When I rescued my FIV cat named Sam the veterinarian told me that he was contagiousness. That I had to keep my cat away from all other cats because they would get sick from any close contact, saliva, grooming or play bites. That was ten years ago and today my FIV positive cat shares our home with four other cats that are negative to the disease.
Initially, I did keep Sam separated from my other cats. He lived in my office and the other cats had the rest of the house. The cats would look at each other through a glass doorway and that is the extent of contact that they had with one another for eight years.
Then one day my friend surrendered to me a kitten that tested positive for FIV and I introduced this kitten to Sam. Sam‘s entire disposition changed as we observed him playing with the kitten, grooming and even sleeping with the kitten. Then when the kitten was about 9 months old she developed a cold and I took her to the veterinarian.
I told the veterinarian that she was surrendered to me due to FIV diagnoses when she was a 9-week old kitten and they asked if she was ever rechecked. I said no and they informed me that it could have been a false positive. The FIV test was done and Lucy tested negative.
Since Sam got along with Lucy I was not about to remove her from her room. Even the veterinarian said that I should not separate the two of them. As long as there were no deep puncture bite wounds there would be no worries of her ever getting feline immunodeficiency virus.
Sam and Lucy were roommates until the day I decided to socialize him with one of my other cats.
I bought the Feliway plug-in diffusers because this product mimics a cat's natural facial pheromones and creates a calming environment. You have to allow your cats to get used to the Feliway. It takes about a week, then you can introduce any cat to them and they will love each other. I added the plug-ins to every room of my house so the cats would stay calm. By using the Feliway diffusers I was able to introduce Sam and Lucy to my other four cats without a ruckus, snarl or a hiss.
That was four years ago, and they all live under the same roof with FIV Lucy and Sam.
*Note I still use the Feliway plug-in diffuser because it helps to keep my cats calm. In the past, they would get stressed out if I moved the furniture or used the vacuum. They still do not like the vacuum but instead of taking out on one another they now all run under the bed and huddle together. Most of the time they get so comfy under there that they fall asleep.
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