Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) - Vet Hospital Port Shepstone

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)

What is FIV

FIV (also called Feline Aids) is an infectious viral disease that effect cats. This virus, as with Feline Leukaemia Virus (FeLV), suppress an infected cat’s immune system. Without a healthy immune system cats are significantly more prone to bacterial, chlamidial, mycoplasmal and other viral infections and will ultimately lead to either spontaneous death or euthanasia of the infected animal. There is currently no effective cure for FIV.

Symptoms

Any cat disease can be as result of FIV. Symptoms in infected cats can appear months or even years after becoming infected. A wide range of clinical signs are seen incl. any or a combination of the following:

loss of appetite
poor coat condition
recurring infections of the skin, intestines, eyes, bladder and respiratory tract
oral disease
seizures
swollen lymph nodes
skin lesions
fatigue
fever and
weight loss

At home a sick cat is usually identified by poor or no appetite, poor hair coat and weight loss.

Mode Of Transmission

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus is transmitted from an infected cat to a susceptible cat via saliva and nasal discharges. This mostly happens through cat fights. Male cats defending their territory and wild stray cat populations are the main source of infection. Kittens from infected mothers can also be born with feline aids.

Prevention

First of all, don’t introduce a stray/adopted cat into your household without having him/her tested first.
Sterilization of young cats to discourage roaming and fighting.
Vaccinations

Because the vaccinations will not prevent FIV in all cases, the best way to prevent this disease in cats is to isolate potential carrier cats.

All outdoor non-vaccinated cats should be periodically tested for FIV (and FeLV) so proper steps can be taken to minimize exposure to the general population.

My cat is diagnosed with Feline Aids - What Now?

The long term outcome will depend on whether your cat is healthy or not at the time of the diagnosis. Diseased animals at this time carry a poorer long and short term prognosis in that the outcome of their immediate disease(s) is questionable. The same way, possible (very likely) future diseases (even if generally not serious to non-FIV patients) might have additional treatment difficulties. Infected cats will be very prone to a variety of feline diseases. A young diagnosed cat is very likely to die or euthanased from a complicated disease process secondary to FIV.
Because of this and the infectious nature to other cats, the decision to treat instead of euthanasia should be taken very seriously.

With healthy or recovering cats, the first thing to do is to isolate infected patients by keeping them in-doors. As mentioned above, these patients will be more prone to diseases. A sick FIV cat should be presented to a Veterinarian as soon as possible for diagnoses and treatment. Symptomatic and sometimes supportive treatment can be given as necessary. Where isolation is impossible or impractical or where supportive treatment becomes ineffective euthanasia is strongly recommended.

Apart from isolation from other cats, additional measures include a good, quality premium cat food, strict litter box hygiene, and yearly testing of possible in-contact household cats. Because of the insidious nature of this disease it is also strongly recommended to present the cat for a routine Veterinary check-up every six months.

Infected mother cats can transfer FIV antibodies to nursing kittens, so kittens born to infected mothers may receive positive test results for several months after birth. However, few of these kittens actually are or will become infected. To clarify their infection status, healthy kittens younger than six months of age receiving positive results should be retested at 60-day intervals until they are at least six months old.

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