FELINE IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (FIV)
Dr T van Egdom and Dr C N Sparks BVSc
This is the disease also known as Feline aids and the virus is related to the Human HIV virus.
TRANSMISSION:
The virus is present in an infected cat's saliva. It is a very fragile virus and will not survive in the environment for a long time and therefore is not easily passed from cat to cat. The main route of infection is when an infected cat bites another cat when cats are fighting. Tom cats that have not been neutered are the group that is most at risk as they tend to get involved in a lot of fighting. We commonly see the disease in stray cats, because most of these cats are not neutered and tend to fight a lot.
It is not easily transmitted between cats in a normal household where the cats get along well with each other and especially if these cats have been sterilised. In this aspect it differs from Feline Leukemia virus.
FIV is more common in older cats and young kittens are seldom infected until they grow up and start wandering.
SYMPTOMS:
An infected cat might show an increase in lymphnode size and temperature a couple of weeks after exposure, but these symptoms are mostly overlooked. Normally they don't show any typical symptoms for many months or even years.
Eventually the virus causes a decrease in the number of white blood cells of the cat, leading to immunosupression. Because the virus cause immunosuppression, a lot of the symptoms can be attributed to secondary infections. Symptoms that we commonly see includes weight loss, loss of appetite, sneezing, gum infections, eye infections, disharge from the nose and enteritis. Less commonly the eyes and brain can also be affected. Gum infections is one of the most common symptoms seen.
DIAGNOSIS:
Because the clinical picture of both FeLV and FIV is so similar a test is available that test for both these diseases. It is the same test that was mentioned for FeLV and can be quickly performed in the Veterinary practice. A kitten younger than 12 weeks testing positive should be retested 4 months later, as a positive mother could have passed antibodies on to the kitten through her milk which may persist .
TREATMENT:
Unlike FeLV, there are drugs available to treat FIV. We use some of the anti-retroviral drugs that are used in humans, with good success. It is however very important that the disease is diagnosed early and treatment is started promptly. A cat that is started on treatment early in the disease process, can have a long and happy life. The secondary infections also need to be treated with appropriate antibiotics. Mycoplasma haemofelis is a blood parasite that sometimes affect FIV positive cats in our area and should be treated when present.
PREVENTION:
The risk of your cat being infected with FIV is greatly reduced by sterilisation or neutering, as this decrease the chances of cats wandering and getting involved in fights.