rest.
Vet didn't know how BAD the heartworms are, just that he tested positive for them.
I guess my concern is if theres hope that these boys will get along. Imma get them both fixed, but it's gonna be a bit. for now Im taking trips to see the new guy, I think we're gonna call him Ghost. its been a week or more and we have no name for him.
And if its okay for them to mingle. Kiku is missing the company of Cadence, and Im sure Ghost is lonely after having his colony taken from him. But they're both full grown adults and I know that getting them neutered at this stage in their lives wont stop spraying or behavioral changes and Im just all over the place with concern and worry.
I just wanna do right by this guy, ya know?
I have an intact male who is 12 years old, and in good health, if not at a risk for diabetes, at his age. He is not fixed (long story) but its somethine I do intend to have done this year, 'cause his urine is STANKY.
Anyways, the husband and I have purchased a new home that needs some work before its ready to be lived in (can't get the electric on yet, need to get that redone first) And as we started walking to the new property we noticed that someone was leaving catfood, and boxes and baby blankets etc.
We finally see the cat about a week later for the first time, and I left a note to get in contact with the person leaving food for this baby, and to get his story more or less. So turns out this guys been out here for over a year, and he was abandoned with a few others, but the neighbor or someone had called animal control, and this guy was the only one they couldn't catch.
My husband managed to coax him into the carrier and bring him home, after realizing that he is also intact, decided to put him up in a room of his own in the building adjacent to my current house. He's got i t pretty good up there, litter box, food, water, heater, window. just hours of silence until this crazy woman crawls up through the floor with more food or water (we get in via a trapdoor to avoid walking around the outside of the house)
So we get him to the vet today 24-12-20. and we run all the tests and he comes back as FIV positive, and on top of that this poor boy has heart-worms.
HEART-WORMS, that's ... like act of god rare. they said my options were to rehome him or euthanize him and I swore to this cat and my friends I was not going to do that again this year (I picked up a dying kitten last week whose spine was broken, and lost a 5 year old to sudden genetic liver failure in october)
So rare they don't have the medication for it in office and I have to order it online.
I've been doing some reading,a s the vets gave me a basic run down of FIV, and it seems pretty 1:1 with Human AIDS, which Im very familiar with. (in-law) and some sources say to keep FIV+ cats in their own single cat homes, and others say that the risk of transmission between cats just chillin' in a house together is 1-2%.
at the moment my husband thinks he can find a home for this guy. but we've ordered the heart-worm medication already, something we really don't have the budget for but this guy was an unexpected expense. And my husband I think is over estimating how easy it is gonna be to find a home for a cat. with cat aids. with heart worms.
I plan on getting my 12 year old, Kiku fixed after the new year, and I do NOT know how old this new guy is. he looks to be fully adult but young or old I can't tell. he is low energy, which was why I wanted to bring him inside, For an outdoor cat he wasn't moving much and I had CONCERNS.
His apetite seems fine, he urinates, eliminates, rubs rubs rubs on me when I come around, then goes back into his space to rest.
Vet didn't know how BAD the heartworms are, just that he tested positive for them.
I guess my concern is if theres hope that these boys will get along. Imma get them both fixed, but it's gonna be a bit. for now Im taking trips to see the new guy, I think we're gonna call him Ghost. its been a week or more and we have no name for him.
And if its okay for them to mingle. Kiku is missing the company of Cadence, and Im sure Ghost is lonely after having his colony taken from him. But they're both full grown adults and I know that getting them neutered at this stage in their lives wont stop spraying or behavioral changes and Im just all over the place with concern and worry.
I just wanna do right by this guy, ya know?