[carolew]

Hi,

I just had my new kitten (Blizzard) tested (ELISA test) 5 days ago and the result is he is FIV positive. I have another 11 months old healthy kitty (Peppi) with FIV negative in the house. They went to two different clinics. Peppi's doctor told me that I could have Blizzard retested (ELISA test) at her clinic tomorrow to make sure it was not a false result. If it is still a possitive result, we could have the Western Blot test.

Do you think it is too soon to have Blizzard retested? I read some people said it's better to wait until he is 6 months old or even 9 months old to test again.

Do you have any similar experience to share?

Thanks!

Carolew

 

[Mitts & Tess]

Welcome. I wouldn't even bother testing a cat under a year for Felv or Fiv. Its so unreliable. If your kittens have been vaccinated for Fiv or Felv the snap test could be detecting the vaccination not a true virus.

There is a test which only certain labs do which can tell the difference between a shedding virus and the vaccination. I think it cost me about $110 for the test not including the office visit. It had to be sent off to a lab in Alabama which do the tests.

We brought in a cat from out of doors. I had him snap tested. It was negative. Several years later he turned up with symptoms of Felv. I had the lab test done then and he is positive and shedding. We are not putting him down. In my thinking it about quality of life and he is a sweet heart. We keep an eye on him. When he starts failing in his health we will help him transition to his new life. But until then we lavish him with attention, love and good food and cats to play with and be his buddies!