My older cat has feline aids. I am worried my younger cat gave it to her...?

My other cat was a stray that I took in as a baby. My cat with aids has been an indoor persian cat her whole life. I have brought my other kitty home to my parents but as far as I know they have never come into close contact or shared food. The only thing I can think of is that they *may* have shared a litter box at one point. Basically, it is very mysterious that my older cat has aids, as it is more likely that the little stray kitty would have maybe been born with it and transmitted it to her. However, I can't think of how the older kitty would have possibly contacted it from her. I'm really worried that my little kitty might have it and wondering what the chances are. When I brought her to the vet when she was a baby they told me she was healthy, but I'm not sure that included a blood test. The only other thing I can think of is that the test was wrong, or that she got nicked on uncleaned equipment either at the vet's or at a groomer (she gets groomed yearly) or that the older kitty was born with it (she's seventeen years old now). If I recall correctly, the older cat, though she was a persian, came from a place where there were a million cats in cages (and the lady seemed crazy). If anyone can give me an opinion or more information on feline aids to ease my mind or clear this up for me I would greatly appreciate it.

The key is to get your other cat tested, and if it proves negative, get it a vaccination. Cat AIDS is transmitted much like human AIDS, through body fluids, however, if your cats never got into altercations where they bit or drew blood, it isn't likely it can be transmitted in the litter box. However, while at the Crazy Cat Lady's, who knows what happened to your Persian, and I wouldn't doubt that's where she picked up the virus.

I've included a link that might answer more questions for you.

There are two issues here - does the cat actually have FIV and do you know the correct info on this disease. It is not FeLV (feline leukemia) which can be spread by shared contact.

How do you know your older cat has FIV? If it was a blood test done at the vets where they get a result in 15 minutes that was the Elisha snap test and it has a known failure rate of at least 20% on FIV, meaning it gives false positives to at least 20% of healthy cats. If you got a 'yes' on that test, have a western blot test done on the cat--it's the only difinitive test that is 100% accurate.

If the cat does come up a yes on the western blot--does she bite? FIV is only passed to other cats by deep bite wounds. It's one of the harder diseases to pass, and it does not even transfer every time a cat bites deep.

There are at least two very good FIV cat lists on Yahoogroups, both groups know about the current research, and don't have a problem mixing their positive and negative cats in the same household if the cats get along. We have two FIV former tom cat males. In 10 years (well, 11 years now) we have not had FIV transfer to any of the three non-FIV cats, and they're exposed to each other 24/7. None of our FIV cats bite. We have had recent blood tests on the three non-FIV cats done before teeth cleanings, so we know for sure on this that they don't have it.

A cat with FIV can live over 16 years, so it's not going to shorten their lifespans. You treat for the symptoms--dry coat, runny eyes, mouth problems.

Since FIV can't be passed by shared litter boxes, food bowls, mutual grooming OR rough play, you don't have anything to worry about. The online info varies--older sites still say to keep an FIV cat completely away from other cats, but current research in the past 5 years refuted almost all the 'do this' info.

I'll post some very good information sites. As diseases go, it's very low key. The important part is to keep FIV cats away from sick cats, as they have a harder time to heal if they get sick. You should also not vaccinate an FIV cat as vaccinations require a working immune system to work, FIV cats immune systems are too low to utilize the vaccines and they can get sick from them because of this.

I really suggest you join up with the FIV groups on Yahoogroups, it'll put your mind at ease. You may not even have an FIV cat if the test was only based on the Elisha results.

My best guess is that your persian may have been FIV+ her whole life. Indoor cats with FIV can usually live fairly normal healthy lives since they are not exposed to diseases/injury. I suppose it is possible for her to contract FIV from an unclean environment at the vet or groomer, but would be pretty unlikely. FIV, like HIV, does not survive very long outside the host, so it usually has to be a result of direct contact. FIV is simply a virus that attacks the immune system and makes them more susceptible to illness & makes it harder to recover from injury. SO, the FIV itself does not make them sick, but they get sick much more easily.Your new kitten could have given it to her, but it's hard to say without getting her tested.

Like I said before, cats with FIV usually have fairly normal long lives as long as you keep them inside. I''m sorry to hear your news, but you seem to have done a great job of taking care of her so far!