Hi! I adopted an FIV+ cat this past August. From reading online, I didn’t think they would get sick too much more often than FIV- cats. I decided to adopt knowing that some might be turned off by his FIV status and knowing that I am lucky to be able to afford vet bills.
BUT this is the third upper respiratory tract infection he has had in 5 months. Each time, it doesn’t seem to clear it on his own without antibiotics. I’m concerned he’ll end up with antibiotic resistance over time if I keep doing this.
The first illness, he was given both oral antibiotics and eye drops for 2 weeks. The second time (several months later) his eyes weren’t as bad and they gave me a supply of oral antibiotics only for 1 week (wish it could have been 2…didn’t realize they only gave me enough for one). It’s been a couple of months and he’s sick again. I’m gonna take him in a few days if this doesn’t start to clear again.
Some notes:
-He is an indoor only cat. I do not have other pets.
-He was swabbed for herpes one of the times and it was negative. One of the times he had a mycoplasma infection and the other time he was not swabbed.
-He was tested as FeLV- at the shelter. But I suppose if he had a very early infection, it might not have shown up.
-He mostly acts pretty normal during his infections thankfully (eating, using the bathroom, etc)…just maybe sometimes a tad less active.
-I’m going to start giving him lysine powder daily in his food (twice a day). The vet had me give it to him for the duration of the first infection, but I may as well just continue it forever since it seems fairly benign.
Thanks, guys!
i have no advice, but i just wanted to thank you for taking a FIV+ cat. they almost always get passed up at the shelters, because no one wants a cat who is gonna be sick every few months or whatever. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for taking him on knowing he’s gonna have a lot of vet bills. <3
Thank you! He was the sweetest, chillest guy there who wasn’t afraid to be out in the open and relax in front of everyone. Knew I had to pick him. :) I guess he had been there for around 5 months before I got him. He’s around 4-5 years old and I named him Lester. He bunts me all the time and when his eyes are teary and stuff he wipes them all over me still lolol!
honestly, the eye gunk thing would make me fall for him even more <3
We had two stray cats, one was confirmed FIV+, the other not, they didn’t really get any recurring infection, but they both started having the same neurological symptoms: they lost control of their back legs and sphincters, had trouble walking straight and cleaning themselves so we had to do it.
I don’t know if this is a regular outcome of FIV, or if it’s even related at all, but you might want to look for gradual problems with walking and balance. Not much you can do unfortunately, but what I can tell you is they don’t get any less loving, actually, they probably get more. His last days one of the strays went from barely staying close to a human unless being fed, to purr, pets and constant headbutts.
Good luck with your little fella, glad he could find a caring home.
Awww poor babies. :(
Did they ever figure out the cause? I had not really heard of this as an outcome, just particular infections that can happen and tooth loss (my guy was already missing his top front teeth!).
Amazing. People like you genuinely restore my faith in humanity…
To be fair, they started developing symptoms much later then when we took care of them. But yeah, we had a lot of cats in the years, 90% of them were strays (or in this case, one of them was actually kicked of their house and spent some years outside) that self-tamed over time lol.
My boy was fiv+ and he lasted 15 years after contracting it at age 9. He didn’t get sick often and when he was younger he could go years without any issues but as he got older he developed kidney/liver issues and food sensitivity to even the best dry/wet foods. In the end he only ate tuna and boiled chicken breast. Every animal is going to be different and you just have to deal with things as they come up.
We had an FIV+ for many years. He had weepy eyes now and then that we used to wipe but other than that he was very normal and not prone to random illness.
We have him lysine and forti flora later in life that seemed to help him. But that was for older cat pancreas issues.
He was an outdoor cat back then and strong generally. Our current cats are now indoor only.
So did his weepy eyes resolve on their own? Did he have any other symptoms along with it.
The first illness was a couple days after I brought him home from the shelter. both his eyes were watering like crazy and he was sneezing like mad, was also coughing rarely. I took him in pretty much right away. They said it’s very normal for shelter cats to get sick, but that he did have a bit of an unusual pathogen causing it (Mycoplasma).
The second time he had only one watery eye and was sneezing a bit but less so. Also coughing rarely. I tried to do a wait and see with this and was wondering if it was allergies, but it stayed the same for several weeks (no better but no worse), so he got antibiotics and it cleared up again.
This time he has two weepy eyes, but he actually hasn’t been sneezing much at all. He does cough rarely. I’m still doing a bit of a wait and see with the lysine this time before I bring him in.
FWIW, FIV+ cats should ONLY be indoors. They spread it through fights.
Lots of snuggles.
It seems like you already have a good handle on the rest already, even if 3 URTIs in 5 months is no fun for anyone.
It might be worth giving your house a thorough clean to see if that helps. Maybe there’s a source of irritants (molds, pollens, that kind of thing) that is only really problematic for someone with a weakened immune system, and therefore more prone to secondary infections.
Sorry, I have no tips, just listen to a knowledgeable, caring vet. 😿 But I still wanted to say thank you for adopting and caring for your fuzzy friend, since they are unable to verbally do so. Wishing you the best in everything you do! People who look after people (and animals) truly are the saints of our world…
Ours doesn’t have FIV, but she does get sick every few months. I put her in the bathroom with me when I take a shower and I don’t turn the exhaust fan on. It seems to help her. The steam I think helps reduce inflammation.
My guy follows me everywhere, but whenever I turn the shower on he runs away! He seems to be a bit scared whenever it rains too. The guy must really not like water.
But if I can get him to chill in the bathroom with the shower on, I’ll give it a go.
Mine did too for a long time, but we did it a few times and she realized she liked the steam so now she comes in willingly a lot of the time.
Be meticulous with the cat toilet, and since he has issues with respiratory infections, make sure the cat litter does not create too much dust. Other than that, keep weighting the cat on the regular, since weight loss is an early indicator for issues. A yearly blood count, serum biochemical analysis, and urine analysis can catch issues early.
Thanks for taking a FIV+ cat in! My mother’s two cats were FIV+ (she was helping out a shelter with harboring FIV+ cats, and those two stayed in the end), and they lived for years without major issues with regular screening and early prevention if issues popped up.
Shoot yeah I forgot I was going to keep buying “low dust” litter when I first was wondering if both he and I were getting allergies, but I haven’t bought “low dust” ones recently. Even still it looks like the standard clay litter is always dusty even if it has a “low dust” formulation.
I’m not really too keen on switching the type of litter to be something like those wood pellets either. Seems like the other types are more complicated and a lot of cats don’t like them. He’s used to standard clay litter.
Speak to your vet about possibly administering interferon. As far as I know the evidence for interferon to treat FIV is iffy at best but have had a positive experience myself.
Don’t forget that a lot of the symptoms that manifest (weepy eyes etc) are secondary and even if the interferon doesn’t help manage the FIV you might see positive effects on any secondary viral infections.
Depending on where you reside, interferon can be VERY expensive though. There might be a cheaper oral alternative but I’m only familiar with the injectable versions.
Hope this helps
Interesting, I had not heard of this one. How much did that end up costing you? Sounds like it’ll be in the tens of thousands of dollar range and won’t be covered by my pet insurance lol.
