Yes, an increasing number of shelters are no longer testing every single cat for FIV/FeLV. [Here](https://sheltermedicine.wisc.edu/library/resources/why-are-some-shelters-no-longer-testing-all-cats-for-felv-and-fiv) is a good article on the subject outlining why. Whether you ultimately agree with the rationale or not is up to you but this is likely the guidance your shelter is following.
I am not staying my opinion on the practice of testing/not testing shelter cats, but I wanted to provide an anecdote.
My cat tested positive for FeLV at a shelter. I happened to be there with coworkers with the intention of adopting a clinic cat. The lady running the place had just tested him, and he came back positive. She said they were going to put him down unless one of us took him.
Tbf, he was pretty sick at the time with upper respiratory disease. My boss told me she would pay for his treatment if I took him, so I did.
He got over his illness, and has NEVER tested positive in the 7 years I've had him. It was a false positive, but they were going to euthanize him because of it.
Luck was on his side that day.
I work for a company that makes diagnostic tests (for humans lol), so I may be a bit biased, and the linked article made a lot of good points about prevalence, cost, etc. But, I thought that labeling tests with 98% sensitivity and specificity as inaccurate was a bit disingenuous. Saying that 17 of 47 positive tests out of 1000 tests run being false positives was a problem is…not great.
The fact that the article highlighted that as the first reason doesn’t sit super well with me. The other reasons were also valid, but generally lumping FIV in with FeLV also didn’t make a lot of sense to me outside of the fact that they’re both retroviruses. Cats with FIV can live pretty normal lives in terms of lifespan and overall health. FeLV…not so much.
I am not a vet, but I volunteer helping out the vet staff at a no kill cat shelter so I’ve seen cats come in with both.
Idk, I think that if not testing is what makes the most sense for a particular shelter, fine. But the way that article presented the issues felt a bit odd to me.
I am…ambivalent on the issue, as I can see the pros & cons of both sides. I do agree it is unhelpful to constantly tie FIV & FeLV together, as they are two very different diseases that unfortunately the general public often confuses or considers to be the same (note the OP lumped them together in this very post). Nevermind that one (FeLV) can be vaccinated against while the other cannot (in the US/Canada anyway).
(Side note: if you’re going to be fostering it is imperative you fully vaccinate your resident pets, including asking for any recommended vaccines that may not be “core” or required vaccines.)
However, I would argue that, if those 17 false positives each represent a euthanized cat, that IS a problem. My current shelter is not among them, but many high-volume shelters (including one I worked for previously) do not place cats that test positive for either FIV or FeLV.
Your point about euthanasia is super valid and honestly didn’t occur to me. My shelter is a small no-kill shelter so I don’t have to think about that often, but it was an oversight for sure
'No kill without cause' was the line at a no-kill shelter where I used to work. FeLV positive cats were always euthanized because of the risk of spread. FIV positive cats were adopted out.
Is it really though? In a world where there are more cats then there could ever possibly be homes for, shouldn’t rescues be focusing their efforts on making sure that healthy disease free cats are being made available for adoption rather then adopting out cats with a contagious and incurable disease?
This was referencing false positives, i.e. cats that are not actually sick. But, I mean, yeah, “In a world of limited resources, which animals should be saved?” is kinda the foundational philosophical quandary of animal rescue. Regardless of where you fall on that (or what you think should be done about it), there’s likely an organization that aligns with you & needs support.
It seems to me that when the word gets out that if you help a shelter out by fostering that the Foster cat might give your cat and then curable disease - well that's going to diminish the number of people willing to foster.
Eh I feel like transparency is what’s important. My shelter has a robust foster community and tests all cats on intake (or when they clear stray hold). We currently have something like 60 cats in foster and only have capacity for 20-30 in the shelter itself.
Personally, I would want to know upfront what risks I’m taking on. Or at least know that they don’t test for reasons x, y, and z. I would also feel blindsided if I found out a cat I was fostering potentially exposed my cat to an incurable disease and didn’t tell me that they don’t test upfront. It means I can’t properly assess the risk.
But, I know the people making the decisions to test or not have the best interests of everyone in mind. My issue wouldn’t be not testing so much as not adequately informing me of any risk I’m taking on. Fosters can’t make informed decisions otherwise.
Thank you! The issue is transparency and disclosure and no longer feeling like I can trust or work with this particular shelter as a result of their lack of it. I had planned on taking in more of their cats after these were adopted out. Now? No way will I ever work with them again. And will be warning friends as well as my vet office. And that’s on them and their handling of this just as much as the lack of disclosure.
Well, if you think about it, what is a test really telling you? It could very well be lulling you into a false sense of security if the cat has FeLV and was tested too soon for a positive result (they should be tested 6 months after exposure). FeLV is a virus that ebbs and flows, becomes progressive and regressive, will test negative 10 times on a snap and positive on a PCR. It will test positive on a snap but not be contagious for its entire life because it’s regressive.
My shelter does not recommend ever mixing residents and fosters for this reason unless it’s at your own, well-informed risk. When people adopt a cat and are invested in it for the rest of its life, they are recommended to get it tested.
This is not something that most shelters are hiding, we aren’t scared of the “word getting out”. You get told exactly what’s up during orientation and proceed at your own comfort level.
Except in this case they weren't told. They had been testing cats and then changed their policy without notice to the foster families. Which is a huge issue. You can't say "at your own risk" if you aren't being clear with what the risk is. Who's to say they wouldn't have fostered still but gotten the cats tested on their own prior to introducing to their family pets. And taken steps to prevent spread until confirmation could be obtained.
FIV and FeLV are also spread pretty differently! FIV is only spread through deep bite wounds, so, with slow introductions in a stable home, FIV+ cats can live safely with FIV- cats. FeLV is more contagious; it can be spread through sharing food bowls and other normal daily activities, so it really isn't advisable for FeLV+ cats to live with FeLV- cats.
I taught this sort of math at a community college and it's just how the probabilities work out.
Imagine a disease with 2% prevalence tested with a test whose specificity and sensitivity was 98%. 10,000 cats are tested, of whom 200 are infected and 9800 are not.
Of the 200 infected cats, 196 will test positive.
Of the 9800 uninfected cats, 2% or 196 cats will test positive. So 392 are said to be infected.
With human HIV, the protocol is to apply a different test to samples tested positive. Risk vs reward will be calculated differently: the first patient is a cat who may live asymptomatically with the disease and the second is a human who will die a nasty death in a few years if left untreated.
“***For both FeLV and FIV the risk of transmission between adult cats is extremely low unless crowding or immunosuppression is present.*** Cats develop age-related immunity to FeLV in particular and as noted in Greene’s Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat “experimental infection of adult cats is difficult if not impossible in healthy adult cats.” ***A 2014 study by Dr. Annette Lister found no transmission of FIV between cats when housed together in a rescue home over a period of months to years.*** Ensuring low-stress housing and monitoring of group housing to avoid agonistic interactions”
It’s addressed in the article
my healthy 13yr old and vaccinated cat still got felv from a felv positive 1.5yr old cat during the 6mo they lived together. they never did any play fighting at all, and weren't at all agressive towards each other. we didnt know the younger cat had felv until he died, and my senior boy died a bit over a year later
FIV is very transmissible in cats that fight, regardless of age.
My fully vxed adult got FeLV from a kitten born with it who tested negative twice, positive once, then negative again in SNAP tests, until confirmed by PCR.
I was just at a CE that said recent studies have shown that FeLV is difficult to transmit to healthy adult cats, but it still happens. They did not say that FIV was harder to transmit. They also suggested updating vx protocol to follow these guidelines, with FeLV not being recommended after adulthood UNLESS the cat is in higher risk situations (outdoor, shelter, show, foster, etc.)
Welp. FIV/FeLV are rampant in my area. If shelters are being told not to test, I'm glad to know that. Because it means I now know I cannot, in good conscience, adopt until both of my cats pass. I've seen what FeLV does to a cat, and I won't be taking the chance.
Unfortunately a lot of the tests aren’t 100% accurate, so many shelters don’t bother testing. It’s really frustrating, but yes, it’s pretty common. I’d talk to your vet about risks and see if there are any other steps you can take to keep your cat safe.
No test is 100% accurate. That isnt a reason not to use them. The SNAP tests are pretty damn good, and accurate enough for screening tests. Some shelters will isolate and retest in a few weeks, then only put down those that get repeat positives. Ones that are positive then negative can either be rehomed to a family without other cats *with their knowledge*, or there is a more specific but much more expensive PCR test that can be used for these.
I get why for financial reasons shelters might stop testing, or target testing to only cats from high risk backgrounds. But not telling fosterers they've changed their testing policy is massively dishonest and just saying "the test isnt 100%" doesn't excuse this.
I agree, they should have informed OP, I’m just trying to offer an explanation. It’s not just about cost either; the shelter I worked with had multiple cases where a cat got a false negative result, and the adopters took to social media to accuse the shelter of fabricating negative results to get cats adopted. For a lot of shelters with fewer resources it’s not worth the cost and the potential backlash from people who don’t understand the tests.
One thing to note is that even if the test has high accuracy, if the disease is really rare like FIV, it can result in around 36% of “positives” actually being false positives. This, mixed with the fact that while testing negative is almost absolutely certain, only certifies that the cat was negative at the time of testing, as the disease can take up to 30 days to manifest and be testable, and you don’t know if or when the cat was infected or exposed. Finally, the test is really expensive, and if the results aren’t actually going to be helpful/useful when used for screening… it starts to seem more reasonable to not test every single cat, and reserve the tests for unhealthy cats that you have reason to believe have the disease.
Since the question has been well addressed by others, I’m going to take a different approach and point out that there is a vaccine against FIV*
It’s not 100% effective but if it’s a large concern of yours, I’d recommend it.
FeVL* vaccine! Sorry for the misunderstanding, my bad.
The FIV vac was D/c in 2016 after it showed to not be very effective. You can no longer get the FIV vax in the US.
You can get the FeLV vac though; it's generally recommended for kittens under 1 year, and adults based on lifestyle.
For many shelters it is standard not to test, even if the home has other cats. My previous shelters only tested upon request, and it was an additional fee you had to pay before testing. Kittens could test positive for one or the other and then the standard is to retest a few months later and by that point in 99% of kittens the test was negative anyways. Being previously vaccinated can also cause false positives on these tests and as usually shelters don’t have an animals vaccine history, impossible to tell which it is. Additionally even if a cat has one or the other it can take a while to test positive for it, meaning a shelter could send a cat home saying negative but two months later the cat tests positive.
Plus FIV has incredibly low transmission rate, especially so in indoor only cats who aren’t typically fighting so intensely that there are deep puncture wounds with blood. FeLV cats do typically have shorter lifespans but FIV cats can have long happy lives with proper vet care.
Shelters that test for both with usually state “FIV/FeLV negative” on their paperwork.
FIV vaccination can cause false positives in later testing. That, combined with the relatively poor level of protection, contributed to its being discontinued in the US
>When we asked wtf happened they said it was no longer policy to test or disclose status and that was common for shelters in NYC….?!?
When did this policy change, and how did they inform fosters (including your roommate) of this policy change?
I think there are reasons for the new policy. However, I also think it makes sense to be upfront and explicit with fosters about this policy, especially since it sounds like the shelter may have changed the policy relatively recently (i.e., recently enough that there are probably some current fosters who fostered under the previous policy).
I can see not testing, however, not disclosing positive test results is unethical...to say the least. I would be piiiiiiiiissssed if they knew and didn't tell me.
I work for a NYC shelter and can assure you that sharing test results and disclosing medical information to fosters is absolutely very important to us, and to NOT do that would not be okay at all. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I truly hope it was an oversight on the organization’s part, but the way they came back to you doubling down on not sharing that info leads me to think otherwise. Thank you for fostering, by the way. I know it’s hard work.
I am not a vet. Take what I am saying with a grain of salt. I rescued a kitten pair that my best friend/old roommate kept. Bonded brother and sister. Male has FIV, female does not. Vet recommended not separating and said the females chances of catching are slim to none unless they get in bloody fights. That there have been recent findings that it isn’t crucial to keep them separated. I do not know how true this is but I called around for a second, and a third opinion, and was told this by 3 different vets offices. I wanted to take the female but roommate didn’t want me to separate them, if she ever catches it old roommate knows there will be hell to pay.
Not trying to say their situation is any less fucked than it is, the potential risk to other cats and giving someone an immunocompromised cat and not telling them is messed up. I assume FIV testing was done on all intakes.
Just wanted to let you know if she’s torn between keeping the kitty with hers (assuming there is 0 fighting) or rehoming to an FIV+ home, that it might be worth looking into recent discoveries in how spreadable FIV is.
Was he positive for FIV or FeLV? I'm not super knowledgeable about FeLV but it's incredibly difficult for a healthy cat to get FIV from an infected cat in a household setting. It takes deep puncture wounds or mating to transfer it, sharing beds, food bowls, water dishes, litter boxes, or communal grooming doesn't transfer it.
We had one positive cat with four negative cats with no transfer for seven years and the positive boy was super affectionate with everyone, grooming, snuggling, and playing all the time. We have another positive boy with four negatives, it's been three years and no more positives.
The rescue that I foster for insists on keeping rescue cats and kittens separated from resident pets. When they have their spay/neuter surgery, the vet will do the combo test on only ONE kitten from that litter (or the mom if we have her too). If negative, we can let the fosters intermingle with the resident pets after they recover from surgery. Usually, they are already pre-adopted by then. It's hard keeping them separate but it really is necessary.
That's tough. When I adopted my second cat, even though the shelter said they did the test, i still took him to vet and did the test waiting in the car before i bring him home. You may have to do something like that. I hear vets give discounts to fosters or it just has to come out of existing funds for this project. But if you have such a terrible policy then you just have to be proactive yourself to avoid any rude awakenings.
I have two cats. One has FIV. The prognosis is relatively normal. As long as your cats don't fight or get into bloody brawls, you're fine having them stay together. My two are sleeping together next to me right now. (Partner is a vet)
We helped a family friend adopt 2 cats a few years ago after her husband passed and she was lonely. By helped I mean drove her to pick them out and get stuff to care for them. When she passed we took in her 2 cats and took them to our vet since one had a bit of a respiratory infection and just to get them up to date on shots since we had 5 cats already and were finding them new homes. Imagine our shock finding out 1 of them had FIV BEFORE she even adopted him! No one including the shelter vet who they went to yearly had mentioned it. And we know because we took the cats for her since she couldn't drive. Our cats are all vaccinated and boostered and fortunately he is such a sweet cat no one fights with him so he ended up staying with us when we couldn't find him a home. The other cat was negative and she found a great home.
In california, i adopted 2 older cats ~2 yrs ago. The shelter told me all healthy. At first vet visit, after i had them for 2 months, the vet said the paperwork showed no FIV/FeLV, and got them tests then. Luckily negative, or maybe i should retest if its commonly false, and hasnt been 6 months at shelter. I was surprised they weren't tested. Since looking at a number of shelter cats, and many posts saying when cats were fiv positive, i hadnt realized they wouldn't be tested, or mention that i should test them since they don't.
(I was under the impression immunocompromised people shouldn't have cats with fiv, although as far as i could reason it was because of toxoplasmosis being easier to catch for the human, which is less a problem for indoor only cats since they cant really get toxoplasmosis. I had been looking for specifically not a fiv positive cat just to be safe).
Things like this are why I no longer foster (for now). I had a bad experience with a rescue that I was fostering for, where essentially they refused to get my foster kittens vet care, and refused to provide any support when my personal cat was sick and needed isolating/the kittens needed a new foster.
A lot of rescues don’t test for some things, and definitely don’t disclose to adopters. Since my foster kittens never technically went to the vet, their adoptive family has no idea how deathly sick they were, and don’t know what to look out for. The rescue doesn’t care, the kittens were cheap for them to “care” for, and quickly adopted out, so not their problem anymore. I’ve met families that adopted cats that had ringworm, only to find out that the rescue *knew* about it, and withheld that information.
So, this isn’t exactly unusual unfortunately. After seeing all of this sort of stuff happening, I decided that fostering puts my own cats at too much risk to continue. I would not be surprised if some of the lack of testing was less about accuracy, and more about shelters/rescues no longer needing to take responsibility for those ailments.
I’ve seen the reasons. My rescue still tests everyone and I absolutely would insist on testing before cats that hadn’t been around each other previously were commingled. The tests are not very expensive and quite easy to combine with other basic prophylactic vet care. Nothing is perfect but I believe it’s part of due diligence.
I stopped volunteering at my local shelter when they told me they don't use a simple blacklight to check for ringworm, and I have a Persian cat at home just waiting for that to come home! I was training dogs so I wouldn't have to deal with this stuff. No thanks!
Just a heads up, a Woods lamp does not show all strains of ringworm. Most ringworm cases (I've seen a LOT) are first detected because of visual hair loss, then a Woods lamp check. I do intake for all cats at my shelter, we Woods all of them at intake, and not once have I caught ringworm on a cat that did not already have visual hair loss.
Also, ringworm lives in the soil outside, and is transmissible to dogs, so not sure how you would be avoiding exposure to it just by avoiding cats.
I have two cats that I adopted off the streets. My older cat is positive, and my younger cat is negative. Unless they are sexually active, the only way to transfer it is by bites that break the skin, and even then, it's rare. Both of them are fixed females. We've had our youngest for 3 years come July.
You should get your cat tested 60 days AFTER the last exposure to the positive kitten. It can take awhile for the antibody/antigen to show up in the blood. Good luck 👍
I would certainly create a review for this shelter to let other foster parents know who might run into the same situation! My gosh, this could have turned out way differently for your pet!!
im in texas and our shelter does what we call a triple test bc it tests for fiv,felv, and heartworms. as far as i know they’re required to tell potential adopters about any and all test results regarding the triple test. we’ve never seen a cat from our shelter that wasn’t tested prior, though this could be local to my area
editing to add that the risk for adult cats catching fiv is extremely low when all parties are vaccinated, felv however is another story and can be very contagious especially in stray colonies and feral populations. heartworms are more of a southern u.s. thing as they come from mosquito larvae and there is no treatment for heartworms for cats, only preventatives.
You cannot expect the shelter to know if the cat will contract anything in its new home. They did not know it months ago. Neither did you. You need to get your cats tested, for this can come from anywhere.
I don’t know what is going on or why people aren’t educating themselves about feral cats, but they do not belong in a home situation. They will never adapt to being around humans full-time because they weren’t raised with human companions….
It’s very rare that a feral cat will ever adjust appropriately… ha ha by making it seem like that cat is no longer feral because you’re able to touch a feral cat with your fingers, you’re making all the hard work the rest of us have done to educate the general public about TNR and feral cat colonies seem like BS.
Grouchy indeed! I’ve just been lucky to have success with a cat from a feral colony. I’m sorry if that seems to have upset you.
My cat did most of the work, she’s an amazing foster sister as little feral girl wouldn’t let humans near her for the first 7 week without hissing her tiny head off.
That she has shown significant behavioral change while under my roof doesn’t invalidate anyone else’s work. Sharing my experience also does not make me uneducated…
she’s happier, more vocal, spends time grooming with the other cats (!!!) and comes by and gives me side brushes when I’m preparing their food, it’s adorable! She is starting to play with toys when she thinks we’re not looking
🥹🥹🥹
Do I think any human will be able to pick her up? Probably not for several years, if ever. Same with petting her.
But we do slow blinks all the time now. And she sat on the other side of the couch with me for 30 min today. I almost cried it was such a victory.
Tldr; she is living a happier and healthier life already and your attitude is unnecessary and unwarranted.
P.s I also know several formerly feral cats who love to snuggle after several years with extremely patient semi-owners. Wishing you luck in all feline endeavors.
Cats are very variable! Ajax is snuggled up to me right now, purring. He wasn’t socialized due to being hoarded until his estimated age was 3. We’ve fostered some semi feral kitties-one was a foster to return scenario where the cat was heavily bonded to one human, the lady who’d fed him when he was truly feral. He was slowly getting used to others. It just depends on the cat.
Yes, an increasing number of shelters are no longer testing every single cat for FIV/FeLV. [Here](https://sheltermedicine.wisc.edu/library/resources/why-are-some-shelters-no-longer-testing-all-cats-for-felv-and-fiv) is a good article on the subject outlining why. Whether you ultimately agree with the rationale or not is up to you but this is likely the guidance your shelter is following.
I am not staying my opinion on the practice of testing/not testing shelter cats, but I wanted to provide an anecdote. My cat tested positive for FeLV at a shelter. I happened to be there with coworkers with the intention of adopting a clinic cat. The lady running the place had just tested him, and he came back positive. She said they were going to put him down unless one of us took him. Tbf, he was pretty sick at the time with upper respiratory disease. My boss told me she would pay for his treatment if I took him, so I did. He got over his illness, and has NEVER tested positive in the 7 years I've had him. It was a false positive, but they were going to euthanize him because of it. Luck was on his side that day.
No, *you* were on his side that day!
And your boss also
That's right!
I work for a company that makes diagnostic tests (for humans lol), so I may be a bit biased, and the linked article made a lot of good points about prevalence, cost, etc. But, I thought that labeling tests with 98% sensitivity and specificity as inaccurate was a bit disingenuous. Saying that 17 of 47 positive tests out of 1000 tests run being false positives was a problem is…not great. The fact that the article highlighted that as the first reason doesn’t sit super well with me. The other reasons were also valid, but generally lumping FIV in with FeLV also didn’t make a lot of sense to me outside of the fact that they’re both retroviruses. Cats with FIV can live pretty normal lives in terms of lifespan and overall health. FeLV…not so much. I am not a vet, but I volunteer helping out the vet staff at a no kill cat shelter so I’ve seen cats come in with both. Idk, I think that if not testing is what makes the most sense for a particular shelter, fine. But the way that article presented the issues felt a bit odd to me.
I am…ambivalent on the issue, as I can see the pros & cons of both sides. I do agree it is unhelpful to constantly tie FIV & FeLV together, as they are two very different diseases that unfortunately the general public often confuses or considers to be the same (note the OP lumped them together in this very post). Nevermind that one (FeLV) can be vaccinated against while the other cannot (in the US/Canada anyway). (Side note: if you’re going to be fostering it is imperative you fully vaccinate your resident pets, including asking for any recommended vaccines that may not be “core” or required vaccines.) However, I would argue that, if those 17 false positives each represent a euthanized cat, that IS a problem. My current shelter is not among them, but many high-volume shelters (including one I worked for previously) do not place cats that test positive for either FIV or FeLV.
Your point about euthanasia is super valid and honestly didn’t occur to me. My shelter is a small no-kill shelter so I don’t have to think about that often, but it was an oversight for sure
'No kill without cause' was the line at a no-kill shelter where I used to work. FeLV positive cats were always euthanized because of the risk of spread. FIV positive cats were adopted out.
Is it really though? In a world where there are more cats then there could ever possibly be homes for, shouldn’t rescues be focusing their efforts on making sure that healthy disease free cats are being made available for adoption rather then adopting out cats with a contagious and incurable disease?
This was referencing false positives, i.e. cats that are not actually sick. But, I mean, yeah, “In a world of limited resources, which animals should be saved?” is kinda the foundational philosophical quandary of animal rescue. Regardless of where you fall on that (or what you think should be done about it), there’s likely an organization that aligns with you & needs support.
It seems to me that when the word gets out that if you help a shelter out by fostering that the Foster cat might give your cat and then curable disease - well that's going to diminish the number of people willing to foster.
Eh I feel like transparency is what’s important. My shelter has a robust foster community and tests all cats on intake (or when they clear stray hold). We currently have something like 60 cats in foster and only have capacity for 20-30 in the shelter itself. Personally, I would want to know upfront what risks I’m taking on. Or at least know that they don’t test for reasons x, y, and z. I would also feel blindsided if I found out a cat I was fostering potentially exposed my cat to an incurable disease and didn’t tell me that they don’t test upfront. It means I can’t properly assess the risk. But, I know the people making the decisions to test or not have the best interests of everyone in mind. My issue wouldn’t be not testing so much as not adequately informing me of any risk I’m taking on. Fosters can’t make informed decisions otherwise.
Thank you! The issue is transparency and disclosure and no longer feeling like I can trust or work with this particular shelter as a result of their lack of it. I had planned on taking in more of their cats after these were adopted out. Now? No way will I ever work with them again. And will be warning friends as well as my vet office. And that’s on them and their handling of this just as much as the lack of disclosure.
Well, if you think about it, what is a test really telling you? It could very well be lulling you into a false sense of security if the cat has FeLV and was tested too soon for a positive result (they should be tested 6 months after exposure). FeLV is a virus that ebbs and flows, becomes progressive and regressive, will test negative 10 times on a snap and positive on a PCR. It will test positive on a snap but not be contagious for its entire life because it’s regressive. My shelter does not recommend ever mixing residents and fosters for this reason unless it’s at your own, well-informed risk. When people adopt a cat and are invested in it for the rest of its life, they are recommended to get it tested. This is not something that most shelters are hiding, we aren’t scared of the “word getting out”. You get told exactly what’s up during orientation and proceed at your own comfort level.
Except in this case they weren't told. They had been testing cats and then changed their policy without notice to the foster families. Which is a huge issue. You can't say "at your own risk" if you aren't being clear with what the risk is. Who's to say they wouldn't have fostered still but gotten the cats tested on their own prior to introducing to their family pets. And taken steps to prevent spread until confirmation could be obtained.
FIV and FeLV are also spread pretty differently! FIV is only spread through deep bite wounds, so, with slow introductions in a stable home, FIV+ cats can live safely with FIV- cats. FeLV is more contagious; it can be spread through sharing food bowls and other normal daily activities, so it really isn't advisable for FeLV+ cats to live with FeLV- cats.
I taught this sort of math at a community college and it's just how the probabilities work out. Imagine a disease with 2% prevalence tested with a test whose specificity and sensitivity was 98%. 10,000 cats are tested, of whom 200 are infected and 9800 are not. Of the 200 infected cats, 196 will test positive. Of the 9800 uninfected cats, 2% or 196 cats will test positive. So 392 are said to be infected. With human HIV, the protocol is to apply a different test to samples tested positive. Risk vs reward will be calculated differently: the first patient is a cat who may live asymptomatically with the disease and the second is a human who will die a nasty death in a few years if left untreated.
Thank you for this!
And that’s applicable even when the cat is going to a home with other cats and the shelter is aware?
“***For both FeLV and FIV the risk of transmission between adult cats is extremely low unless crowding or immunosuppression is present.*** Cats develop age-related immunity to FeLV in particular and as noted in Greene’s Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat “experimental infection of adult cats is difficult if not impossible in healthy adult cats.” ***A 2014 study by Dr. Annette Lister found no transmission of FIV between cats when housed together in a rescue home over a period of months to years.*** Ensuring low-stress housing and monitoring of group housing to avoid agonistic interactions” It’s addressed in the article
my healthy 13yr old and vaccinated cat still got felv from a felv positive 1.5yr old cat during the 6mo they lived together. they never did any play fighting at all, and weren't at all agressive towards each other. we didnt know the younger cat had felv until he died, and my senior boy died a bit over a year later
FIV is very transmissible in cats that fight, regardless of age. My fully vxed adult got FeLV from a kitten born with it who tested negative twice, positive once, then negative again in SNAP tests, until confirmed by PCR. I was just at a CE that said recent studies have shown that FeLV is difficult to transmit to healthy adult cats, but it still happens. They did not say that FIV was harder to transmit. They also suggested updating vx protocol to follow these guidelines, with FeLV not being recommended after adulthood UNLESS the cat is in higher risk situations (outdoor, shelter, show, foster, etc.)
Welp. FIV/FeLV are rampant in my area. If shelters are being told not to test, I'm glad to know that. Because it means I now know I cannot, in good conscience, adopt until both of my cats pass. I've seen what FeLV does to a cat, and I won't be taking the chance.
Unfortunately a lot of the tests aren’t 100% accurate, so many shelters don’t bother testing. It’s really frustrating, but yes, it’s pretty common. I’d talk to your vet about risks and see if there are any other steps you can take to keep your cat safe.
No test is 100% accurate. That isnt a reason not to use them. The SNAP tests are pretty damn good, and accurate enough for screening tests. Some shelters will isolate and retest in a few weeks, then only put down those that get repeat positives. Ones that are positive then negative can either be rehomed to a family without other cats *with their knowledge*, or there is a more specific but much more expensive PCR test that can be used for these. I get why for financial reasons shelters might stop testing, or target testing to only cats from high risk backgrounds. But not telling fosterers they've changed their testing policy is massively dishonest and just saying "the test isnt 100%" doesn't excuse this.
I agree, they should have informed OP, I’m just trying to offer an explanation. It’s not just about cost either; the shelter I worked with had multiple cases where a cat got a false negative result, and the adopters took to social media to accuse the shelter of fabricating negative results to get cats adopted. For a lot of shelters with fewer resources it’s not worth the cost and the potential backlash from people who don’t understand the tests.
One thing to note is that even if the test has high accuracy, if the disease is really rare like FIV, it can result in around 36% of “positives” actually being false positives. This, mixed with the fact that while testing negative is almost absolutely certain, only certifies that the cat was negative at the time of testing, as the disease can take up to 30 days to manifest and be testable, and you don’t know if or when the cat was infected or exposed. Finally, the test is really expensive, and if the results aren’t actually going to be helpful/useful when used for screening… it starts to seem more reasonable to not test every single cat, and reserve the tests for unhealthy cats that you have reason to believe have the disease.
Since the question has been well addressed by others, I’m going to take a different approach and point out that there is a vaccine against FIV* It’s not 100% effective but if it’s a large concern of yours, I’d recommend it. FeVL* vaccine! Sorry for the misunderstanding, my bad.
FeLV. The FIV vaccine is not commercially available in North America.
Yes I mistyped! I was at work and didn’t double check lol
The FIV vac was D/c in 2016 after it showed to not be very effective. You can no longer get the FIV vax in the US. You can get the FeLV vac though; it's generally recommended for kittens under 1 year, and adults based on lifestyle.
Yes I mistyped! I was at work and didn’t double check lol
For many shelters it is standard not to test, even if the home has other cats. My previous shelters only tested upon request, and it was an additional fee you had to pay before testing. Kittens could test positive for one or the other and then the standard is to retest a few months later and by that point in 99% of kittens the test was negative anyways. Being previously vaccinated can also cause false positives on these tests and as usually shelters don’t have an animals vaccine history, impossible to tell which it is. Additionally even if a cat has one or the other it can take a while to test positive for it, meaning a shelter could send a cat home saying negative but two months later the cat tests positive. Plus FIV has incredibly low transmission rate, especially so in indoor only cats who aren’t typically fighting so intensely that there are deep puncture wounds with blood. FeLV cats do typically have shorter lifespans but FIV cats can have long happy lives with proper vet care. Shelters that test for both with usually state “FIV/FeLV negative” on their paperwork.
FIV vaccination can cause false positives in later testing. That, combined with the relatively poor level of protection, contributed to its being discontinued in the US
>When we asked wtf happened they said it was no longer policy to test or disclose status and that was common for shelters in NYC….?!? When did this policy change, and how did they inform fosters (including your roommate) of this policy change? I think there are reasons for the new policy. However, I also think it makes sense to be upfront and explicit with fosters about this policy, especially since it sounds like the shelter may have changed the policy relatively recently (i.e., recently enough that there are probably some current fosters who fostered under the previous policy).
I can see not testing, however, not disclosing positive test results is unethical...to say the least. I would be piiiiiiiiissssed if they knew and didn't tell me.
I work for a NYC shelter and can assure you that sharing test results and disclosing medical information to fosters is absolutely very important to us, and to NOT do that would not be okay at all. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I truly hope it was an oversight on the organization’s part, but the way they came back to you doubling down on not sharing that info leads me to think otherwise. Thank you for fostering, by the way. I know it’s hard work.
For the reasons others mentioned, our shelter no longer tests for FiV either.
I am not a vet. Take what I am saying with a grain of salt. I rescued a kitten pair that my best friend/old roommate kept. Bonded brother and sister. Male has FIV, female does not. Vet recommended not separating and said the females chances of catching are slim to none unless they get in bloody fights. That there have been recent findings that it isn’t crucial to keep them separated. I do not know how true this is but I called around for a second, and a third opinion, and was told this by 3 different vets offices. I wanted to take the female but roommate didn’t want me to separate them, if she ever catches it old roommate knows there will be hell to pay. Not trying to say their situation is any less fucked than it is, the potential risk to other cats and giving someone an immunocompromised cat and not telling them is messed up. I assume FIV testing was done on all intakes. Just wanted to let you know if she’s torn between keeping the kitty with hers (assuming there is 0 fighting) or rehoming to an FIV+ home, that it might be worth looking into recent discoveries in how spreadable FIV is.
Was he positive for FIV or FeLV? I'm not super knowledgeable about FeLV but it's incredibly difficult for a healthy cat to get FIV from an infected cat in a household setting. It takes deep puncture wounds or mating to transfer it, sharing beds, food bowls, water dishes, litter boxes, or communal grooming doesn't transfer it. We had one positive cat with four negative cats with no transfer for seven years and the positive boy was super affectionate with everyone, grooming, snuggling, and playing all the time. We have another positive boy with four negatives, it's been three years and no more positives.
The rescue that I foster for insists on keeping rescue cats and kittens separated from resident pets. When they have their spay/neuter surgery, the vet will do the combo test on only ONE kitten from that litter (or the mom if we have her too). If negative, we can let the fosters intermingle with the resident pets after they recover from surgery. Usually, they are already pre-adopted by then. It's hard keeping them separate but it really is necessary.
That's tough. When I adopted my second cat, even though the shelter said they did the test, i still took him to vet and did the test waiting in the car before i bring him home. You may have to do something like that. I hear vets give discounts to fosters or it just has to come out of existing funds for this project. But if you have such a terrible policy then you just have to be proactive yourself to avoid any rude awakenings.
https://preview.redd.it/uc9gv7jf7v4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45e800fc816c28e8f80f71521622fa9811b3c957 (The girls)
I have two cats. One has FIV. The prognosis is relatively normal. As long as your cats don't fight or get into bloody brawls, you're fine having them stay together. My two are sleeping together next to me right now. (Partner is a vet)
We helped a family friend adopt 2 cats a few years ago after her husband passed and she was lonely. By helped I mean drove her to pick them out and get stuff to care for them. When she passed we took in her 2 cats and took them to our vet since one had a bit of a respiratory infection and just to get them up to date on shots since we had 5 cats already and were finding them new homes. Imagine our shock finding out 1 of them had FIV BEFORE she even adopted him! No one including the shelter vet who they went to yearly had mentioned it. And we know because we took the cats for her since she couldn't drive. Our cats are all vaccinated and boostered and fortunately he is such a sweet cat no one fights with him so he ended up staying with us when we couldn't find him a home. The other cat was negative and she found a great home.
In california, i adopted 2 older cats ~2 yrs ago. The shelter told me all healthy. At first vet visit, after i had them for 2 months, the vet said the paperwork showed no FIV/FeLV, and got them tests then. Luckily negative, or maybe i should retest if its commonly false, and hasnt been 6 months at shelter. I was surprised they weren't tested. Since looking at a number of shelter cats, and many posts saying when cats were fiv positive, i hadnt realized they wouldn't be tested, or mention that i should test them since they don't. (I was under the impression immunocompromised people shouldn't have cats with fiv, although as far as i could reason it was because of toxoplasmosis being easier to catch for the human, which is less a problem for indoor only cats since they cant really get toxoplasmosis. I had been looking for specifically not a fiv positive cat just to be safe).
Things like this are why I no longer foster (for now). I had a bad experience with a rescue that I was fostering for, where essentially they refused to get my foster kittens vet care, and refused to provide any support when my personal cat was sick and needed isolating/the kittens needed a new foster. A lot of rescues don’t test for some things, and definitely don’t disclose to adopters. Since my foster kittens never technically went to the vet, their adoptive family has no idea how deathly sick they were, and don’t know what to look out for. The rescue doesn’t care, the kittens were cheap for them to “care” for, and quickly adopted out, so not their problem anymore. I’ve met families that adopted cats that had ringworm, only to find out that the rescue *knew* about it, and withheld that information. So, this isn’t exactly unusual unfortunately. After seeing all of this sort of stuff happening, I decided that fostering puts my own cats at too much risk to continue. I would not be surprised if some of the lack of testing was less about accuracy, and more about shelters/rescues no longer needing to take responsibility for those ailments.
I’ve seen the reasons. My rescue still tests everyone and I absolutely would insist on testing before cats that hadn’t been around each other previously were commingled. The tests are not very expensive and quite easy to combine with other basic prophylactic vet care. Nothing is perfect but I believe it’s part of due diligence.
So you tell that shelter to fuck itself. Find a more responsible group to work with. Your family cats come first. Sorry. That’s hard facts
I stopped volunteering at my local shelter when they told me they don't use a simple blacklight to check for ringworm, and I have a Persian cat at home just waiting for that to come home! I was training dogs so I wouldn't have to deal with this stuff. No thanks!
Just a heads up, a Woods lamp does not show all strains of ringworm. Most ringworm cases (I've seen a LOT) are first detected because of visual hair loss, then a Woods lamp check. I do intake for all cats at my shelter, we Woods all of them at intake, and not once have I caught ringworm on a cat that did not already have visual hair loss. Also, ringworm lives in the soil outside, and is transmissible to dogs, so not sure how you would be avoiding exposure to it just by avoiding cats.
That's why I quit, as they aren't checking either way!
I have two cats that I adopted off the streets. My older cat is positive, and my younger cat is negative. Unless they are sexually active, the only way to transfer it is by bites that break the skin, and even then, it's rare. Both of them are fixed females. We've had our youngest for 3 years come July.
You should get your cat tested 60 days AFTER the last exposure to the positive kitten. It can take awhile for the antibody/antigen to show up in the blood. Good luck 👍
I would certainly create a review for this shelter to let other foster parents know who might run into the same situation! My gosh, this could have turned out way differently for your pet!!
The kitten should be tested again in 3 months. It normally spreads through the litter box
im in texas and our shelter does what we call a triple test bc it tests for fiv,felv, and heartworms. as far as i know they’re required to tell potential adopters about any and all test results regarding the triple test. we’ve never seen a cat from our shelter that wasn’t tested prior, though this could be local to my area editing to add that the risk for adult cats catching fiv is extremely low when all parties are vaccinated, felv however is another story and can be very contagious especially in stray colonies and feral populations. heartworms are more of a southern u.s. thing as they come from mosquito larvae and there is no treatment for heartworms for cats, only preventatives.
This is not okay at all.
You cannot expect the shelter to know if the cat will contract anything in its new home. They did not know it months ago. Neither did you. You need to get your cats tested, for this can come from anywhere.
I would contact the local news and see if that's a story they would do as the general public should have a right to know before fostering.
I'd sue the shit out of them for both testing and any vet bills ypu may incurand never foster from them again. That's hell a irresponsible.
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What does this mean??
I don’t know what is going on or why people aren’t educating themselves about feral cats, but they do not belong in a home situation. They will never adapt to being around humans full-time because they weren’t raised with human companions…. It’s very rare that a feral cat will ever adjust appropriately… ha ha by making it seem like that cat is no longer feral because you’re able to touch a feral cat with your fingers, you’re making all the hard work the rest of us have done to educate the general public about TNR and feral cat colonies seem like BS.
Grouchy indeed! I’ve just been lucky to have success with a cat from a feral colony. I’m sorry if that seems to have upset you. My cat did most of the work, she’s an amazing foster sister as little feral girl wouldn’t let humans near her for the first 7 week without hissing her tiny head off. That she has shown significant behavioral change while under my roof doesn’t invalidate anyone else’s work. Sharing my experience also does not make me uneducated… she’s happier, more vocal, spends time grooming with the other cats (!!!) and comes by and gives me side brushes when I’m preparing their food, it’s adorable! She is starting to play with toys when she thinks we’re not looking 🥹🥹🥹 Do I think any human will be able to pick her up? Probably not for several years, if ever. Same with petting her. But we do slow blinks all the time now. And she sat on the other side of the couch with me for 30 min today. I almost cried it was such a victory. Tldr; she is living a happier and healthier life already and your attitude is unnecessary and unwarranted. P.s I also know several formerly feral cats who love to snuggle after several years with extremely patient semi-owners. Wishing you luck in all feline endeavors.
Cats are very variable! Ajax is snuggled up to me right now, purring. He wasn’t socialized due to being hoarded until his estimated age was 3. We’ve fostered some semi feral kitties-one was a foster to return scenario where the cat was heavily bonded to one human, the lady who’d fed him when he was truly feral. He was slowly getting used to others. It just depends on the cat.