Feline immunodeficiency virus is managed through population control and individual cat welfare measures. Trap-Neuter-Return programmes and indoor management both play important roles.
FIV infection causes progressive immune dysfunction that eventually leaves cats vulnerable to infections and secondary diseases that would not affect immunocompetent animals. The welfare implications of FIV are long-term — years of relatively normal health followed by increasing vulnerability to opportunistic infections. Individual welfare is best protected through indoor management, vaccination against preventable diseases, and prompt treatment of secondary infections. At the population level, neutering is the most impactful intervention — it reduces the bite wound transmission that spreads FIV and reduces feral population density that concentrates territorial conflict. TNR programmes address both individual and population welfare simultaneously.