r/FIVcats

Hi! New here. I’m adopting a 2 year old FIV cat and have been stalking this sub for research. Where I live, it doesn’t seem like any pet insurance covers pre-existing conditions. The shelter is offering to pay for her necessary medical expenses for life, if she can continue going to the same vet (which if we move in 3-5 years, we would have to pay it ourselves).

So far they’ve said she has no symptoms but watery eyes / some discharge which they think is from being in the shelter and exposed to other cats.

I’ve asked if they have any medical history for her and things to know, but will definitely do a vet check up with her as soon as we can.

How much money should we be saving a month to put aside for her expenses or anything that might pop up that the shelter might deem as unnecessary? Is there anything I should look for in the first couple weeks after we bring her home?

I picked up a stray a couple days ago and all his tests came back today and sadly he’s both FeLV & FIV positive. I’m going to do further testing to figure out what form of FeLV but in the meantime I’m trying to put weight on him.

We are currently using Sheba Pate wet food and he’s loving it. I want to start incorporating a high quality dry food that hits all the notes. Or possibly a brand that has multiple kinds that I could mix together.

*He is the only cat in the household and has been in quarantine in my bathroom to keep him away from my dog until he is able to be fully vaccinated and dewormed.

My cat has been suffering from stomatitis for a while and has been to the vet a handful of times already. Hes on antibiotics and steroids, the doctors said if he hasnt improved since those medications prescribed (he has not) theres a good chance he'll forever live with excessive drooling for the rest of his life. His health is obviously my main priority but it has been really difficult to keep a clean house hold with my cat just living like this. His excessive drooling has stained my carpet and my couches already and i dont really know how to manage it. He also shakes his head and throws his saliva everywhere so it gets on the walls and furniture. Its been hell to clean and practically impossible to keep a clean couch. The vet has mentioned teeth extractions in the future but has also implied that the drooling will continue to persist. What can i do about this?

Hey everyone me and my boyfriend are looking to adopt this cat from the shelter where we live I’ve had my eye on him for months and we just moved into our new place. This handsome man does have FIV, we don’t plan on having other cats but I’m wondering about finances. My boyfriend is making a steady income while he is in school and I’ll have a full time job, I’ve never wanted a cat more than him but I’m scared about extra vet costs. If someone could maybe break down there payments for there FIV cat or give me some tips on what I can do to be a good adopter for him. I’ve never wanted a cat so bad but I couldn’t live with myself if I couldn’t provide a good life. I know they would need extra care in the sense of brushing there teeth cause I know they are prone to oral issues, brushing them and keeping them on a excellent diet and they will be a inside cat, but any advice or fun stories about ur FIV babies would be great!!

Hello, I've been mulling this question for about a year now since I adopted my sweet FIV+ kitty. I am about to take my sweet boy to a new vet tomorrow, so it's on my mind. He last had the core FVRCP combination vaccine and Rabies vaccine in 2024, so he shouldn't be due for anything for another year. But I've been looking into it, and I'm unsure if he should be vaccinated when he's due. The most recent paper I could find on the matter was this one from 2022: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9147348/

and included this card as the recommendation for vaccinations for FIV+ cats.

https://preview.redd.it/zzfzfsaotzjh1.png?width=754&format=png&auto=webp&s=f434df3e5c2cfae04ef143f9bfa12cd4e28cbaeb

My confusion is that this appears to recommend 2 conflicting courses of action. 1) not to vaccinate because stimulating the immune system can cause the FIV virus to progress, and then 2) to only administer core vaccines, which, as far as I understand, is the FVRCP combination vaccine, which the paper broke down into its individual vaccines and determined to have limited effectiveness in FIV+ cats. I admit I may be misinterpreting this, but am I wrong, or does this blurb leave their conclusion weirdly open to interpretation?

I'm trying to do right by my cat; if there are more recent studies, I'd love to know about them. How do y'all vaccinate your cats? Have you noticed adverse reactions? If I choose to do so, I am absolutely requesting inactive or dead viruses to minimize any reaction in my little gentleman.

https://preview.redd.it/rsg5f6xgbvjh1.png?width=528&format=png&auto=webp&s=6d246f9f0c0cea184ef4e8e24642a27ecb5b01d5

This is going to be long so please bear with me. I'm feeling a lot of things and definitely overthinking, but if there's anyone that I feel will understand it's y'all.

So before I get into things I need to set the scene: two months ago I started trauma therapy. Already, whew. And then one month later (so one month ago) my 12 year old dog that I've had since he was 6 weeks old dies from cancer. Then a few weeks after that (10 days ago) my 12 year old cat that I only had for 8 months dies from cancer. Shit. Fucking. Luck.

I've been pretty disassociated which is definitely contributing to my overwhelm, but I've got a great therapist and amazing support network made up of friends and family who also love my animals dearly. And then I still have my 10 year old soul cat, thank god!

Lately I've taken to visiting shelters to spend time with cats. I knew I want to get another cat one day, I had loved having two, but I wasn't looking right now. It was just soothing to my nervous system...or so I told myself. I kept surrounding myself with all these cats, what did I think was going to happen? Well four days ago, the inevitable happened.

I had driven an hour away to this shelter that had a bunch of FIV cats I wanted to meet. My soul cat has FIV and I knew I wanted my next cat to also have FIV as it's highly stigmatized and they're so much harder to adopt out. I met a bunch of the ones I intended to, and didn't connect with any of them. And this is great! I'm not looking anyway, right?

Then I meet this pint-sized, emaciated, FIV tortie with a damaged eye and a two-toned face. I took her out of her cage and into the room where you can hang out one-on-one and she's so great! Of course I connect with her. I spent 20 minutes with her, recorded some videos, and then had to say goodbye. I watched the videos of her over and over again for the next two days.

Here's my problem: I can't tell if I'm actually connecting with her or if I'm just distracting myself from grief. I also have ADHD and can fixate on things. I know I want another cat, this part is true, but the level that I was thinking about her, I had to tell myself to chill out.

The thing is, when people talk about knowing when it's the right time to get a cat after one dies, the talking points don't really apply to me. It's things like "When you can think about your companion and feel joy and gratitude more often than it makes you cry". Well jokes on you, I hardly cry!! Or "If you're not trying to replace the one you lost". I would never do that. I'm not looking for him, I'm looking for a new cat.

I excitedly told my friend about her and they immediately told me that I should wait a few months, or at least a few weeks. That's not bad advice, but I feel like it's not understood that I have been grieving for weeks. And even months! It's true that my last death was only 10 days ago, but their diagnosis was further back and that's absolutely when my grieving started. I know that this is different than the grief of absolute death though.

I'm just feeling confused because I know people are capable of grieving and loving at the same time. I'm not debilitated by grief. I know I could take care of another cat right now. But my intuition is giving me pause.

Which leads me to my next problem: intuition! With my soul cat and my dog, I immediately knew that they were The One. Because I've had this experience twice now I'm expecting that this is what I'll feel when I find my next cat. And I'm not feeling this same in-my-bones certainty with her.

I really like her. I went to visit her again today, and I can picture taking her home to live with her. When I think about someone else adopting her I get sad. But because I'm doing so much overthinking I'm now unsure, wondering if this is in fact a sign that she's not The One.

The funny thing is, with my cat that just passed, he wasn't The One. I didn't even seek him out. I visited family and found him incredibly neglected so I took him back with me with the intent to just foster. And then myself and my house fell in love and he stayed. He absolutely became one of my best friends and we bonded hard. So I know it's possible again.

I don't know, I know no one else can give my advice and that I have to do some soul searching (and continue talking to my therapist). And that there's no rush to any of this at all. But what if I take my sweet ass time and she gets adopted and I regret not just getting her and moving through this current phase of my life with a new friend? I'm just looking for advice from people who've been in similar situations, and I can't express my gratitude for those who've read this whole thing. Picture of her little face for cat tax because c'mon.

A couple months ago I noticed a cat sleeping on my front porch and started leaving out food and water for him. Took a little time but he started trusting me and has become the biggest sweetheart. I was able to get him to the vet so he could be neutered and just for an overall health check (I have three cats, all FIV-). This guy tested positive for FIV. My vet said that it can be spread through sharing water bowls and that there wasn’t a vaccine for it so my other cats can’t be protected. Everything I’ve read though says it’s not spread through casual contact and that if they are introduced slowly/properly, they can all live together without issue.

The vet thinks he’s around 2 (didn’t look at his teeth or anything, just looked at him and tossed out a number). He didn’t have a chip so it’s likely he’s been a stray his whole life.

He’s been staying in my spare room for almost 3 weeks now, all the other tests came back normal/healthy. I’ve set up gates so that he can see out of the room and the other cats can see him (we’re taking it slow). So any advice on if you have FIV +/- living together and how it works would be great. I don’t want to do anything to get my existing cats sick but if they can’t all live together, I can at least foster him until I find a good home.

Obviously with him being a stray before this, his diet wasn’t great. He’s had diarrhea for the past couple weeks and I’m also looking for advice on what I can do to help with that. My vet seemed to really not care so I’m hoping coming here can help until I find a new vet.

Hey everyone, new cat owner here, northern Alabama, lm not unfamiliar with them or owning pets in general.
I could go into why I rationalized owning a 2.5 year old FIV rescue while living alone for the first time at 21 with bills, but I’m really here to gain more insight and choose how to go forward.

— (Intro/relevant information - issues stated afterwards) —

I did my due diligence, spoke with his caretakers and met him, and after he let me pick him up, I very carefully and quickly checked his front teeth and gums myself. He’s been very easy going, like oddly easy going for the past few days now.

I adopted him under the premises that he was in good health (all things considered) and his teeth were in good shape.

Last night, my girlfriend mentioned that his breath was pretty bad but I haven’t smelled anything so I got worried and eventually decided to really check his teeth, he wasn’t a fan but I had exam gloves and coated them in tuna puree he likes.

— (ISSUES) —

I found that a rear molar had a little bit of decay and gum inflammation. Do I look at cleaning, teeth pulls, just putting him on antibiotics or something else?

He has also been regularly using the bathroom, but not eating very much at all. Granted I’m transferring him from a kibble to wet diet. I know it’s normal for a newly adopted cat to not eat really but it’s been well over 48 hrs, he sleeps all day and night, and prefers to not move from under my bed or a dark enclosure I made under my table he seems to like.

I was also curious if it’s worth it to get him on pet insurance despite his preexisting condition, I was looking at fetch. I know getting stuff covered is hard with FIV.

Any advice or insight would be appreciated.

Context: in 2024 my bf's sweet cat (wasn't even 2) declined quickly and had to be euthanized due to finding out he had FeLV. Understandably, it was very traumatizing (for both of us) and heartbreaking.

He got another cat a few months after, so his other cat (who never ended up catching the FeLV thank goodness) would have a pal again. So now he has 2 cats and understandably, is worried whenever they get sick with anything.

Today I picked up 2 new foster cats who are FIV + and I told him and he freaked out. He said "you're kidding me. you gotta be kidding me. why would you take them? now you have to shower and change clothes before ever coming to my apartment. im not kidding."

It was a harsh reaction tbh but he is probably associating FIV with FeLV.

How do I ease his mind? I am not 100% educated on this and this is the first time I have fostered cats with FIV.

Thanks in advance to whoever can help me learn a bit more and hopefully calm my boyfriend down bc so far, I feel like he is going to treat me as a biohazard.

He's tiny, about 3 months old, been to the vet's a few times, put twice on antibiotics for flu, and now his snort has turned purulent again after stopping for 2 days. He's not fit for vaccinations yet. Vet said his lifespan will be less than a year. I can't help but feel incredibly sad every time he's sick bcuz I'm putting so much effort into taking care of him. He's had anorexia, diarrhea, ringworm all over his body (ongoing).

Question to y'all - how would you deal with this emotionally? Yes I've read they live long productive lives if given proper care and shelter, but this will not be true for him. I can't even find adopters for healthy cats, much less for him, and at some point I'll have to leave him for home.