Can FIV-positive cats go outside?

Can FIV-positive cats go outside? The question is a moral one and it is asking whether it is sensible to allow a FIV-positive cat to go outside where they might transmit the disease to other cats. The answer is that it is not sensible or moral to do so although it is quite hard to transmit this disease. It is agreed that the most likely form of transmission is through male cats fighting. When they bite each other their saliva is injected into the other cat. The saliva carries the disease.

Deborah Bell, former Carthage Humane Society executive director, holds
Fritz, an FIV-positive cat featured in a Globe pet column.
Photo: Globe | Kevin McClintock

It is further believed that about 2 to 4% of cats in the general population in America are affected by the disease. The incidence is highest in male cats in the age range 3 to 5 roaming outside. These are normally indoor/outdoor cats or outdoor cats. They get into fights with other male cats over territory.

I remember feeding a male cat, Timmy, who regularly visited me many years ago. He was not neutered and he was a classic example of the sort of domestic cat who could transmit the disease. I don't know whether he had the disease but I do know that he had an abscess at one time which we had to fix by taking him to a veterinarian. It highlighted the frequency at which non-neutered male cats, who are quite young, get into fights.

Photo: MikeB

Close contact between cats is not a major mode of transmission according to my veterinary handbook. And it can't be transmitted by mating, apparently. Boarding catteries take FIV-positive cats normally as far as I know. This is because the cats are separated and there's no chance of contact. And standard disinfectants kills the virus.

It would seem that the prime danger for a FIV-positive cat in a boarding cattery is to that cat rather than to the other cats. This is because they have a weakened immune system and therefore if other cats in the boarding cattery are carrying a disease that FIV-positive cat is more likely to get it.

The best course of action is to allow FIV-positive cat to roam outside in an enclosure attached to the house but this won't suit many people. Or they can stay indoors all the time but it is advised that they do not live with other cats. They deserve a good life nonetheless. They make great pets like any other companion animal.

There is no effective treatment for FIV which by the way stands for feline immunodeficiency virus. FIV-positive cats require high quality routine care combined with excellent nutrition, parasite control and minimising stress.

9 possible signs your cat has Covid-19

First things first: in the USA, according to the Humane Society there have been 49 confirmed cases of Covid-nineteen in cats and 35 confirmed cases in dogs. As there are around an estimated 94 million domestic cat companions in the US, you can see that this is not a problem that people should get wound up about. At the moment it seems that the chances of your cat contracting Covid-19 are extremely, almost infinitesimally small.

A high temperature is the first sign that your cat or dog might have Covid. Image: PoC.

The best way to protect your cat, I would have thought, is to protect yourself by following the well-publicised procedures. And in the USA a high percentage of cat owners keep their cats inside full-time which must protect them from this disease. That said, Newsweek have written about the nine signs that your cat has Covid so I will reproduce them here just for the sake of completeness. I think it's nice to know these just in case you and your cat are unlucky.

It's probably worth saying that one of the signs of Covid in people is a lack of taste and smell which are two symptoms that we can't know that I cat suffers from because the only way of finding out is to ask your cat! Perhaps we should assume that those symptoms are also present (which may affect their appetite) to which you can add the following:

1. A fever. A fever is when the body temperature exceeds the normal temperature for an adult cat which is between 100-103° Fahrenheit with an average of 101.5 degrees F. How do you tell that your cat has a fever? Well of course you can measure the temperature and I have a page on that was you can see by clicking here. But what are the outward signs? A veterinary website tells us that they are: loss of appetite, depression, lack of energy, decrease drinking, decreased grooming, rapid breathing and shivering;
2. Coughing. The should be persistent coughing which will be different to the sort of sound a cat makes when the vomiting up a hair ball which is not coughing at all;
3. Difficulty in breathing with shallow breath;
4. Lethargy. Lethargy is a classic symptom of a cat feeling ill and it should be noticeable to most cat owners who are reasonably emotionally close to their cat;
5. Sneezing;
6. Runny nose;
7. Eye discharge;
8. Vomiting;
9. Diarrhoea.

There has been quite a lot of talk about cats and dogs getting Covid which I think is out of an abundance of caution because there is precious little evidence that pets transmit the disease to people living in the same household.

It's a shame that they get it at all because this is a human-created global problem. It is through human carelessness that this has happened although the World Health Organisation is still trying to find out where it started without the cooperation of the Chinese! That I think tells us a story.

If the above signs are present then the usual procedures concerning people should apply to a cat or dog. This means isolating the animal but before that you have to get confirmation from a veterinarian that your dog or cat does indeed have Covid. Nothing stupid should happen. No one should panic or do anything which would harm the companion animal in any way.

P.S. in Siamese and other pointed cats if they have a temperature it may affect the color of their non-pointed coat. It might be lighter.