Hi,

We recently adopted a 15 yr old female who was diagnosed with FIV when she was 2 yrs old. I’ve never dealt with FIV and it’s complications before, so I need to do some research before I take her to our Vet.

My main concern is that she has a slight fluid build up on her belly. I was told that she has had this fluid there for the past 4 yrs and it hasn’t gotten any worse than it was 4 yrs ago. I was told that her previous Vet didn’t ever tap the fluid off because he said as long as it wasn’t causing her any problems with breathing, etc, and wasn’t getting worse, he’d rather leave it alone. Although she’s not acting like it’s causing her any problems, is it safe to leave the fluid alone? If this fluid is tapped off what all does that involve? Then I assume this fluid will keep building up again, right?

Her only other symptoms right now are all that she has had for the past 5 yrs. Diarrhea (pumpkin doesn’t help), a dilated pupil, poor coat (doesn’t groom at all), and congestion (which I was told was allergies). Other than that her teeth are good, and she eats and drinks good. I’m not exactly sure what I’m in for here. We’ve had several FeLV cats over the yrs but never FIV.

Should I go ahead and start her on Interferon? What other meds are people giving for FIV?

Thanks for the help!

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