What is feline leukemia and feline AIDS?
Feline leukemia and feline AIDS are both caused by viruses belonging to the retrovirus family. This is the same family of viruses that contains HIV. However, neither feline leukemia or feline AIDS can infect people. The feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infects domestic and exotic cats. Cats become infected through contact with the saliva or nasal secretions from carrying cats FeLV. Casual contact between cats such as grooming and sharing water or food surfaces can easily result in infection. Bites are another common cause of infection. Free-roaming cats or cats that come in contact with free-roaming cats are at the greatest risk. Cats infected with this fatal virus exhibit a variety of symptoms because the virus attacks many different body systems. The good news is that there is a vaccine and a FeLV test available. Feline AIDS is caused by the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Again, cats allowed to roam free are at the highest risk for infection. The feline immunodeficiency virus, like
