How can I tell if my 6-week-old kitten has FIV or feline leukemia?

I'm so sorry that your foster is not doing well. It sounds like she has been through a lot in her short life. Certainly, kittens that have a severe upper respiratory infection young in life can take a while to bounce back. You can perform a FeLV and FIV test at any time, but the results will have to be taken with a grain of salt at her age. The FIV test is an antibody test, so she could test positive if her mom was positive, but she may not have the virus. The FeLV test is usually a little more accurate in young kittens, but not always. The FeLV test looks for virus in white blood cells, so if her white blood cell count is low from her infection if may appear negative even if she has the virus. So while you can test at any age, you may need to repeat the tests again because of the reasons discussed above. So, I would recommend discussing it with your veterinarian to decide on the right route to go for your foster. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your questions. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Many cats with either of these diseases can live long lives, as long as special care is taken to limit the chance of infections, which are difficult for them to fight. Keeping cats indoors is probably the #1 thing you can do to not only prevent these diseases but also keep your cats in the best health possible. You should know that there is a simple and inexpensive test that checks for both of these diseases, and it might ease your mind greatly to know whether or not your cats actually have one of them.

Ongoing chronic viral infections seldom present with a fever unless there is an additional infection due to poor immune system. Fever is an early response by the body to fight off a new infection - if this fails such as with FIP/FELV/FIV and the immune system fails to clear the infection long term there will not be a fever as a result of these infections. I strongly recommend testing given the ongoing, vague signs of debility which is common with all of these diseases

I agree, those symptoms are concerning for intestinal, oral, or kidney disease. Unless the test was falsely positive, cats don't outgrow FIV. There is also no cure for the virus, though not all cats that have it will develop disease. I would recommend that Tiger get checked out by the vet. After a thorough physical exam and review of his symptoms, the vet may recommend bloodwork, urinalysis, or x-rays to see what is going on. Here is more information on FIV in cats: https://www.petcoach.co/article/feline-immunodeficiency-virus-fiv-in-cats/

Feline leukemia is spread mostly by fighting and breeding and most mature cats have some natural immunity. There is always a risk if you haven’t had the kittens tested so I would request a Felv/Fiv test and if they are negative then your cat should be safe to play with them. I don’t wait until they are six months to test kittens. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Munchie.

I am sorry belvedeer was positive for feline leukemia. The test is very reliable and most likely if he tested positive he does truly have the disease. However if he is really young you can re test him at 6 months of age. At this time all the maternal antibodies will be gone from the kittens body. I would recommend retesting at 6 months. If Belvedeer is over 6 months than the test could always be repeated in 2-3 weeks just to double check and make sure the test did not make a false positive.

While Bills certainly could be positive for FeLV or FIV it would be pretty unsusal for him to be symptomatic for the diseases at his age. Parasites don’t typically cause a fever either. If he still has a fever I’d recommend having your vet examine him - some other kind of infection is possible and it is concerning he isn’t responding to antibiotics.