My cat just got diagnosed with FIV (results in feline AIDS)?

and I'm not worried about him I'll take care of him, but what I am concerned about is the neighborhood cats. They think my cat probably contracted it during a fight which means that somebodies cat (probably on my block) also has it and may give it to other cats or my cat has given it to other cats. What do you think is the best way to let the neighbors know that they should probably test or vaccinate their cats. I don't want this to spread though the neighborhood and other people to go through what I'm currently going through.

You can't get AIDS from your cat. The virus is related to human AIDS but it's a species specific disease. And like I said I'll take care of him my concern is the best was to inform the neighborhood that it is present.

I think you are probably best to put fliers in the mailboxes in your neighborhood, explaining that your cat contracted this illness, that humans cannot contract this illness from cats, and that being a responsible person you are informing them so that they might get their cats tested for the disease. You might want to keep the fliers anonymous so that you don't have to deal with harassment. As far as the radius, that is harder to determine, there are so many factors that can influence how far a cat roams, most likely a few blocks in each direction would be good. I would probably include a good website or incorporate a small fact sheet into the flier so that they can better understand it and not jump to the wrong conclusions. I hope this helps.

copy and paste this and pass it out to your neighbors. tell them everything that you just wrote. controlling your animals even applies to cats and the person with the infected cat can sue the other person who wasn't taking care of their cat and keeping it indoors if it has a serious disease.

If you don't want to contract AIDS yourself you must get rid of the cat. There's no other way. I am sorry. God bless you dear.

We had a cat with the same disease. It was quite horrible until it was diagnosed. But we were able to control and he lived a happy life. First of all, keep your cat indoors. As a responsible pet owner - do the best thing for him and keep him inside. I know it can be hard as ours did not like this idea too much either...(we got him as a stray, so he had been outside his whole life) but it was in his best interest. And yes, I would let your neighbours know that your cat has been diagnosed with a contagious condition and that they should also have their cats tested and keep them indoors or confined in an outdoor area. If you tell them and they ignore you, oh well. You tried. We kept Zeus inside in order to keep him from infecting anyone else, and to keep him from the other dangers outside - such as cars, dogs, foxes and mean kids.
oh - and we never contracted feline AIDS from our cat. I'm not a vet, but I'm pretty sure they call it Feline AIDS for a reason. If you are at all concerned about contracting it yourself - ask your vet. Ours told us not to worry about it, as it was strictly a feline condition.

I like the suggestion above mine.

Put all of the FIV facts on it, like how it's contracted and that humans can't get it, there is a vaccine available, etc.

I'm very sorry to hear what you and your cat are going thru. Cats are very special animals.

Good Luck!

FIV is only spread from cat to cat, and then only through deep bite wounds. *Most* cats that get it are outdoor unneutered males, as they tend to fight over territory. You are correct in that there is no way for you to contract AIDS from your cat! It may be a neighbor's cat, it may be a passing stray. There is really no good vaccine for FIV at this point. No one is really sure how effective it is in the first place, and the biggest problem is that the tests for FIV cannot distinguish between the vaccine and the virus - any cat that receives the vaccine will test positive for the virus, which is generally a death sentence if the cat ever ends up at a shelter.

Maybe what you might want to do is type up a flyer, explain that your cat has tested positive for it, and then also attach a page about FIV such as this one from Cornell:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures...

People don't realize that cats can live long and healthy lives with FIV - as long as they're kept indoors and their health needs attended to. You want to inform your neighbors of what's happened, but also give them facts so you don't cause them to all immediately take their cats to the nearest shelter.

I'm glad you took the time to research the disease. Thank you!

For those who don't know about FIV yet--
1. No, it doesn't spread to any animal that's not a cat.
2. It's spread by biting not by casual contact
3. If you vaccinate your cat against it your cat will have antibodies to the disease which will cause it to have a positive result on any FIV test,making it look like the cat is FIV positive. Not good if your cat gets out, gets picked up by animal control or turned in to the humane society. They still euthenize all cats who come up positive on the blood test, even if it's from the vaccination.
4. No test can tell the difference between a vaccinated cat and one who does have the FIV disease.
5. A cat with FIV can live over 15 years, it's not a death sentence unless you get a vet who has not kept up on the research and recommends automatic euthenasia.
6. You treat the symptoms to keep them healthy--runny eyes, dry coat, mouth problems are the most common.
7. Feed a very good diet to keep up what immune system they still have.
8. Don't vaccinate, their immune system is too low to use the vaccines. (The vets should know this).
9. Vets need to use an inhaled anesthetic for operations on FIV cats, not an injectible anesthetic, it's easier on the cats systems.
10. An FIV cat can live with non-FIV cats without infecting them if the FIV cat isn't aggressive and doesn't bite.

I'm wondering though--did the vet do the in house Elisha test on your cat (they get results in 15 minutes) or did they send out the blood sample in a Western Blot test? The Elisha has a known failure rate for FIV of about 20% meaning it's wrong with 20% of the positives it gives. Any 'yes' on an Elisha should be tested again with the Western Blot, as this test actually looks at the factors in the blood. The Western Blot is 98% accurate.

I don't know that telling the neighbors would actually do anything. The vaccine isn't recommended by a lot of vets, as it only protects 60% against one of the five types of FIV (we have 3 types in the USA) and it does nothing against the other types. I'll post a URL from a vet site explaining why they don't recommend it yet. My own vet won't give any cat the vaccine for the same reasons.