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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Hoping to adopt a new kitten ...

3 replies

mrssmooth · 15/08/2017 17:51

We have a 10 year old female cat already; adopted a male cat 4 years ago who's been missing for 9 months now Sad so we decided we would adopt another male kitten.

We were introduced to the most gorgeous little chap Smile who's had an awful start to his life (found when he was 7ish weeks old & needed an op) and have been visiting him at the Animal Centre for the past 2 weeks. We have been speaking to the staff at the centre and asking when we could take him home, understanding of course that his stitches would need to be removed first. Agreed (verbally) with them that he "should" be ok to come home with us after his vet check and first injection, on the understanding that we'd take him back for his second injection and to be neutered and microchipped - absolutely we would, all fine.

He's now had his first injection and the stitches removed - all fine. He's also had a test for feline aids/leukemia which came back clear, so we were hoping to take him home today/this week. However, RSPCA called me to say Vet was concerned re the feline aids test, and that we wouldn't be able to take the kitten home until he'd been re-tested in 3 weeks ... so we have to wait 3 weeks before we find out if we can actually adopt him.

My question is - why would the vet think that there might be a chance of him having the feline aids/leukemia after the first test came back negative? We obviously understand that they can't rehome him to us because we already have a cat, but it's now got me worrying that the vet thinks the kitten has a high risk of having the disease!

Sorry for the long-winded post, didn't want to miss anything out! Sooo hoping we can give this wee fella his forever home!

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thecatneuterer · 15/08/2017 22:23

That is very, very odd indeed. There is no need to routinely test for either of those things. You mention AIDS (well really FIV) and leukemia. Which is it they mentioned? As they are both very different. If it's leukemia then there could have been a leukemia case in the centre and are worried about infection. If it is leukemia then they would be right not to home him with other cats.

If it's FIV then there is no reason to test and no reason whatsoever for you not to take him even if he is positive and you do have other cats as, as long as he is neutered, there is virtually no chance of him passing it on.

mrssmooth · 16/08/2017 10:38

Sad I think it's odd too. The lady at the RSPCA centre definitely said it was a test for Feline Aids/FIV & Leukemia - they called it a "sight" test. Initially I thought they meant eyesight but then she explained! (Although this could have been relevant because the op was on his eye!) She said the kitten had already had one test and it came back negative, but that the vet wanted to do another one at 12 weeks.

I'm now thinking they "know" something but don't want to tell us! I will be quizzing them again when we go to visit him on Friday. It doesn't bode well, as far as I'm concerned Sad. Thank you thecatneuterer.

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mrssmooth · 16/08/2017 10:46

I've just called them again and the lady (a different lady) said they test all stray kittens routinely, and particularly him because he was in a bad way when he came in. They don't think he's any more susceptible than any of the other kittens but because the first test was done when he was so young it sometimes gives a false reading. (Why test so young then, if you know you're only going to have to re-do it?!)

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