Could you tell me what it really entails to adopt a FIV and FELV positive cat? It's not about money, it's about life expectancy / quality of life / how to care for it.
I found a super relevant article from Tufts about adopting an FIV+ cat. FIV+ cats can live relatively normal lives for many years, and aren’t considered at high risk of spreading disease in stable social structures. FIV is transmitted through bites, and normal, non-aggressive interactions are not thought to spread disease. So, as long cats are introduced carefully and slowly, FIV+ cats can live with other cats with minimal risk. Life expectancy can vary greatly. Like humans with immunodeficiency disorders, it is secondary infections that are risky for FIV+ cats. Some cats can live to an old age and die from something totally unrelated to their FIV status. For quality of life, monitoring the individual cat is important, and assessing where they are at at any given time. But many of them are able to have excellent quality of life until they get sick years later. Care is just like any other cat, plus a little bit of extra caution and monitoring. Steps should be taken to reduce the risk of FIV+ cats becoming infected with other diseases:
--Keep FIV+ cats indoors (I mean, keep all cats indoors but especially FIV+ cats) to prevent exposure to unknown pathogens and parasites.
--Avoid raw/uncooked foods. Food-borne pathogens, which may not cause any clinical signs in healthy animals, are dangerous for immunocompromised animals. Other animals in the house also need to avoid uncooked food, or the FIV+ cat needs to be isolated from them. Animals on raw food diets are fairly often asymptomatic shedders of Salmonella or other pathogens.
--Schedule vet visits minimum every 6 months, more if they are sick. Routine bloodwork should be done and the cat should be weighed to monitor for any signs of illness. Often, chronic weight loss is the first sign of disease progression.
--Be wary of exposure to unknown cats. It is actually risk for the FIV+ cat, because if the other cats are herpesvirus (or other disease) carriers, they could spread that to the FIV+ cat.
--Monitor your kitty closely for any changes in behavior or weight loss. Your vet can show you how to body condition score your cat, so you can get in the habit of regularly getting your hands on your cat to feel any changes in muscling/fat coverage.
FeLV is a little more complicated. FeLV can be spread in saliva, urine, feces, milk, and nasal secretions. Cat-cat transfer can occur during grooming and sometimes, even by just sharing a litterbox or food/water dish. Unlike FIV+ cats, FeLV+ cats should be only cats, or only housed with other confirmed FeLV+ cats. It’s also worth noting that while the FeLV vaccine is quite effective, it won’t protect every cat so prevention of exposure is just as important in vaccinated animals. FeLV is kind of a weird disease. It is the most common cause of cancer in cats, and can also cause blood disorders, and immunodeficiency that puts them at risk of secondary infections (like FIV) from normally innocuous pathogens. Just like FIV+ cats, FeLV+ cats can live normal lives for years. The average survival time from diagnosis is 2.5 years. Monitoring and management would be the same as for an FIV+ cat.
Neither diseases have a treatment, so any treatments would just be symptomatically as needed. Careful monitoring and regular vet visits are important for both FIV+ and FeLV+ cats to catch any signs of illness early.
