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FIV:

The Facts

Not the

Hoopla

by

Yanina Gotsulsky

THE NOTs OF  FIV

· FIV is NOT a death sentence

· FIV is NOT FeLV (Feline Leukemia), which is a contagious disease

· FIV is NOT transferable through food, water, feces, urine, grooming, playing or all normal feline behaviors

· FIV+ cats will NOT infect other pets in the home unless they are prone to severe biting behavior.

· FIV is NOT transferable to humans

· You are NOT obligated to give your outdoor kitty the FIV vaccine. The animal is under your care so please consider the risk/reward ratio before making your decision.

· After 2002 adult cats who test positive for FIV may NOT have the disease, but simply might have been vaccinated against it at some point. There is NO way to tell the difference.

"I remember when FIV was first discovered," says a veterinarian friend of mine. "We were all pretty freaked out. Cats with AIDS? What next, I thought?  Can humans get it from them? Is it dangerous? There were no answers."

Indeed, when the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus was first discovered in 1986 cats who tested positive for it were routinely euthanized on the spot.  The reasoning was based, as is all too often, on extrapolating human data onto a species that is genetically vastly different. If humans with HIV did not live long, then why not put Kitty out of his misery before the virus takes hold of his body?

As research into this disease progressed, one thing became obvious to the medical community that feline advocates could have told them immediately – cats are not people. They do seem to have access to the proverbial nine lives and the FIV virus doesn’t seem to wreak havoc on their little bodies to nearly the same extent as HIV wreaks on humans.

Yet remarkably, most shelters still routinely euthanize cats that test positive for the virus, and only a few more progressive ones “allow” the animals to live, albeit with a cautionary, pharmaceutical-lobby-induced note that the survival rate for an FIV+ cat is five years.

"This is very, very conservative," continues my veterinarian friend. "Depending on when they're diagnosed, cats with FIV can live anywhere from 10 to 15 years after the diagnosis in perfect health. I wish we'd just stop testing for this darn disease. All the test does is alarm uninformed owners and results in many abandoned or needlessly killed animals," he concludes.

To compound the FIV issue, in August 2002 Fort Dodge Animal Health released a vaccine for FIV and promoted it heavily.  On the surface the vaccine seemed like a good idea for cats at risk – outdoor kitties who might get into fights, as deep bite wounds are the prevalent method for FIV infection.

After the initial surge of utilizing this vaccine, many veterinary practitioners are now choosing to say no to it. Here are their reasons:  

There are five strains of FIV virus, called “Clades.”  The vaccine was made using only two strains, Clades A and D, and tested using only one — Clade A. Clade B, for example, is common in California and no testing of the vaccine has been performed thus far against Clade B.  This means that a pet owner might wrongly believe they were protecting their cat fully against the FIV virus with this vaccine.  The vaccine is advertised at protecting 82% of cats which means 18% can still be infected. That’s nearly a one in five chance of unknowingly having an infected cat, even by the manufacturer's own admission.

The FIV vaccine is an “adjuvanted” vaccine. An adjuvant is an additive used with killed vaccines to improve their ability to stimulate the immune system. Unfortunately, adjuvanted vaccines have been implicated in the development of certain tumors (sarcomas) in cats.

Vaccinated cats will test positive for the FIV virus on all current methods of testing. This means it will no longer be possible to distinguish vaccinated cats from truly infected cats. 

Imagine the nightmare! With the best intentions you vaccinate your cats against FIV and one of them is lost, or simply gets picked up by an animal control officer, it will likely be destroyed as an FIV-positive cat. There is simply no way of knowing which "positive" cat is truly infected and which cat has simply been vaccinated against FIV. It is no wonder that in citing his reservations about the vaccine Dr. James Richards (director of the Cornell Feline Health Center and AAFP Board Member) stated that  the “testing confusion” is a major concern and cause for his hesitation about recommending it.

The best way to prevent FIV infection if your feline friend has tested negative, is to keep the cat indoors and prevent cat fights.

But even if your feline family member has tested positive or you have fallen in love with a kitty at a shelter who is a known FIV+ boy (extremely rarely will it be a female), there is no reason to lose spirit or to become alarmed.  The kitty will likely have many years of good health ahead and all it requires is love and proper care:

Make sure that an FIV+ kitty is an indoor-only resident: the chance of getting into fights with other animals and contracting diseases will be all but eliminated.

Watch for signs of infection diligently. Like with HIV, opportunistic viruses can attack a compromised immune system.

Treat all infections aggressively. This will likely entail a strong dose of antibiotics. Whether your kitty has FIV (tested before 2002) or is suspected of having FIV (tested after 2002) don't hope that the "feline cold" will simply go away. It can transmute into pneumonia and become fatal, whereas with antibiotics a full recovery is most likely.

Provide a good diet, possibly with supplements, and annual visits to the vet.

Here at We Care Animal Rescue we have been blessed with knowing many, many FIV+ cats over the years. All but ONE (who died of FIV related pneumonia), lived and continue living healthy, active, long feline lives. Dying of natural causes at the age of 16 or 18 is not at all rare among FIV+ kitties. If you consider that most of them contracted the disease in their young buck days of wooing kitty girls and fighting for territory, that’s an average of well over a decade of a footloose and symptom-free life.

All of us live with FIV+ kitties in our homes and have no compunction about letting them mix with the disease-free critters under our care. The current consensus is that FIV is spread through "deep biting," so letting kitties groom one another, share food and water dishes, is not a problem. None of us have ever had an incident of infection. FIV+ cats are just as loving, just as healthy as their "disease-free" brethren. If you're considering adoption, please don't let this one "tag" dissuade your from bringing home your new fluff-luv.