Alley Cat Advocates, Inc. does not test for the feline leukemia virus (FeLV) or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV).

Finances

Testing costs about $15 per cat. The rate of infection with these viruses is very low (4% for FeLV and 2% for FIV).1 That means that approximately $300 would be spent to identify each single positive cat for every 100 cats altered. This money could have been spent to sterilize 20 more cats instead. In addition to the cost of testing, the time spent on collecting blood and running tests on 100 cats during each BIG FIX would detract from the number of cats being spayed or neutered.

Emotions

The only reason to test is to euthanize those testing positive. This is appealing to no one at a BIG FIX clinic. Alley Cat Advocates' veterinarians have the discretion to recommend the euthanasia of cats who show clinical symptoms suggesting that they are too ill or injured to be released. Their infection status is irrelevant in making this decision.

Logic

Mass screening of healthy cats can result in a large percentage of false positive results. Ideally, positive screening tests should be reconfirmed by another kind of test and by retesting a few months later. This is virtually impossible for feral cats. Euthanizing healthy positive cats would undoubtedly resulted in inadvertent euthanasia of negative cats as well as those cats that were not clinically ill from their infections

Our Mission

The goal of our program is to sterilize as many cats as possible, eventually reducing the number of cats that must live as unowned strays. Diverting resources from this mission will result in fewer cats spayed and neutered, and more kittens born into this difficult life. Since FeLV is primarily spread from infected mother cats to their kittens, and FIV passes mainly among fighting tom cats through bite wounds, spaying and neutering alone will decrease the spread of these infections.

Caretakers who wish to have feral cats tested should have it performed at a regular veterinary clinic BEFORE bringing the cat to Alley Cat Advocates for sterilization. Under no circumstances should cats be sterilized through our clinic and then be euthanized later if they are discovered to be positive. This would waste clinic resources that could be better spent on cats that will be permitted to live out their lives. In addition, to subject a cat to the stress and pain of surgery, only to euthanize it shortly thereafter violates the humane mission of Alley Cat Advocates.

1 Operation Catnip Manual