Module 2: Preventive health care and health surveillance
FeLV and FIV Testing of Shelter Cats
In their 2020 ASV Retroviral Testing & Management Position Statement, the ASV states that all cats should be screened for retroviral infections, but that the decision to test for FeLV and/or FIV in the shelter should be based on current scientific knowledge, available shelter resources, impact on feline population health, and program goals. This screening is provided pre-adoption in many shelters, but for others, limited shelter resources do not permit routine testing of all cats prior to adoption, especially during kitten season when resources for optimal care are stretched thin. Which cats should be tested by the shelter and when is testing optional?
The table below summarizes testing recommendations for shelters from the 2020 Retroviral Management Guidelines and the 2020 ASV Position Statement. Note that testing community cats in Return to Field or TNR programs is not recommended. Sterilization reduces the two most important modes of retroviral transmission: FeLV transmission from queen to kitten and FIV from fighting among males. Retroviral control is more effective when these programs allocate all resources to sterilization of as many cats as possible rather than a retroviral test and remove policy. Testing is optional for healthy cats that are housed singly or with littermates. Group-housed cats must be tested, at least for FeLV, before co-mingling. Foster cats going to homes with resident cats should also be tested first. High-risk cats, such as those that are sick, have bite wounds, exposed to known infected cats, or from hoarding cases should be tested.
Recommendations for FeLV and FIV Testing in Shelters
| Origin | FeLV/FIV Testing |
|---|---|
| Individually housed healthy cats | Optional |
| Group-housed cats | Recommended (at least FeLV) |
| Sick cats | Recommended |
| High-risk cats (bite wounds, known exposure) | Recommended |
| Foster cats | Recommended |
| Cats from hoarding/neglect cases | Recommended |
| Trap-neuter-return cats | Not recommended |
What about nursing moms and their kittens? Can the mom or one kitten in a litter be tested to serve as a surrogate for other kittens? Can you pool blood samples from littermates for use in one POC test? Individual infection varies within litters, therefore, it is not appropriate to conserve costs by testing one kitten as a proxy for others. Practices such as testing a queen and not her kittens, or testing only a few members of a litter are both unreliable and a poor use of resources. Pooling multiple blood samples for use in a single POC test will reduce test sensitivity and should not be performed. The simple rule is that one FeLV/FIV test must represent one cat and results cannot be extrapolated to other cats.
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