Is it safe to adopt a second FIV+ cat if I already have one at home?

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Gimli. He is so handsome! I love that you have adopted an FIV+ cat, many people will not do that. It shows the kind of person you are, very caring. Cats who are FIV- can live with cats who are FIV+ without issue. The method of transmission is through a bite, so if your two cats live peacefully with each other, it cannot be transmitted. The most important thing to do is get your FIV- cat vaccinated again FIV. That will protect the cat from getting it. I have personally heard of a number of mixed households where they lived peacefully with each other. Get your cat fully vaccinated against FIV before integrating them. I hope this helps!

FIV is transmitted by bite wounds, so there is little risk to your adopted cat. If you want to be sure you can always have her tested when she arrives. FIV is only a cat disease as well, so there is no risk to your dogs.

You would need to check with your doctor to see if this would be a problem for you, as that's human medicine which we aren't qualified to answer. As for the cat, there are not very many illnesses humans and cats can pass back and forth, so the cat should be fine.

According to a study done in 2015: "The prevalence of antibodies to feline coronavirus in single-cat households is approximately 25%, whereas in some multicat households, all cats may have positive titers." If they are all positive for antibodies, then it may be safe to have them all together at home. Check with your vet.

If Penelope is testing positive for FIV because she had the vaccine (and not the natural infection), then she does NOT actually have FIV. She is FIV negative in reality. So then getting another cat who is FIV negative is safe. Neither cat can spread FIV if they don't actually have the naturally occurring infection. Does that make sense?

Hopefully Bear will test negative for FIV when you take him back in 4 weeks. FIV is transmitted by biting, but not any other casual contact. So the concern in your house would be if Bear is biting your other cats. Certainly this would be unusual in a household situation, so it is not generally recommended to separate FIV positive cats in a household from the other cats. I am attaching a handout with additional information about FIV below. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951815 Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your question. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Coronavirus itself is in most cases harmless to cats and many cats will have a coronavirus infection that will go unnoticed. The problem in a very small minority of cases is that this virus mutate into a new form and becomes what is known as FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) which is a fatal disease. The mutated virus cannot be transmitted to another cat. To summarise, risk is minor, but still exist.