Iggy was taken from the streets by a kindly woman who often rescues stray cats.She was planning on adding Iggy to her family, but after taking him to the vet, she found out he was FIV+.

An FIV+ cat has been infected with the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV).This virus disables or destroys the white blood cells, and leaves the cat susceptible to infections. Once a cat is infected with FIV, the cat is infected for life and can transmit the virus if he or she bites another cat.The woman knew she couldn’t let him mix with her other cats, so she isolated Iggy in a room of his own.Iggy’s room was large and airy, but she was worried about his quality of life, since he is a very sociable cat.We added Iggy to the Waiting List for our FIV Suite, but warned the woman that the wait would likely be very long.

Iggy waited for over a year before his spot opened up.As soon as we met Iggy, we knew he would be a wonderful addition to the suite.Though he is very big (his paws are enormous), Iggy is a complete mush. He gets along well with the other cats, but he just loves people.When we enter the suite to give medications or clean, Iggy is always right in your face, trying to be “helpful”.Our FIV+ cats have their own suite and we are extra-careful about disease control procedures in their suite.In addition, they are fed a higher-quality (and more expensive) diet than our other cats, in hopes of boosting their immune systems.Iggy is such a wonderful cat that we are hopeful he will be adopted eventually, despite his FIV+ status.But, experience has taught us that adoptions from the FIV Suite happen only rarely and so Iggy may be with us for a long time.