My cat became ill, so i took him to the vet immediately. He was a rescue cat so little knowledge from his past was available.
We got to the vet and she took his temp. It was 106. A normal cat temp is 103.
She contacted the rescue i got him from asking them to fax through his history and medical history.
She took him in and put him on fluids immediately, and sent me home. She would call by 4pm to tell me how he is going.
I got a call as soon as i got in from the vet.
She said did a test called a 'snap test' which checks for FIV antibodies.
My cat had these antibodies present.
she said he has a bad fever and might not recover due to him having FIV and it would be in his best interest to have him PTS immediately as he would be suffering and be infectious to other cats.
Devastated i agreed, i didnt want my friend to be suffering. She said she had to do it right away so i didnt get a chance to say by or cradle him as he was given a lethal overdose of anasthetic.
Due to his FIV i wasnt allowed to take him home to give him a burial.
Then today i got a call from the vet apologising. She read my cats notes from his shelter after she had killed him and it turns out that my cat did have FIV antibodies, but not because he had the FIV disease but because he had had the FIV vaccine while he was in the shelter.
He was not a risk to other cats and would have made a full recovery.
the FIV vaccine leaves the FIV antibodies in the blood as it is there to make sure the cat doesnt get the disease.
I read up on this today and it states that a cat without the actual disease and who has had the vaccine will show up as FIV positive in a snap test.
She SHOULD have waited until my cats medical history had been sent to her before she acted.
I am inconsolable and i wanted to warn other cat owners of this danger.
If you give away your pet or rehome it, always let the new owners or rescue know what vaccines the cat has had.
A statement from Edinburgh cat and dog home said that it believes that many cats are PTS unnecessary when the are handed in or taken to vets if they are unwell and have a FIV antibodies positive result from a snap test.
My cat was killed and shouldnt have been just because someone didnt want to wait 20 mins on notes coming through. He had a fever that he would have made a recovery from.
It is time this snap test was replaced by a more safer meathod.
I just wanted to warn other cat owners of this to try and save some hearts from being broken in the future.
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