Insuring cat with FIV and life with FIV cat

[Hippopotas]

Looking at getting at a cat after the sad departure of my house rabbit at a very advanced age in April.

Because we live very near a main road it would need to be at indoor cat and my local rescues only seem to rehoused FIV cats to indoor homes.

So my main questions are
Can I insure a cat with FIV?
Will it cost a lot more and will certain things not ben covered due to FIV?
Is the life span of a cat with FIV reduced?
Is there anything else I need to know or consider about FIV cats

My other option is a kitten but I really wanted a rescue.

I don't know about insurance. I imagine it will be more difficult/more expensive, but I can't speak from any experience or knowledge.

I do though know a lot about cats with FIV, having had more than I can count (and probably lots more that I never got tested). All the cats I've had have lived to be old and have died of things totally unrelated to FIV (the normal illnesses of old age - kidney problems/cancer/stroke etc). They have also not suffered from more illnesses generally or been more unwell than you would expect from a non FIV cat. Sometimes it can make gum infections worse - leading to having to have all the teeth out - but that's also happened to countless cats I've had that weren't FIV positive, and certainly didn't affect all of them. Of course you can be unlucky - but you can be unlucky with any cat.

However I strongly disagree with the policy of this rescue to home as an indoor only cat. There is no good reason for this. Neutered cats don't pass it on and going outside isn't likely to make them ill. If it's a cat that is used to going out then I think it will be difficult and cruel to keep him indoors. I think the only cats suitable for indoor homes are those which really aren't interested in going out - particularly old cats.

Is there any chance you could cat proof the garden or build a catio?

We lost our boy a few months ago at the age of 10 to FIV - we didn't have a clue he had it until the very end (by which point it had decimated his immune system - so probably closer to AIDS).

Up until the point that he started to deteriorate he was perfectly healthy - apart from a seemingly sensitive stomach and one UTI a few years ago). He had some sort of bug in Oct that a dose of antibiotics seemed to sort, but from Jan onwards he was in decline. Cue multiple trips to the vets for all sorts of tests (they thought it was stress related, despite him being pretty chilled out generally). By the time they tested for FIV, there wasn't much they could do.

Despite being neutered at an early age, he was a bugger for fighting so looks like he picked a fight with the wrong cat at some point 😟.

Thankfully, he didn't pass it on to our other cat (probably the only cat in the area he didn't dare start anything with 😂).

It wouldn't necessarily put me off getting another FIV cat - at least knowing that they have it, you're able to keep an eye out for any early signs of being under the weather.

I suspect you would have to argue the toss with the insurance companies to prove that any illness wasn't FIV related though.