Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How common are FIV and FeLV infections in pet cats in Germany
By Gleich, Sabine E et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2009·Clinic of Small Animal Internal Medicine, Germany·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Prevalence of feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukaemia virus among client-owned cats and risk factors for infection in Germany.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study of over 17,000 cats in Germany found that about 3.2% had feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and 3.6% had feline leukemia virus (FeLV). Male cats, older cats, and those that go outside were more likely to have FIV, while FeLV was more common in cats that had contact with other cats. Cats with FeLV had shorter lifespans compared to healthy cats, but FIV-infected cats lived just as long as those without the virus. If you're concerned about your cat's risk for these viruses, talk to your veterinarian about testing and prevention options.
People also search for: cat FIV symptoms · cat FeLV treatment · how to prevent cat leukemia · outdoor cat health risks · cat virus testing options
Abstract
This study was conducted to determine prevalence and risk factors for retrovirus infection of infected cats in a large cat population in Germany by evaluation of 17,462 client-owned cats that were tested for the presence of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibodies or feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) antigen. The owners of a subset of 100 cats were contacted to determine their cat's survival times. Prevalence of FIV and FeLV was 3.2% and 3.6%, respectively, remaining stable for FIV, but decreasing for FeLV (6-1%) over 10 years. Median age was 6 years in FIV- and 3 years in FeLV-infected cats. Risk factors for FIV infection were male gender, older age, mixed breed, access to outdoor, aggressive behaviour, and FeLV co-infection; and for FeLV infection contact to other cats, aggressive behaviour, and FIV co-infection. Median survival time of FIV-infected cats was not significantly different to non-infected cats, whereas FeLV-infected cats had significantly shorter median survival times than non-infected cats.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19616984/