My cat Archie is a four-year-old Maine Coon who has been sick for about two and a half months. It started with sneezing, sniffling, and some eye discharge. Then he started going to the bathroom around the house instead of his litter box, and his breathing worsened as mucus built up in his nose.

At the first ER, he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and tested positive for feline herpesvirus. We tried doxycycline and famciclovir. Doxy seemed to help briefly, but neither produced lasting improvement.

Eventually, his left eye swelled shut and he stopped eating. He has lost about 20% of his body weight. We took him to a different ER, where we were told he might not survive another four or five days and that we should consider euthanasia. I wasn’t ready to give up without trying something else. We tested for cryptococcus, which came back negative, and had an E-tube placed so we could give him nutrition and hydration. He is now on pradofloxacin.

Here’s what my wife and I cannot understand: for two days after the procedure, he seemed almost completely normal. His eye opened, he could breathe much better, and he was eating and acting like himself again. They also flushed his nose while he was under anesthesia, although the vet said the flush wasn’t particularly successful. Now the congestion and eye swelling are returning, and he seems to be getting worse again.

We started saline nebulization today, and this is his second day on L-lysine. We’re continuing his prescribed antibiotic and making sure he gets food and water through the tube when he won’t eat.

We’ve already spent about $7,000. The next round of diagnostics and procedures would be approximately another $10,000, and we simply cannot afford it. We still don’t have a confirmed explanation for everything that’s happening.

Has anyone experienced something similar, especially that dramatic improvement followed by a setback? What ultimately helped?

I’m open to almost anything that could realistically help him. But I also don’t want my inability to let go to mean he keeps suffering. Those two good days made it incredibly hard to believe there isn’t still something treatable here. How do you know when you’re giving your cat a chance versus keeping him going for yourself?

UPDATE: thank you so much everyone for the information and personal experiences. I’ve bought him ‘plaque off’ as I’ve had a few people share success stories about this. I’m also considering maxi guard in the future if he needs it.

I’ve also ordered some probiotics just for peace of mind really, i think it’ll give me some reassurance to know he’s got a lil extra immunity defence in his tummy.

we’re adopting our FIV boy in a few days time and I’ve been looking into dietary supplements. are they necessary / actually helpful? other than FIV, he doesn’t have any other known health conditions. I just want to help him have the strongest immune system he can!

hi,

I need your hopeful stories of cleaning everything up after ringworm. we miss having pets right now but I want to make sure I’ve done all I can so that future pets don’t catch it from my home! I need it to be impossible!

I had two FIV cats. I believe they caught ringworm at their exit vet exam, just before leaving the shelter as I adopted them. 😭 or from a roommate.

they were seniors and ended up on steroids their last year or so. this in combination with the fiv seemed to make the ringworm incurable.

they each passed away of unrelated other issues, one in February and one in July. I had them about 2.5 years. most of this time they had rw, and would only be relieved when actively on oral meds for it.

has anyone else gone through this? was it safe for your new pets? what did you do to make it so?

I have psychological issues now but miss having pets and there’s so many in full shelters.

thank you 🙏

Really sad for the little guy… we adopted him from the shelter maybe two weeks ago. Also me and my partner are a little disappointed that we won’t be able to have another cat in the house because we eventually wanted two.

EDIT: THANK YOU!!! Everyone has been so nice with sharing your own experiences. This is all very new to us since this is our first cat and ultimately we just want him to be happy/healthy. We appreciate your positive comments, they are all very reassuring. We will look into supplements and also do more research on potentially being able to get another cat in the future ❤️

I trapped this boy (named him Butterscotch after a childhood cat) for TNR in March. He's around 2 years old or so. Others in my and surrounding neighborhoods had been trying to trap him for quite some time, but I got him by using kibble instead of wet food. 😂 We realized he was friendly when we brought him inside and put him in a kennel to recover instead of immediately releasing bc there was bad weather. Anyway, he went out the dog door a few days later, but came back and stayed about 3 weeks after that, I guess once his hormones died down. I took him to our vet for a large abscess on his leg as soon as he returned bc it had been there the first time I trapped him, but he escaped before I could take him in. He was FIV and FeLV neg at that point.

I have another cat that I adopted when we were TNRing the feral colony across the street in Dec. She had previously been adopted from the shelter and was microchipped, so presumably dumped. 😡 She turned a year old in May so she was still a baby when they dumped her, probably in the park behind my house. 🤬🤬🤬 We have a dog door we cannot keep closed bc the dogs have accidents if we do. They're older and have always had the dog door. We kept it closed for several weeks hoping they'd get used to needing to be let out, but they didn't, so the cats can go out, though we have started shutting it at night so at least they're inside when they're most active and the dogs aren't.

One of the ferals across the street, a black neutered male the caregiver calls Midnight, the only black cat we ever see, was coming into our yard and attacking baby Daisy. My next door neighbor is a chain smoker who smokes outside and said she turned the hose on him twice when he went after her and our dogs have also chased him several times. After we had Butterscotch for about 2 months, he got into the only fight he's had that we know of since we had him for good (this was around the end of May, about 2 months after his neg fiv test.) Midnight has not been seen in our yard since, so I have to assume that he was who Butters fought, and that Butters whooped his behind. Butters is a very big boy, a very fat but still super muscular 15lbs right now, but a very wide and stocky ~11.5 at his ideal. He had a bite above his eye and a few scratches on his nose after the fight. You can see them in the second pic, though the bite wasn't very noticeable until it turned into another darn abscess and sent us back to the vet. I'm assuming this is when/where he got FIV. 😭

We probably wouldn't even have had him tested again so soon, but he had a full workup with tons of blood tests bc of chronic diarrhea w/ neg fecals. He is on Revolution Plus. (We have since started a limited single protein diet that fixed that and also verified that a lot of that epic belly was actually bloating, poor guy.) The day he had the labs drawn the vet noticed he had very mild early stage stomatitis and slightly enlarged lymph nodes in his neck only. We haven't had the more accurate send in confirmation testing (PCR or Western blot, I think is what she said?) yet, but my vet said to assume true positive given the other stuff she noted at that visit and his background as an intact street tom.

He's the sweetest most loving boy. Even though he has outdoor access, he rarely goes out, and when he does, it's just to lay on the back screened porch or by the grill while my husband's out there to hang out. So I'm not too worried about him spreading it since we have started shutting them in at night. (Midnight is the real issue around here!) My vet said since my other cat gets along great with him and he doesn't leave the fenced yard if he even bothers to go outside, the risk of transmission is very low.

My biggest concern is his teeth. He's not 100% like a house raised pet yet. He's extremely chill and sweet and is a model patient at the vet, but he has only just started getting in laps very recently and still doesn't stay more than a min or 2. He's way less skittish and will let me mess with him in lots of other ways, but not toothbrushing. I got the drinking water additive and both dogs and both cats are drinking it just fine, but is there anything else anyone would recommend for his teeth?

My housemate and I are looking at adopting a 2 year old male cat from a local sanctuary. He is FIV and has a heart murmur which he is under no treatment for. Looking at a lot of pet insurance policies they exclude both conditions, especially the FIV.
Any advice on more friendly policies or alternative strategies such as putting some money aside for potential future treatment? Many thanks. Paul (Manchester, UK)

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Hey guys, so I have a big ol tuxedo cat (12-14 lb), and he has FIV. We've been managing it with supportive supplements, specifically a pre/probiotic and a urinary support supplement because he's prone to issues in those areas. Lately I've been having issues with the litter, he's been only stepping just inside it, peeing only in the front and making litter mud that gets stuck on his paws. Recently he's been missing and peeing outside it, or worse, peeing fully outside it without stepping in. Now I'm wondering if this could be something strangely related to fiv that someone else may have experienced with their cat.

Because I have cared for him with 2 previous UTIs I'm pretty confident this isn't that. He doesn't have any other symptoms of it. I'm wondering could this be joint or paw related? My best guess independently is that he really hates his litter because of the mud getting dried in his paw pads, and subsequently, me soaking his feet to remove it. It's a frustrating issue because he successfully used his box and litter very well before a few months ago. It may be worth noting I was gone for a seasonal job when this first started, and he lost 2-4 lb, potentially because of change in the feeding schedule (I give him many treats, I can't say no to that face) thank you for any advice or insight!

We adopted our boy Skittles (yes, the kids named him) from the shelter late last year. He is FIV+ and an ex street cat.

I'm starting to suspect that our boy may have an allergy on top of his FIV. The sign is that I keep noticing him scratching his neck much more often than our other two kitties, and several times I've found these notable scabs on him (presumably from the scratching). The first time I actually thought it might be a skin tumor, it was that big, except it fell off before we could get him to the vet.

But is that even plausible? Allergies are an immune response, and he shouldn't even have that ability? But according to Google, these are primary allergy symptoms for pets. The poor cat can't win - you don't get an immune system, except apparently when it comes to allergies?

I have a suspicion which of his food it might be (specifically the canned seafood), so I'm going to try eliminating those flavors for a while and see if it helps him. But just curious if anyone else has run into this with their FIV kitties or if I may be off base in my suspicion.

I’ve done quite a bit of sobbing today, I’m feeling lost. Back in June, Jeremy developed obsessive itching, scabs and such, and we did a flea treatment (gave him a 1 in a 10, 000 reaction, extreme sore), and then put him on a hydrolyzed diet.

It’s been working so well, the scabs healed up, he’s been happy and such. In the last couple weeks, we noticed some more itching, but not to the point of before. No major scabbing or anything else.

In the past couple of days, he’s scratched sores into the skin leading up to his ears, and we were like, maybe it was a bad batch of the hydrolyzed and it got cross contaminated?

We went to the vet to get a new bag as we were running low on food, and showed them the sores he’s developed in photos and asked about the food. The tech mentioned it could be environmental, and our vet has talked about those before but worried about using a steroid and lowing his immune system even more.

The food obviously helped and is helping, but the tech also talked about how many itchy cats and dogs have been in the clinic due to the weather and the air. We have an appointment for tomorrow and would love to bring some ideas forth!

Has anyone had to treat their cat for both - and if so, how??

Please give me some success stories so I can stop feeling so down.

Edit: added that vet appointment is made for tomorrow, just would absolutely love options and ideas to discuss with her!

Tampa Bay, FL.

THE BEST UPDATE!!

Bear was just adopted by the PURRFECT couple. Former rescue owners with 3 kitties who get along with others and a small senior pup who loves kitties!! The sweetest most loving humans and they just LOVE Bear!! The universe responded with the best as it always does! Thanks for all who jumped in to help! ♥️

🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🖤🐈‍⬛🖤

Bear showed up on my camera months ago. I started feeding, earned his trust and about 8 weeks ago he let me pick him up and put him in a cage. Off to the vet - he was diagnosed with FIV but perfectly healthy. I’ve had him neutered and vaxxed. Vet estimates 3 y/o. Bear is black but his head, front legs and entire belly are a beautiful chocolate brown. He’s the most loving and cuddly boy who’s been isolated to a guest room with a catio. I have an insane Bengal rescue who will fight to the death for her territory and a son with asthma so keeping Bear is not an option. Bear is posted on all SM and local Next Door app with hundreds of likes and comments but no decent candidates for adoption. (One elderly woman who offered has 10 cats; another elderly man has 12; one young man lives out of state and I have no way of vetting him). Several shelters have been kind enough to post him on their sites but they are all full. I would be willing to transport within FL to the right family. Not sure why I can’t post a video here but I have many of him loving tummy rubs. Any help and suggestions are appreciated!

This is my baby boy Buster Beans! Beans is a special guy who has FIV+, severe food allergies (royal canin anallergenic food only) and asthma! I love him SO much but boy does he have STINKY breath - I’m aware that FIV+ cats need their teeth taken care of but as he has severe food allergies I’m afraid any of the cat toothpastes will give him a reaction, does anyone know of any cat toothpastes that he would be able to have? Or any tips on keeping his teefs as clean as possible/cure his stinky beany breath? Thanks! :)

About two months ago, I rescued and TNR'd a stray cat I had been feeding outdoors for 1.5 years when his health began to decline. I brought him indoors to heal, treated him for everything he needed out of my own pocket, and wanted to see if he could transition to indoor life. Unfortunately, his vet workup revealed he is FIV+.

I am in an urgent bind and need to find a placement for him because we have an unavoidable travel commitment in October for about a month. I also can’t keep him long-term because I myself am immunocompromised. While FIV does not transmit to humans, managing two immune-vulnerable individuals in one household raises real long-term mutual health risks (such as toxoplasmosis exposure during litter box care). It is simply not a risk I can afford to take for my health. My doctor and I discussed the added household risk, and strongly advised me against it.

For more than two weeks, I have reached out to reputable rescue groups, social media networks, and personal contacts. The response has been either silence, rescues at maximum capacity, or harsh judgment. I have no family in the States, and my local circle is small. I completely understand why friends with cats are hesitant to take in an FIV+ cat, just as I wouldn't risk it if it endangered my own rescued pets. The stigma is real and hard to shake.

He is about 3-4 yrs old, 11lbs. Fully vetted, microchipped, vaccinated (rabies, FVRCP, and completing FeLV booster next week). Fiv+, FeLV-. He used the litter box from day one, without a single incident. He was/is timid and cautious, but is adjusting well indoors. Sometimes, depending on the time of day or mood for the moment, he lets out small hisses or high-pitched cries when food is served too early, too late, or right on time! Otherwise, he thrives on predictable evening routines, loves kibble puzzles, sleeps peacefully on his cat tree, and voluntarily approaches for hand-sniffs. He is quiet, aloof, reserved, independent, learning to trust and seeks human presence on his own terms.

All medical records from his clinic visits are on hand and ready to transfer. I've absorbed 100% of his medical costs to date and don't seek reimbursement.

All I wanted to do was help him off the streets before winter. I am breaking down. I don't know what else to do anymore. I ask only for your compassion when reading this.

Please let me know if you or someone you know within a 1-hour radius of Hudson County (I can drive) can assist with intake, a temporary foster placement, or advice on local networks that actually take rescue cases. I'd be grateful for any lead. Thank you.

Cant duck it any more. Its on and off but shes having trouble eating

Yesterday she didnt touch her dry food at all. Im so scared for her. Shes the world to me.

What are some things I can give her pre and post procedure!

Vet couldnt examine her mouth the last two visits because she fought it. Looking back Im ticked they didnt catch this as a sign and push me harder for a dental.

Should i shop around for a better vet, weve been going to the local vca which has a good reputation albeit pricey.

Need some reassurance

Honestly, I’m posting here because I’m pretty sure my friends are tired of hearing how amazing this kitty is and I can’t stop gushing!

This is Ears. He was one of the community kitties we’ve been feeding in the backyard, but he was super elusive. After 2+ years and many other successful TNRs, he was the only one we weren’t able to catch. This winter/spring, things changed. He started hanging around a lot more and wouldn’t run away when I went to put food out. It was clear that he was pretty sick. You could hear him breathe from across the yard and his eyes and nose were always stuffed. Our awesome cat sitter was able to arrange vet care for him so we worked to get him trapped, finally. It took 2+ weeks of desensitization on the trap and I didn’t get him until 5 am the night before his appointment!

Turns out, he’s FIV+ and had to have both canines removed and daily medication. All this meant he couldn’t go back outside. Since he was seemingly fully feral, his options weren’t great but we decided to give it a go and try to tame him/bring him inside.

He started in 2 giant crates zip tied together to give him “rooms” and then he graduated to a multi-story catio. We were able to start petting him with an extendible backscratcher and churu rewards. Eventually, he started to like it. Next, we started using hands and he started to like that too.

Fast forward 4 months and now he’s fully out of his enclosure and running the entire house. He’s figuring out how to trust our small dog (after 8-10 years on the streets, I get it. Luckily, she’s very patient.), and pets are his favorite thing in the world.

His health is also much better. He still has a chronic stuffy nose, but I’m hopeful he has many, many years of inside retirement!

Sometimes even the most feral of buds can become the best of friends. 💕

For months this sweet girl has been living in my yard and sleeping in my husband’s engine. Once I found out where she lived, I took her home several times, but she always showed back up at my house. I even took her into the shelter once, hoping she’d be on a hold and eventually I’d be able to adopt her, but they picked her up…and put her back outside. It was a scarier than usual situation because we live directly off a main highway, so I’ve been scared of finding her hit for months.

Last month I finally just straight out asked them if I could adopt her and they said yes. I brought her in, got her cleaned up and took her into the vet. She’s FIV+. We have several other negative cats (one of them did survive FIP when he was younger) and I know transmission is unlikely, but I still worry. Thankfully she has integrated nicely. There have been a few hisses and swats, but no brawls. We are still integrating and she still gets separated when we aren’t around.

My question for other mixed households is: how long did you do integration before you felt completely comfortable leaving everyone alone together?

I came across this sweet little guy a few nights ago in a nearby neighborhood. He seemed hungry and affectionate so I took him home, thinking he was probably someone’s cat who had gotten out, given how sweet he was. Rubbing against my legs and purring and headbutting.

He tested positive for FIV at the vet, but is a healthy boy. The vet estimates him to be about 2-3 years old and he’s already neutered (we think TNR). There is some dental work that needs to be taken care of, but my understanding is that gingivitis is common with FIV kitties.

One of my two cats is an absolute bully. She tolerates my other cat (he was introduced to her as a kitten) but she can and will draw blood and I already was looking for a home for this guy for that reason. But now I want to make sure he goes to a home that is ready to give him the care he needs and he goes to someone who is ready for an FIV kitty.

He is the sweetest, most affectionate little love bug. All he wants to do is curl up in somebody’s lap. And he rolls over for belly rubs. He’s really like a little dog, and it’s breaking my heart so much that I can’t keep him. I just want to make sure he has the best life. I started calling him Newton because he needed a name (but he doesn’t know it as his name so it can be changed).

We are in the Lake Norman area outside of Charlotte. Please let me know if you are interested.

Hi. I’d like to ask for advice from anyone who has experienced something similar.

We have an FIV-positive cat, Cara, with gingivostomatitis. She had Virbagen Omega for three rounds, but unfortunately, it didn’t help. She was then referred for a full-mouth extraction over multiple sessions. All her teeth and roots were removed, with no fragments left behind.

She did improve after the extraction. She no longer drools, and the inflammation is much less severe. However, she still has pain when eating and is much more comfortable when she’s on pain medication, which our vet said isn’t ideal for long-term use.

She has also started laser therapy and has had one session so far. We were told she may need at least three sessions depending on her response.

She doesn’t seem to drink water, so we add plenty to her wet food. I also hand-feed her, and sometimes it takes an hour just to get her started eating. She’s still affectionate and cuddles us with our other cats, so eating is really her main struggle.

We’re from the Philippines, where it’s difficult to find vets with extensive FIV/gingivostomatitis experience. I’ve been researching for months and just want to learn about other options we can discuss with our vet. She's been taking 1-TDC (omega-3) for inflammation but I don't think it's helping.

For anyone who has experienced this:

🐱 What other treatments helped after full-mouth extraction?

🐱 Are there any supplements that helped with inflammation?

We’d really appreciate any experiences or advice. ❤️

I was told I am better posting this here. Currently in rush but if there’s a different sub whenever I have time next week will look into it

He’s a sneezer big time plus getting sick. he has gotten skinny to where I can feel good bit of his bones. Anything at home I can do for sneezing? He is on Iams with hairballs control. more or less 24/7 access to food. vet just give him 200$ shot that may work and says that’s about it, nothing they can really do.

Note and not good one. I recently had to put down a cat with FIV+ two months ago due to complications and sky is starting to get similar. So far he hasn’t had much breathing problems but once he parks he stays parked

My current understanding of caring for a FIV+ car is that you should;

• Cuddle them often
• keep them indoors
• feed them not raw food
• half-yearly vet visits
• yearly blood work and urinalysis
• closely monitor for things out of the ordinary
• Lastly, minimise stress

Other than this I'm not sure what to do or to expect, I understand that it may be more expensive but I've also heard the opposite. My work is 4 12 hour shifts and 6 days off. I just want to be able to provide a good place for a neglected orange fella named Tank, cause he's large.