Can FIV be misdiagnosed?
False positive results may occur if a cat has been vaccinated against FIV, since the antibody test does not differentiate between antibodies produced by the disease and vaccine-induced antibodies.
Can you have two FIV positive cats?
And as with people living with HIV, cats infected with FIV can live long, healthy lives. FIV is not easily transmitted between cats. Therefore, other than ensuring that there is no fighting and biting, most cats with FIV can live happily with one or two other cats and never spread their virus.
Can cats have a false positive for FIV?
The blood test is quite accurate, but false positives and occasionally false negatives do occur. In healthy, low-risk populations FIV is quite uncommon, and this leads to an increase in the relative number of false positive results. The blood test may also falsely identify recently infected cats as negative.
What kind of medication can you give a FIV + cat?
AZT (brand name Retrovir®) is a prominent antiviral medication for the treatment of human HIV infection. Tests in FIV+ cats indicate that those with either neurologic signs or with stomatitis (oral inflammation) may benefit most.
How does FIV get from one cat to another?
It also requires a high dose to establish an infection in another cat. Therefore, it is not easily passed from cat to cat. The main route of infection is through biting, when the virus in the saliva of an infected cat is injected directly into the blood stream of the cat it bites.
What’s the difference between FIV and feline leukaemia?
FeLV is a serious risk to a cat’s health and longevity, whereas FIV is not. To find out about FeLV, visit: Feline Leukaemia (FeLV) Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) has been associated with cats for many years, although it was only labelled as such as recently as 1986.
When to euthanize a cat with FIV?
ABCD panel recommends all cats should be tested, but as an absolute minimum all sick cats should be tested for FIV and euthanasia should be considered for positive cats in which the clinical problems significantly affecting their quality of life are suspected to be related to an advanced stage of FIV infection.