Feline immunodeficiency virus, its welfare implications for affected cats, and how owners and shelters can support FIV-positive cats to live full, comfortable lives.
FIV-positive cats have historically faced euthanasia in shelters and rejection by adopters based on a misunderstanding of the disease. The evidence is clear: most FIV-positive cats live long, healthy lives indistinguishable from non-infected cats, particularly when stress is minimized, veterinary monitoring is regular, and opportunistic infections are treated promptly. The welfare priority is not the virus itself but the consequences of immune impairment — which good husbandry can substantially mitigate. Shelters that euthanize healthy FIV-positive cats as a matter of policy are causing preventable death based on outdated science.