Got good and bad news.

So Noir has Feline immunodeficiency virus. Basically kitty HIV.

Good news is that it’s not developed into the AIDS form. So at present he’s in relatively good health. Though he does have a chronic runny nose. Which I had taken him to the vet for before but they couldn’t do much except offer some suggestions that haven’t resolved it.

Vet said it looks like maybe one of his back teeth broke off but it was very hard to tell and even harder to tell if it was recent or not. But she suggested a tooth cleaning. Doing that next week. Which will also involve dental X-rays.

They are also going to take chest X-rays while he’s knocked out to check on that upper respiratory problem a bit more now that we know he’s FIV positive. And it doesn’t seem to be allergies as he got a steroid shot during last visit and it didn’t help much.

When I took him in , back in April, he had a very nasty bite on his back side. And another older scar from a previous one. This is the primary way FIV is transmitted. So honestly it’s not surprising but it definitely saddens me that his life might be pretty short. Some cats never become symptomatic. But most do at some point.

I’ll just cherish the time I have with him.

Another concern is my other cat is fiv negative.

Just like with HIV, just living or being around someone with it doesn’t really put you at risk.

It’s spread in specific ways. Mostly blood to blood or saliva to blood contact. Meaning a wound is needed to receive infected body fluids of an infected cat.

My cats aren’t friends. And they are kind of hostile with each other but not actively fighting. For a while they were hissing and growling and trying to get a slap in when they could but never any extreme fighting. Never any biting. But now it’s just my old cat hissing and growling when the other cat is semi near. But otherwise hostilities have chilled. Finally.

So I’m not super worried about the risk of deep bites that could infect my older cat.

And also what can I do about it anyway?

Give up Noir to a shelter where he will probably be euthanized ?

To me that’s not an option. Even if it puts my other cat at risk. To me it’s a small risk vs a certain death of one of them.

Some might not agree but we all have to weigh our options. And that’s the one I’m going with.