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Dr. Cathy Alinovi

My cat is FIV positive. What can I do to help her live a long life?

FIV, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus in cats that is similar to human HIV. Usually, cats are infected early in life but don’t become clinically sick for years; these cats are usually diagnosed by routine blood testing.

FIV, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus in cats that is similar to human HIV. Usually, cats are infected early in life but don’t become clinically sick for years; these cats are usually diagnosed by routine blood testing.

The virus hangs out in the immune system for years. While it lives there, the virus weakens the immune system. The more immune challenges the FIV infected cat encounters, the more likely that cat will have a shortened life expectancy. On the flipside, there are wonderful examples of FIV positive cats who live to 18 years old.

For the owner of one of these cats, it may be a challenge to help these cats live to a good old age with good quality of life. The key is in taking care of the immune system. Almost 75% of the immune system lives in the intestinal tract in any mammal. This means that what we put in our mouth is more important than anything else we can do. This is especially true for FIV positive cats. These cats should eat very low antigen diets. What this means is a diet with low allergy stimulating ability. Diets that are least likely to over stimulate the immune system are those made with pure, fresh ingredients. For cats, these diets should be 80 to 90% meat. The remainder of the diet being a mixture of whole grains and fruits and vegetables.

Other things to consider for the FIV positive cat: minimal vaccines, minimal use of chemicals, and avoid heavy cleaning products in the house.  Other than legal requirements, the argument can be made that FIV positive cats should never receive another vaccine in their lives. Any flea product, any medication, any other type of chemical can all have effects on the immune system. Any of these can weaken the defenses of an FIV positive cat.

Similarly, exposure to fleas, mold, and any other environmental allergen can attack the immune system and be equally hazardous. Therefore, the owner of an FIV positive cat must walk a fine line to protect the kitty.

FIV positive cats can live to a wonderful old age without living in a bubble. By working with your holistic veterinarian, you can achieve the happy balance that should protect your kitty for years to come.

 

Dr. Cathy Alinovi DVM

As a practicing veterinarian, Dr. Cathy treated 80% of what walked in the door — not with expensive prescriptions — but with adequate nutrition. Now retired from private practice, her commitment to pets hasn’t waned and she looks forward to impacting many more pet parents through her books, research, speaking and consulting work.  Learn more at drcathyvet.com

23 Comments

23 Comments

  1. Valeria

    June 25, 2015 at 10:32 am

    Feed only high quality food. Research herbs that boost immunity, search on the net for pet sites geared for holistic treatments and there you will find appropriate supplements/remedies specifically for FIV.

  2. Jessica

    June 25, 2015 at 12:33 pm

    I’m really surprised this article recommends feeding cats a diet that is 10-20% grains, vegetables, and fruits. Cats are obligate Carnivores and have no need for plant material in their diet, in fact these foods can cause health issues in a normal healthy cat. You could argue that even wild cats get a small amount of plant matter in their diet when they eat the stomachs of their prey. But, that is a tiny amount, certainly not 10-20% of their diet, and it is pre-digested by the prey’s digestive tract which is designed to digest plant material. There are many canned foods out there that are grain free and 95% meat and there are even some that are 100% meat.

  3. Sage

    February 16, 2016 at 5:09 pm

    I’ve fed an older feral cat (Finnegan) who was living in the neighborhood for many years, and finally decided to bring him inside. We have had a great many cats living with us over the years and have quite a few now, plus I’ve cared for various ferals for a long time and most have eventually become family members as they’ve grown older. Finnegan joined us in October (2015) and first visited the Vet for a bath, flea removal, neutering, minor dental work and an FIV test – NO vaccines! He tested positive for FIV but from caring for him for years I knew he was healthy. He now has an indoor forever home and while very feral at the beginning, he is happy to be indoors – loves attention and gets along well with our other cats. My cats all eat a safe, healthy diet of home prepared raw chicken and supplements plus human grade cat foods. Finnegan receives extra probiotics and vitamins. To date he is a very healthy senior cat.

    • Linda

      June 25, 2016 at 1:27 am

      sage, would like to know supplements, pro-biotics , and vitamins you are giving Finnegan. I have a male cat (Buddy) that has fiv. He keeps loosing weight. Need to reverse the weight loss and hopefully get him better. He is now an inside cat.Lost his two brothers (one being hit by a car and the other being killed by some animal) can’t loose this little guy too. What do you mean by prepared raw chicken? Any help would be appreciated.

      • S. Matt

        June 14, 2021 at 3:33 am

        Sometimes weight loss is due to hyperthyroidism.

    • S. Matt

      June 14, 2021 at 3:31 am

      God bless you for giving so much to homeless animals, the world could use more people like you. You are a truly good spirit & there’s a special place in heaven for people like you!

    • Rebecca Pace

      May 23, 2022 at 5:50 am

      at the moment I am in the process of homing a feral but 100% healthy cat, that gave birth and was spayed, however failed to find a good home. I am just worried of bringing in another cat just because i always kept my FIV cat in a bubble to protect him and worried this new cat might pass on some illness/infection to him. Did you share the same feelings or were you cool with it?

      • Jan Hagerich

        February 9, 2024 at 12:57 pm

        we have a 1 yr old cat that’s a barn cat. We took him to the Vet had him fixed and gave him shot and found out he has Lekemia. He is healthy as of now but our Vet said he will pass this on to other cats. I have. A inside cat so I can’t bring him into my house. The Vet was me to put him down but I hate to do that unless he seems sick. He loves to be held and petted. We feed him wet and dry food. What is your opinion?

    • Fae

      July 10, 2023 at 3:28 am

      Does Finnegan live amongst your non-FIV kitties? I just rescued a FIV positive feral cat and he lives in my catio. He would like to come indoors but I’m afraid of infecting my indoor kitties. What do you recommend?

  4. Melissa

    June 27, 2016 at 8:00 pm

    Linda, my cat was diagnosed with fiv 2 days ago and I’ve been reading up on it. Everything I read says NOT to give a fiv positive cat raw food.

    • Linda

      June 28, 2016 at 1:43 am

      Melissa, thanks for your response. Have you heard of forta flora? I was wondering if that would help our cats. I know that the local Humane Society has been giving it to some of the cats they have up for adoption if they have health issues. Also what brand of dry food are feeding your cat?

      • Susan Thixton

        June 28, 2016 at 2:28 pm

        Hi Linda – you should know that FortiFlora is made by Purina and contains an ingredient (animal digest) whose legal definition allows it to be sourced from diseased, dead/non-slaughtered or even euthanized animals. You can learn more about the ingredient here: https://truthaboutpetfood.com/popular-vet-recommended-supplement-contains-questionable-ingredient/

        • Linda

          June 29, 2016 at 5:56 pm

          Susan, I didn’t know that. thanks for the info. I am trying to help my little boy feel better and live longer ( not to subject him to a product that could cause more problems than he already is dealing with). Glad I haven’t given him any fortiflora. What would be a good dry cat food for him? I need to find one that will put some weight on him and of course help him overall. At present, I set out Kit ‘n Kaboodle, Purina One Hairball, and Purina Kitten Chow, He can help himself to whichever one he wants. Is there something that would be better for him seeing he has FIV?

          • Susan Thixton

            June 29, 2016 at 7:46 pm

            In the comments of that post (about Animal Digest) there are comments from consumers with recommendations to try.

          • S. Matt

            June 14, 2021 at 3:48 am

            I don’t know if these people will read this because the posts r all so old but DON’T feed your cat dry food if u can help it because that’s how they develop kidney disease. Cats get the moisture they need from water & foods that are wet/soft foods. If u must give dry because u cannot be there all the time but want them to have something to nibble on give them Fromm foods.
            I feed my cats the Gold label
            because they’re all seniors here & even if they’re not, they will still eat it. The younger ones love surf & turf flavor. Not cheap but high quality u can read all about them, it’s a family run business.

  5. Ceren Güney

    June 30, 2017 at 1:31 pm

    Dr Alinovi, is there a wet food brand you can recommend?

    • Dr Cathy

      June 30, 2017 at 3:08 pm

      Please refer her to Susan’s 2017 List for the best resource

  6. Anita Hester

    December 24, 2017 at 11:46 pm

    I have an older male cat that is 14 . He has always been an inside / outside cat . He was always my big beautiful fluffy boy but started in Sept 2017 loosing weight and muscle mass and not wanting to eat . I took him in they said he had a couple of bad teeth and his teeth needed cleaning. We did this but after a few weeks still no improvement but all of his routine labs were great until she checked for FIV . He was FIV positive . After this he had some good days eating great 3-4 times a day small amount of moist AD food from vet . Now we are still struggling his labs are still good but continues coming to lose weight but really seems to want to live . I am lost please help ! I want so bad for him to gain some weight . His Mom lived to be 19.
    Thanks
    Anita

    • Pia

      December 28, 2017 at 6:54 pm

      Hi Anita, did you check if your cat has stomatitis? FIV positive cats are prone to stomatitis which in layman’s terms is the inflammation of the gums.

  7. guest

    January 4, 2019 at 6:45 pm

    I had a Feline Aids cat too. The vet wanted to kill him as a 16 week old kitten that was found outside with another kitten. I said I adopted for better or worse so it was not right to kill him, as he so wanted to live. He so desperately wanted out of the shelter. It was noisy and dogs barking, and they put him in my arms and he hugged me and purred. So he went home. Back then the vets were clueless and no internet. I went with my gut. Canned meat and veggies diet with cat vitamins and beano supplement to stop the gas as he could not digest as his digestion system was terribly damaged. He had lots of health issues so I did buy pet insurance to help with all the extra expenses. He lived to 19 years old. The vaccines damaged his kidneys so the kidneys were failing from the feline vaccines for years.

    Now I would do a much better job. I am looking to adopt two female cats that must stay together with felines aids. They will be fed frozen raw ground, cat vitamins and no vaccines. I tried adopting a female last year that was feline aids positive, and the vet, without my consent vaccinated the 4 pound 4 year old munchkin stray with all the vaccines at one time and did a spay surgery. She woke up in extreme pain and suffering from side effects of the vaccines. She died a painful death caused deliberately by the vet. An honest vet will never ever vaccinate and do surgery at the same time. A feline aids cat should not be vaccinated at all as their immune system is mostly non existent, so the side effects from vaccines are ten fold compared to the vaccine side effects of a 100% healthy pet. So I am looking on CL to adopt two feline aids positive cats that are not vaccinated, as they will have the best shot of a long healthy life as I have gained so much knowledge from holistic, homeopathic and naturopathic veterinarians.

    • Robyn Grogan

      September 11, 2020 at 10:48 pm

      I am furious with my vet right now. I rescued a cat that I was told was FIV positive. This info was passed on to the vet. Due to COVID 19, I was not allowed to be with him! When she called me, after examining him (I was in my car outside the clinic), she said he needed a rabies shot, etc.; I said that I didn’t want him to have any immunizations and she said it was WA law! Shouldn’t she have known to wait until his tests were completed and FIV confirmed or not first?

  8. Cathy Bumgarner

    March 25, 2022 at 3:11 pm

    I just found out my two girls, 5 and 10 are FIV positive. I’m heartbroken over hear because I always got their vaccinations and fed blue dry cat food. What do you mean when you say frozen raw ground and our vet said raw food can give them worms? My younger kitty goes insane when raw meat is brought out and of course I let her have as much as she wants but should i just let her have it all the time?

  9. Dave

    November 24, 2023 at 9:30 pm

    We rescued a Feral Male cat, blue Russian. He was 2 at the time. Our vet diagnosed Aids. We had him in home and with his children he had just made (8) of them we also rescued. Only 2 of them had the virus. One lived to be 17, one to be 20.5. The father who was known as Papa; had attacks for years with it. Could not eat at times so we made sure he had baby food, and we gave water with a protein mix in a eyedropper for the worst few days of each onset. It would come on and we would help him fight it. Our big Man fought, and he lived a good life until he was 21.7 years old and had it since he was 2 years old. On that day he looked at me, meowed 3 times saying Dad Thank You and went into a coma, we allowed him to be assisted in his crossing. They can make it but it is something as a parent you must be ready to work with for a steady long time. We took shifts being up with him. midnight to 9am, Then 3pm until midnight.

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