Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A little more about grey eye kitten and FIV


FIV positive cats can have, under good care a long and healthy life. It is most common among outdoor cats, around 8 to 10 % of cats that appear to be healthy carries it.
FIV CANNOT be transmitted to humans
.
It is not ideal that GEK has been tested positive to FIV, however it is important to note that any test done under the age of 6 month is usually not very accurate and may cause false reading:
" Young kittens may have positive test results for 12 to 16 weeks after birth because of the passive transfer of FIV antibodies from the mother. Only a small percentage of these kittens who test positive are actually infected. A positive test result in an uninfected kitten is called a 'false positive.' Conversely, an infected kitten may have a falsely negative test if it has not yet had time to develop antibodies. Kittens tested at less than 6 months of age, regardless of the test result, should be retested after 6 months of age." link
It seems that there is a good chance that GEK might not be infected, since her results was a weak positive, maybe that was the antibodies left form her mother.
Since GEK has been tested positive , to be on the safe side, she has to stay isolated from the 2 adult cats that shares the same household. This is why GEK is only photographed it the bathroom. Our bathroom is now her temporary home.
We also need to be realistic that in case GEK's FIV infection is genuine, she needs to be in a single cat household, so those who already has a cat cannot adopt GEK as that might risk passing on FIV to their other cats. And if after 6 months she is retested and receive a negative result, then one can adopt another kitty to be her playmate.

Further reading/ sources:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1354&articleid=213
http://www.fivcats.com/
http://www.v63.net/catsanctuary/fiv_faq.html

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