What Can I do to Stop my Cat From Spreading Feline AIDS?
Hi, my cat, Charlie is three years old. He has been diagnosed with feline aids. He is a outdoor cat so it is impossible for me to keep him indoors and he tends to be a fighter. He has many wounds that are not healing and become abcesses due to the aids. Otherwise he is relatively healthy and happy.
Our vet has recommended that we have him humanely euthanised, due to the fact that he is spreading the virus when he fights with other cats, but I am very attached to him and it breaks my heart to have a healthy cat put down for this reason alone?
Ottilie
South Africa
Feline AIDS is caused by the feline immunodeficiency virus (also known as FIV). FIV is related to HIV, the virus that causes human AIDS. There is no evidence that FIV poses a health risk to humans.
Like HIV, FIV is not highly contagious. It is spread by fighting. And like HIV, untreated FIV takes seven to 10 (or more) years to be fatal. Sadly, there is no safe or effective method to treat FIV.
Like your vet, I am worried that your cat is spreading FIV to other individuals in the area. The sort of fighting that leads to abscesses is exactly the type of behavior that transmits the disease.
Also, remember that the virus may have weakened your cat’s immune system. He is therefore more likely to suffer from serious infections and other complications from fights and injuries that occur outdoors.
However, I don’t agree that euthanasia is the best option for your cat. I recommend instead that you keep him indoors. You state that he cannot be kept inside, but you don’t offer many details that indicate why. Have you truly made a concerted effort to keep Charlie indoors?
I recommend that you seriously try to keep him inside. There may be a difficult adjustment period as he gets used to his new lifestyle. But if he is like most cats I have known, he ultimately will adapt and thrive.
If you do not keep Charlie indoors you will be endangering his health as well as that of other cats in your area.
You have questions. 
If Charlie hasn’t been neutered/desexed do that and it will make it a lot easier to keep him inside and reduce his urge to roam and fight over females. It takes a few months for the testosterone to get out of his system after the op so don’t expect his behavior to change immediately.
You don’t really care about Charlie, if he could talk he’d tell you he is suffering, and being outdoors you aren’t caring much about his welfare and surely not of the other cats who’ll be infected and then they infect. You should think if you had it and how you’d feel and have some respect. You need to help him in his last days with care, and keep him inside. You are truly heartless and God knows how true you are for his creations. Why would you even ask how to care. How sad you are as a human to allow this all to keep going.
I agree with both the comments above. Keep him inside, for his health and the health of the other cats. If you’re not concerned that much about his health, think of if the other cats’ owners sued you over getting their cats infected. Maybe that will be what you need to get your act together.
Both of mine are FIV positive, and I keep them indoors. It is the best solution to keeping them healthy and not letting it spread to other kittys.
Check out an outdoor enclosures fur them, mine love their Kritter Kondos from http://kritterkommunity.com.
I do not see that the kitty is neutered.
If not, it’s a major problem.
If neutered, his hormones will cease and his agressiveness will diminish gradually.
The urge to fight will end so he cannot affect other cats…
Sometimes they don’t change but neutering most often will
change the fighting urge because that hormone causing
mating/fighting is stopped. In any event, confining a positive cat is neccessary, not euthanasia!!!!
I Understand how the lady feels. Two years ago a stray cat started hanging around our house we already have two cats. He was in an awful state and we brought him to the vet. The vet said he had fiv and we should put him to sleep as no one would take him. We took him in and nursed him back to reasonable health. However he has an awful abscesse on his front paw making it hard for him to walk, it bleeds everyday and he seems sad so much. He is in all day, on steroids and anti botics. We had him neutered because he was fighting with our other two cats.
However he hasn’t stopped fighting with them and its like he hates them, they leave him alone but he always goes to them and fights. Its heartbreaking.
We bring him to the vet regularly and the vet still insists to put him to sleep as he did on our first meeting.
So if you can keep charlie in for the rest of his days and don’t get any other cats.
It’s your responsibility as a pet parent to do what is in Charlie’s best interest, even if he has to adjust his thinking. He needs to be kept indoors. Buy him some new toys, scratching posts, and a nice cat tree. You can even purchase or build a safe outdoor enclosure for Charlie to use while supervised. My former outdoor cats are very happy to lay on my screened in porch. They watch the birds and squirrels at the feeders hung for their viewing pleasure. You also need to find a vet who keeps more current regarding treatment plans for FIV+ cats. Just like HIV, FIV no longer needs to be a death sentence.