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Michelle, FELV is NOT highly contagious in normal
situations where it is a FELV+ cat sharing a home with other
ADULT HEALTHY cats. It's almost unheard of for healthy adult cats to catch
FELV! The problem you face is that as far as immune systems go, your FIV cat IS
unhealthy (even though he may not look unhealthy), and he MAY contract FELV if
housed together with FELV cats. See, the cases where FELV is caught, almost
always, the victims are either kittens (who have not been exposed to enough
things to build an immune system yet), or cats with compromised immune systems
(such as cats with FIV, like your cat). So, in normal cases, where you want to
mix a negative cat with a FELV+ cat, there is NO reason to worry, but since you
are housing a FIV+ cat with a FELV+ cat, the FIV cat may very well end up
getting FELV. I hope that helps explain things better. FIV is actually more
contagious than FELV in normal situations where the exposed cat is healthy and
not immune compromised, because FIV is transmitted via saliva or blood contact,
so bites and scratches can transmit FIV. This is not the case with FELV, because
even if blood to blood or saliva contact takes place, most healthy adult cats
will mount an effective immune response to the FELV and fight it off.
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I collect KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil, a 3 yr old special needs cat who must live on a liquid diet for the rest of his life. Bazil's caretaker collects labels and sends them to KMR, where they add up until she earns a free can of formula! PLEASE save your KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil! If you use KMR, even just one can, please ask me for the mailing address
you can send them to, to help feed Bazil!
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