Information please

The vet has just informed me my latest stray cat has tested positive for FIV, and there is no treatment!
After reading about it online I am confused what to do, He is still an outdoor cat and three neighbours have 7 cats between them, I also have an indoor cat. A lot of potential victims.
Have any of SF cat owners had to deal with this, any advice please?

What does your vet say?

As far as Iā€™m aware cats with FIV can only infect other cats through fighting.

If your indoor cat is on good terms with this cat, could you take on a second indoor cat?

Have you asked your vetā€™s opinion what to do for the best?

One of my cats had feline leukaemia and had spent most of his life outdoors, but he settled down surprisingly well in my bedroom for 3 years, until he reached a terminal stage. Didi had toys, a climbing frame, scratch posts and every evening heā€™d get his special favourite meal. I had to keep him in isolation from my other cats, and we became best pals!

Just to add - I put bird food on the window cill which kept him well occupied!

The vet said there was no treatment and just be careful!
We have been winning him round for a long time,(but feel sure the trust has weakened after his castration today) so he could come inside this winter.

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Ouch, I can certainly imagine a bit of a mood change after! Makes me wince just thinking about that :woozy_face:

Lily, my cat is FeLV positive , as was my first cat here in France. He is on Interferon (from the vet), 2ml every day (in his cat milk) each morning. He is an outdoor cat and like you my neighbours have cats which do wander through the garden. Thankfully, (with the exception of one village bully of a tom cat) he gets on well with the assorted moggies from neighbouring houses. He isnā€™t allowed to stay out at night so spends around 8 hours outside (less so in winter) and then comes back inside and sleeps in his favourite chair. He lives a normal, happy life and I make sure that he is safe from any harm, fighting etc. If Iā€™m going out during the day then I do bring him inside while I get home. I just like to make sure Iā€™m doing all I can to keep him safe form harm, fights etc, though of course with FeLV it is transmitted through sharing of food, water bowls and little trays etc. I think itā€™s just about managing the disease and looking for any changes in your cat, (behaviour, health, moods etc) I hope this helps, apologies for my rambling. As I type ā€˜Little Redā€™ is curled up beside me on the sofa :smiley_cat:

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Thank you Dawn :hugs: you have given me hope.
So many cats (and dogs) have lived with us over my adult life, and I am still learning.
I had never seen his (Jasper) feral side until I opened the cat carrier at the vets, it was like Jekyll and Hyde, I was so embarrassed.
When I let him out at home he was gone in a second. I really thought the trust, on his side, was gone :frowning: He returned after five hours :pray:flopped on his side for a tummy rub, as if nothing had happened :blush: I will be more vigilant with the sharing of bowls, its only one of the neighbours cats that eats at chez nous, he is old and stubborn, refuses to associate with his extended family, baby and two more cats! I have become a slave, I need more bowls :rofl:

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Happy to help, Lily. These cats that ā€˜choose usā€™ really are special. Both Little Red and his predecessor (Tush Tush) just wandered / limped into my garden and decided this was where they would live!! Iā€™m currently feeding the tiniest black cat (not a kitten, just very tiny with an odd gait, she walks like a crab!) which does belong to one of the neighbours, she turned up recently with a collar on and this remained on until it frayed and dropped off. The poor little thing has been pregnant twice, given her small frame she looked like she had swallowed an Easter egg! Iā€™ve decided to get her some flea/tick and worming treatments (neighbours arenā€™t bothered) I just canā€™t sit back and see any animal suffering. Luckily I have a very good vet. Here is (not so ) Little Red, chilling!!

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ā€œWhen I let him out at home [after return from the vet] he was gone in a secondā€.

Well, you had just castrated him, hadnā€™t you.
:slight_smile:

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