My FIV cat was rescued in 2008 at the age of three. When we took him to the veterinarian for a wellness checkup the veterinarian informed us that Sam had FIV and FeLV. At the time he was very thin and the veterinarian had recommended euthanasia because he thought this cat was dying. I remember him telling me that the cat would pass within a month and that it would be a painful death.
I declined the veterinarian's diagnosis and told him to vaccinate and neuter him. When I took Sam back home I did separate him from my other cats because at the time the veterinarians all thought FIV and FeLV was contagious if a cat came in contact, grooming, or eating from the same bowl.
Within a few weeks, Sam showed signs of being a beautiful and playful Siamese cat. He put on weight, was social, talkative, and played with his toys and our dog. Sam lived in my home office which was away from my other cats. My husband installed a window seat for him so that he could watch the birds and sun himself.
We had Sam retested and the test showed that Sam eliminated the FeLV but was positive for FIV.
Sam loved to root through my trashcan and play with paper and playing in a cardboard box was one of his favorite activities. For all counts, Sam appeared to be a normal and healthy cat.
Here are some photos of Sam it shows how well he recovered.
Know that Sam is living a long life as he is now age 17. He has normal old-age health conditions such as arthritis in his hind legs and is impatient when it comes to eating his food and demands that we turn on the water in the sink, but other than that he uses the litter box, grooms himself, watches the birds from his window seat, plays with the dog and our other cats.
Yes, we released Sam from our office a decade ago so he could have the company of cats and all get along. There has never been a cat fight or deep wound bite with blood as this is the only way FIV is transformed from cat to cat.
Our FIV cat has lived a long and happy cat life and we suspect that he will live well into his 20s.
Here are some current photos of Sam
***Note the age difference is updated in this article as we received an update on his previous owner and learned that Sam was older than we had thought. His owner had moved and I was told that he could not find the cats so moved and never came back to look for them. Sam was age three in 2008.
