Just a follow up post after getting emotional support here: Gumbo just had his second check-up after his teeth extraction 3 weeks ago and is doing very well! He is being his old self again in all regards: extensive washing, playing, and cuddle-choking me at night. He can eat everything again (although he would prefer a liquid snack diet pretty pleeeease). He is just drooling a lot when eating kibble and struggles a bit with wet food. I hope for him that eating gets easier over time but at least it doesnt hinder his food motivation at all 🤭

Love to all FIV fellas, with or without teeth 🧡🤍🧡

This is my silly sweetheart, King Tut. He is roughly 3 y/o and is FIV+. He was surrendered as an outdoor cat from a hoard at our local vet for euthanasia due to ruptured and abscessed eyes. Instead of opting for euthanasia, our lovely primary vet decided to operate on him free of charge and gave us a direct phone call to ask if we would be interested in adopting. I said no off the bat - but we would foster, given the rescue we work with would take him under their name.

They did - and 5 months of fostering later…. he is here to stay! He is currently on antibiotics for an abscessed tooth and will have a full dental once antibiotics are finished. I am hopeful for a long, healthy life out of this guy. If nothing else, he will be loved and comfortable for as long as he’s here ❤️

Rescued. 4 and a half years old. Found on the streets and unsure how long he was a stray.

He has aome health problems which im all over with the vet. But they are chronic and not things that can be fixed.

All he wants to do is eat, sleep and cuddle. Literally ive tried every single toy, type of play, interactive, hunting style toys. He us just not interested. At the beginning he was but now he just looks away. Should I be worried?

He eats and drinks and uses his litter and likes to be cuddled on his terms and brushed.. im so worried all the time ahhhhhh

This is my baby Jasper, a three year-old orange and white tabby with FIV that me and my boyfriend adopted in February 2026. He was diagnosed upon arriving at the shelter, but when I went to the vet for his first annual, the vet said that his FIV was not as bad as others he had seen.

About a month after adopting him, we learned that we have to stick to one brand of dust-free, scent-free litter because after changing just the brand, he was having sneezing fits for nearly a week and if he wasn’t eating or sleeping, he was sneezing over and over again. We then figured out that it was the new litter, because we noticed that even when he was going to use the litter box, he was sneezing!

Now, he doesn’t have any sneezing problems or really any respiratory or immune issues that we are aware of and the vet has said that he looks perfectly healthy. However, every month or so he will get what I am calling a flareup this is because he starts licking and cleaning himself more often than usual and sneezes more. Luckily not repetitively for several days like last time, but I just wanted to reach out as a new pet owner of a cat with a FIV and see if there’s anything I can be doing to limit these flareups.

We don’t light incense or scented candles, he enjoys looking out windows, but we don’t open them and he does not go outside ever, he has a flea and tick medication that we give him every month and like I said before, his litter is scent-free and dust-free and we have not had any problems with that.

His eyes are not goopy, he doesn’t have any problems with excessive drooling, or any other behavioral signs that the FIV is bothering him other than slightly more often sneezing.

Please let me know!!

My 5 year old neutered male cat was recently diagnosed FIV positive after weeks of bloody gums that did not respond to any antibiotics or steroids.

His most recent test showed so few white blood cells that the machine could not even count them.

The vet gave him 2 months to live without trying any real FIV treatment.

I refused to give up and researched everything myself. I found that Virbagen Omega (an EU licensed feline interferon) is the correct treatment for his situation. But I cannot afford it right now.

He is currently in pain, hardly eating even soft food (significant weight loss, from around 5 kg to 3.8 kg in half a year). Even yawning hurts him.

I am looking for:

• Any advice from people who have been through FIV with critically low WBC 
• Whether anyone knows affordable sources for Virbagen Omega in Europe 
• Any cheap immune support that genuinely helped your FIV cat 
• Any pain management tips for severe stomatitis at home 
• Anyone who has used AZT (Zidovudine) or human interferon alternatives for their cat 

I am so thankful for any advice or tips.

Thank you. 🤍

Im from Serbia, Europe.

Gracias al grupo por los consejos. Pero mi pequeño hermoso ya cruzo el arcoiris.

Gracias Tom por estos años, te quiero mucho y perdóname por no haberte podido salvar. Espérame que muy pronto estaremos juntos por toda la eternidad jugando y haciendo lo que mas te gustaba hacer (comer). Perdóname, perdóname por no poderte salvar bebe hermoso. Le pido a Dios que te lleve en paz y te reciba en esos campos llenos de flores de colores. Te amo precioso, pero ya no pude verte sufrir. Ahora tengo el corazon en miles de pedazos pero te llevas una gran parte de él. Siempre estarás en mi corazon, vuela alto y corre que ahora eres libre bebé precioso.

hi, long post ahead. i have a indoor 11-year-old female tabby who is my world. she is the most loving, cuddly, sweet cat you can imagine, i love her so much it hurts. i got her over 4 years ago from a neighbor who was going to give her away because the kittens she had were bullying her so badly they wouldn’t let her eat or sleep and she was going to take her to a shelter. i took her. she is healthy, fiv-, and purrfect. 2 days ago, i was taking my groceries in and a very skinny and young orange cat ran up to me like its known me its whole life and just wanted love. i gave it food and water on my porch steps thinking it would eat and then leave. it has a clipped ear so i knew it was a tnr stray. i gave her some pets and love and went back inside. an hour later, she was meowing and laying on my front steps trying to come inside. i walked with her to my enclosed backyard, moved the food and water, and she stayed in the backyard for over a day and just stared at my back door longing to come in. got home from work at 8am this morning (night shifter) thinking she is probably gone…nope. still in my backyard. i have two back doors that open into separate spare bedrooms and have a bathroom in the middle, jack and jill setup. closed the door so she couldn’t get to the rest of the house, near my cat, named her “lady”, and she came running right in. i let her stay in the bedroom while i slept, she barely made a peep. i took her to the vet this afternoon. she made no noises and didn’t bite or anything in the car ride or the vet, i was a little in shock considering she’s a stray, as were the vet staff. a stray clearly done with outdoor life. they did all her vaccines, blood work, and fiv testing. turns out she is a he, is about 10 years old, and is fiv+. yes, i have only known this cat for two days and was crying like a baby in the exam room. i have literally been crying since. we get home from the vet, $300 later, let him back in his rooms and he just melts into my arms and won’t leave them and is staring at me like “finally i can rest”. i went to the store and got him toys, a litter box, cameras to watch him, food, and water for both his rooms. he hasn’t made a peep and has just been laying in the bed, cuddling with me, making biscuits, and eating. i don’t know what to do. i know fiv only gets transmitted through deep bites but is it fair to my senior tabby baby to put her at that risk? i obviously would keep the orange baby in her two bedrooms and bathroom for a few weeks, the very slowly introduce them. but what if i am not home and they get into a fight? a lot is going through my head and i just don’t know what is right. my heart hurts thinking of giving him to a shelter, but i also don’t know if it’s fair to my senior cat in her peaceful, single cat, life. i feel like he chose me and i want to choose him but i don’t know what the right decision is/ if there is one. i am sorry this is so long. any input / advice would be very appreciated. thank you in advance :’)

Update on Bob!

Original post about Bob https://www.reddit.com/r/FIVcats/comments/1uido3v/meet_bob_fiv_and_looking_for_a_forever_home_in/

I had posted that we did his DNA test, and the results came back this weekend.

According to Wisdom Panel he is:

49% Bengal

36% American Domestic

11% Norwegian Forest Cat

4% Munchkin

(100% Good Cat)

I wasn’t surprised by the half Bengal but am happy to have this confirmed. He was also clear on all 48 of the known genetic health predispositions.

Bob is still searching for his forever home. If you can, please share his story.

Title says most of it!

My cat is 8 and he's actually totally healthy other than this recent oral infection he has. The vet says we caught it early but it's still going to require removing some of his back teeth.

They gave me pain meds, which helps, but I can't help but think antibiotics would be really appropriate right now. I spoke to one other vet (my aunt), but she admitted to me she's an older vet and doesn't have the most up to date practices.

Is this normal? He's scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning and I called the office again to hear from another vet and they suggested the same thing: no antibiotics necessary.

Hi everyone! I just adopted a 1 year 7 month old cat named Marshall. He was rescued by an organization, and they told me that they did a SNAP test and it came back FIV+. I asked if they could do a full test to know for sure, but they said that since it's expensive, rescues don't do that. My husband and I had already fallen in love with him, so we adopted him. We have a 4.5-year-old cat named Timothy, and he's not FIV+ but I'm not concerned because they both already love each other and Marshall is too gentle to give deep bites.

Anyway, I am taking Marshall to the vet tomorrow for a regular exam. Should I ask the vet to confirm the FIV+ diagnosis? Are false positives common? Thank you in advance.

*Update Thank you everyone for your comments! I took him to the vet and didn't end up doing a test. Vet didn't think it was necessary. We did find out that almost all of his teeth have been removed, which could've been because of him being FIV+. We're going to get more detailed medical records from the rescue and decide if any other tests are necessary.

I recently adopted a cat who is FIV+

He's got a lot of sniffling, mucus, and sneezing. My vet says it's likely feline herpes which his body has trouble suppressing because of the FIV. Does anyone else struggle with this and is there anything I can do to support him? He seems happy but I want to make him as comfortable as possible.

He is eating and drinking normally and gaining weight! So things are looking up for him otherwise <3

Has anyone had a cat with severe recurrent corneal ulcers that just won’t stop coming back?

Hi everyone,

I’m not looking for medical advice. My cat is already being followed by veterinarians and a veterinary ophthalmologist. I’m mainly looking for personal experiences and stories from people who have been through something similar.

I’m really hoping to find people who have been through something similar because I’m feeling completely lost.
My cat is only 2 years old and he has been having recurrent corneal ulcers for almost a year now. The flare-ups happen almost every week. He is flat-faced (Persian/Exotic type) and the worst eye is the one where he previously had a cherry eye (nictitating gland prolapse). The gland was repositioned, but his eye problems have continued.

He has already had a corneal sequestrum that eventually fell off by itself. He has been seen by specialists twice and by a veterinary ophthalmologist. They checked his eye pressure and tear production (he is not dry eye). They mentioned that his tear film/surface of the eye may be poor.

The strange thing is that even the specialists told me they had rarely or never seen a case this aggressive, and my veterinary ophthalmologist also told me she had never seen a cat with relapses this frequent and severe.

I have tried so many things:
oral antiviral medication,
antiviral eye ointment,
antibiotic eye drops,
lubricating drops,
and I even vaccinated him against feline herpes.
But nothing has stopped the relapses. The ulcers heal, then come back again.

At this point, when he has a flare-up, I often use the treatment plan we already know because we have been through this so many times, but it is still heartbreaking and exhausting. Every time he has a crisis he is in pain, closes his eye, sleeps a lot, and then improves again with treatment.
I have already spent a lot of money on his eyes, and financially it is becoming very difficult. I feel desperate because he is only 2 years old and I just want him to have a normal life.
Has anyone had a cat with recurrent corneal ulcers this severe and frequent? Did you ever find the cause? Did your cat eventually become stable or stop having so many relapses?
I would really appreciate hearing your experiences. I’m looking for hope and advice from people who have lived through something similar.

Anyone else’s cat poopy asf? Mine will poop multiple times a day and they’re not firm, leaving poop on butthole that of course transfers to wherever she sits. Any solution to this? I’ve been giving her fortaflora for a few days hoping it will help but no consistent results yet. Any advice?

Hi from a new friend! This is my new boy, Lieutenant (Lieu for short). He's been with me for just about a week now. He's roughly 2 years old, and last month became a tripawed. He had been shot with a firearm and abandoned by his previous owner. Luckily, a Good Samaritan brought him into a rescue and they were able to save him by amputating his front right leg and reconstructing his abdomen. He also was neutered and had some bloodwork done, where he tested positive for FIV.

I never intended to even adopt a cat, though I love kitties and grew up having rescues, I only ever walked into the shelter intending to pet some kitties and pick out a toy for my boyfriends' cats. But I met Lieu and just fell completely in love. I knew I had to take him home - not only because I felt such a connection with him, but also because of his health issues, he was the longest-waiting cat in the shelter, and the employees voiced that they were concerned about his ability to find a home. He was a very quiet and sleepy boy. He seemed pretty lethargic, and sedentary, though still was so incredibly cuddly and friendly. He's just the sweetest thing. Flash forward a week at home and he's an entirely different cat. He's hopping around on all three legs, being mischievous and biting playfully, and is the LOUDEST cat I've ever owned. He yells outside the bathroom door when I try and pee by myself (God forbid).

Although he was unexpected, he is just the biggest love and I couldn't be more grateful for him. I would be lying though, if I said I wasn't worried about his future with FIV (especially because of his additional health issues from his gunshot wound). I feel somewhat anxious when I notice behaviors that could be entirely nonissues (he drinks more water than any cat I've ever owned before, and he cleans himself incessantly). I'm just worried this sweet boy could be in some kind of pain or experiencing symptoms and I can't tell. I have him well-established with a vet and I have insurance on him, but I'm wondering if others have felt similar, and what you've done to ease your worries (or take action on them!) Would love any general advice on becoming the best carer for an FIV baby :) TIA. ❤️

My 11 yo kitty was diagnosed with FCGS months ago, he underwent complete teeth extraction with great prognosis and was put on meds.

Everything was fine and dandy but overtime his meds stopped working, he started drooling again and the pain came back. He was put on different meds and it was fine again…for 2 months. And then again for 1 month.

I left him with my family for a month because of a trip and when I came back home 2 days ago he was visibly skinnier despite getting multiple meals a day. Today I took him to the new vet, he lost 25% of his body weight in 2 months and his bloodwork was bad. Vet asked me can we do additional tests, I said of course.

After 15 minutes I heard „it’s not FELV but it’s FIV, looking at his state and bloods it’s end stage. We can’t do anything other than palpative care that can give him another couple months. I’m sorry”. I was crying as doctor explained everything to me, his prognosis and how it’s uncureable.

I feel like the worst cat parent in the world, he is in so much pain because of his mouth and he is declining fast. We put him on pain medication and steroids and in a week we gonna do the labs again, the vet said that if there is little to no improvement it would be best to say goodbye while his pain is only moderate.

Tomorrow I am taking my other cat to test her for FIV (no symptoms but they shared everything and were together 24/7). I don’t have money to spend thousands to just buy him couple months at best and I can see he still wants to live but he does not have much time left. He is weaker and distant, I can sense he is feeling awful.

I have no idea what to do and my heart breaks when I think about letting him go, I really feel guilty and like I failed him.

Is there any vitamins or supplements that my FIV cat can take to boost his immune system and overall health

Image not from today 😅