I disagree on a few points. The article on the Castaway Critters site is not that old - perhaps 3 or 4 years at most. I have spoken via email with Dr. Levy on several occasions - in fact, in late 2008, regarding this very issue. Some recent info from Dr. Levy and link to her info - also while this is specifically regarding ferals it can certainly be applied to pet cats as well
From Dr. Julie Levy on mixing cats: The first part of your question is fairly easy. If you are planning to confine cats for the rest of their lives in a sanctuary, I think they should be tested and segregated based on their infection status. Although transmission among adult cats that do not fight is relatively low, it is not zero. The risk of transmission is higher among cats that are housed in large groups and that are under physical or psychological stress, which might be expected to occur when translocating cats to a sanctuary. In most cases, sanctuaries quickly fill up to the holding capacity and then the sanctuary is virtually closed to new admissions. It would be more difficult to care for the cats over many years if infectious diseases are circulating among them. An excellent model for a feral cat sanctuary is at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (WildCats Village, buttons #10 and #11 at http://www.bestfriends.com/atthesanctuary/animals/cats.cfm). All cats are affected by the stress of close confinement with large numbers of other cats, because that is not a natural environment for the species. Cats with FeLV and FIV are more susceptible to the adverse effects of this stress than uninfected cats. We see this commonly when infected cats come to TNR looking very healthy and then deteriorate when they are confined in sanctuaries or shelters. Cats with FIV generally are expected to live for many years, often into old age. Cats with FeLV may not survive as long but often thrive in a supportive environment. (from the above - cats with FIV are expected to live long - so that is a big reason to ask any sanctuary how long the cats who are FIV positive are living once they are accepted into the sanctuary). Stress of bringing a feral cat a new environment with many other cats is detrimental to health http://www.vetmed.ufl.edu/college/departments/sacs/facultystaff/julielevy.html _________________________________________________________________ Lauren found her dream laptop. Find the PC that’s right for you. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/choosepc/?ocid=ftp_val_wl_290 _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
