Housing an FIV Infected Cat

What can one do for housing with a feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) cat? About a year ago a stray cat, walking on three legs, with a battered face, came to my house. He was pretty wild, so I couldn't catch him. Luckily, DeKalb, Illinois has a really nice shelter called Tails, and the good people there loaned me a live trap so I could trap the kitty soon to be named Russell.

Russell was pretty smart. I set the trap. The way it worked was, one put food inside at the end, and the cat would theoretically walk into the trap, step on a plate that would trigger the trap, and the door would swing closed behind him.

Well, Russell walked in, and then instead of stepping on the triggering plate, he reached his neck over it to eat the food. Then he calmly limped away to another night of painful freedom.

Finally, I caught him by tying a string to the trigger. I put the trap outside, and sat inside, with this long string in my hand. Russell entered the trap. I sprung it. The love affair began.

The vet said he would always limp, and that he had FIV, a disease that weakens the immune system, and that can be communicated by bites. We could not take the chance that he would bite one of our other cats (one of whom is diabetic), so I had to figure out where to put him.

The garage was the obvious answer. It was fall, so I got him a nice dog house, filled it with blankets, put in a special cat heating pad, and got a heated water bowl. I also draped the outside of the dog house with blankets so he would be warm inside. He survived winter with flying colors, putting on thick fur and weight from all the nice food I fed him.

But summer was going to be a problem. We all know how hot it gets in garages. Just opening the windows was not going to work.

My solution was to break out one window pane, and build a nice cage that he could step out onto from the window. I made it with two levels, so he can go down onto the ground.

Russell now gets visits from the dog, outside, every day, and they get along really well. On really hot days, he comes out and sits in the shade. He doesn't have air conditioning, but neither do his wild friends, nor the raccoons, nor the rabbits, nor the other critters that he gets to observe.

Another thing I like about this setup is that he can go into the garage if he wants to, at will, and if he goes to the ground level, there are bugs, grasshoppers, flies, etc., that he can and does chase, keeping him from getting bored.

I checked with the humane society, to see if it was legal, and not only is it, but they were impressed at the quality of life that Russell has.

Building it, and I'm no carpenter, took me about 12 hours.

If you have a garage, and if you have to separate sick animals, it is a good option.