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 ❤️

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 🧡🤍🧡

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

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.

I'm sorry if this upsets anyone.

Timeline:

January- dental extractions x 3, 3 months of antibiotics.

March- april he was alright. He was tired and lost some of his orange spunk.

April... he got an infection. Developed severe anemia. He has been on darbepoetin and iron since which seemed to be helping.

2 weeks ago he got a herpes flareup (little dude csnt catch a break) and had a runny nose... clear secretions, no sneezing, eating and toileting as normal.

Yesterday everything went to shit. We have a vet appt tomorrow. He has yellow green snot clogging one nostril, what looks like 2 canker sores in his mouth, not wanting to eat or drink (he will eat his vet royal canine recovery food off my finger though, so im just peak level cat lady now and probably smell awful but fuck it)

He started peeing on my bed again. Idk if he's not well, or mad, or what. Sheets can be washed though.

What i want to know if anyone is willing to share... is when did you know it was time to send them across the rainbow Bridge?

Each time he gets sick it seems like a bit of his soul gets taken from him. He is not suffering, but i know he's a fighter and will hang on until he just..stops.

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!!

Hello friends. We are hoping for some support in finding an awesome home for an FIV+ kitty we have been fostering. We love him and he's truly an awesome cat, but we've been unable to make this work for our other cats. He's the sweetest and most cuddly little guy and we really want him to go to someone who will truly love and enjoy him. He's unique in that he had all his teeth removed for dental reasons, so he's actually not a risk for transmitting, but we are still hitting a wall in so many places just because he's positive. Please share with anyone you know, please reach out with any thoughts too. Below is some more info.

Gus is a male tabby cat that the vets estimate is 1.5-2 years old. We found him living outside with a ruptured eye about 9 months ago. He had surgery to remove that eye as it was beyond repair, followed by dental surgery to remove all of his teeth due to severe dental disease and stomatitis. He's neutered, fully vaccinated, and microchipped. He's had excellent and extensive vet care, so he's in good shape now. He does have FIV, however because he has no teeth the vets assure us he cannot transmit this to other cats and we've had him around ours for months. He's clear of all other diseases and is overall very healthy, but will require the normal kitty checkups and such. He's incredibly sweet, cuddly, and social. Kind of more dog than cat, a best buddy. He's generally well mannered, no aggression, doesn't scratch or bite. He needs to be an indoor only cat, but likes a harness and leash. Seeking a loving home as we are unable to keep him permanently. After all this time of knowing and loving him, we feel the best home for him would probably be a home where he is the only cat, or maybe a home with another male cat that would stand up to him and hopefully play with him, or even with a dog. We're happy to discuss our reasoning and thoughts on possibly coexisting with other kitties. We think he would probably be great with children too, but haven't had the opportunity to test that.

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.

Tomorrow, I’ll obviously talk to the vet, but I haven’t spoken to him yet. I’ve got a supply of soft food for my cat. I’m thinking of having one room in the back of the house set up so that I could shut the door if I need to and just have his litter box in food and water and a place for him to sleep or whatever we need in there. My computer is in there so I can just hang out in there with him.

I just mean have him in there initially, to make sure he’s okay. Does that sound like a good idea? Or should I just let him walk around?

He’s also 11 years old, but his relatively healthy and his last blood work was quite good. Basically, I just have to get him in his carrier and get him there. He also can’t eat after midnight, which is gonna be hard because he absolutely loves his food.

I know I’m doing this to help him feel better and to be better. He has inflammation in his gums. I’ve read so many positive accounts on here and other cat sites. But I still feel anxious.

hello! i just adopted an fiv+ cat last week, and she has had some clear discharge from one eye, and occasional congestion. it hasn’t been constant, but sometimes i can hear she is stuffy when breathing. she has been eating and playing but i’m not sure if this is something i should bring her in immediately for? as of now the soonest appointment i can get is monday. please let me know ur thoughts i really appreciate it!!!