Protecting Your Feline Friends Against Feline AIDS

We are talking about Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV or Feline AIDS) today as we recently treated a case here at the clinic and thought that it might be a good idea to remind the community that there are steps that you can take to protect your Feline Friends against this nasty disease.

FIV (feline aids) affects a cat’s immune system in a very similar way to that which HIV affects a human’s immune defences.  The disease can go unnoticed in the community because it lacks specific symptoms with cats succumbing to a host of secondary problems. FIV positive cats often suffer from chronic problems requiring more intensive veterinary care but with careful monitoring and treatment can live full and happy lives.

Arnie is the beloved pet lion of our head veterinary nurse Sue.  Arnie was diagnosed with FIV in 2012 following treatment for a cat bite abscess. We have been monitoring Arnie’s white blood cells and Sue keeps a close and expert watch on him for any signs of infection.  We are very happy to report that Arnie is still going strong. Knowing Arnie’s FIV status has allowed Sue to isolate him and prevent him from passing on this disease to other cats.

It may go relatively unnoticed but FIV is prevalent in the community, with up to 26% of Victorian cats with exposure to outdoors being FIV positive.

Find out if your cat is one of those affected with free FIV tests in clinic for a limited time.

How do you keep your cat protected?

You have two options; the simplest being never let your cat roam outside as infection usually occurs when one cat bites another. But what about cats that like some time in the sun or a private moment in the outdoors? For these cats the best protection we can give them is through vaccination.

Once the initial course has been administered you can then simply bundle this vaccination in with the cat’s annual vaccination and wellness exam.  The price of an annual vaccination is a small when compared with the multiple veterinary visits, treatments and shorter life that FIV infection could cost.

For more information about FIV please contact the clinic on 03 5443 3322 and we can make sure that we keep your feline family purring for years to come.

Dr Lyndel