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  • 1.  FIV and rabies immunity--

    Posted 03-15-2025 12:12 PM

    We're trying to help a Montenegrin street cat we sterilized get home to an adopter in Austria.  The adopter was on vacation here and rescued the kitty after she was hit by a car and broke her pelvis.  The adopter lives in Austria, part of the European Union. 

    Montenengro is not part of EU, therefore cats are required to pass a titre test to confirm a certain level of immunity to rabies after vaccination.

    This little one was vaccinated twice, and failed the titre test twice. It's not just low immunity, it's no immunity.

    Would the FIV prevent her immune system from reacting to the vaccination as it normally would?

    If she was carrying rabies, along with the FIV, wouldn't it have killed her by now, with or without the vaccination?

    Does anyone have any contacts in the EU veterinary structure who might help us work out an exception for this little one?

    Thanks for any guideance or contacts you can share!  It's frustrating to have a good home waiting for her, and nothing here in Montenegro except a paid boarding  accommodation or the streets.


    #Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

    ------------------------------
    April King
    Volunteer and Board Member
    Kotor Kitties
    +1 206 407 5336
    http://www.kotorkitties.org
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: FIV and rabies immunity--

    Posted 03-17-2025 08:30 AM

    Hi April,

    Here's a link. One possibility worth looking into discusses that the vaccine could be compromised.

    https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/vaccination-failures-in-cats

    Why do you suspect that the cat has FIV?  Are symptoms present? 

    Another option, if the cat is being boarded. Reach out to cat rescue groups in Montenegro and ask them two questions. 1. Would they be willing to provide foster care for this cat? 2. And if so, would they be willing to make and feed a balanced homemade food to help build this cat's immune system?  If so, message me privately and I will provide you with a balanced recipe.  There are cat rescue groups all around the world.  Last year one of my neighbors when to Greece to help with trapping feral cats.

    Good luck! If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.



    ------------------------------
    Leslie Moran
    Executive Director
    Emerald Ark
    NV
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  • 3.  RE: FIV and rabies immunity--

    Posted 03-17-2025 03:45 PM

    Thanks so much, Leslie!

    We don't normally test for FIV/FeLV, but this little girl had some health issues that made it seem advisable for her.   And it turned out that her rescuer/adopter had just lost her 18-year-old FIV+ cat a few months before.  So while I dreaded telling her the results of the test, it was no big deal to her! 

    I believe that after the kitty failed the first titre test, she was revaccinated from a different "batch" of rabies vaccine.  And other animals have prassed their titres without problems from the same batch of vaccine, so it's unlikely (but not impossible) to relate to a temperature failure.

    The cat has been in foster care since shortly after she was hit by the car last September. Whether or not they would be willing to cook for her I don't know.

    Cheers!



    ------------------------------
    April King
    Volunteer and Board Member
    Kotor Kitties
    +1 206 407 5336
    http://www.kotorkitties.org
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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