Abstract
The American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) is excited to announce a long-awaited update to the 2008 American Association of Feline Practitioners’ feline retrovirus management guidelines 1 in this issue of JFMS. 2 This 2020 update was written by an international Advisory Panel composed of feline specialist veterinarians in private practice (SL, GO, KSD), a veterinarian board certified in internal medicine and shelter medicine (JL), and three European experts who have provided much original research on feline retroviruses (KH, RHL, MH). While these guidelines were primarily written with the North American veterinarian in mind, the international scope of the contributions means that we are honored to have endorsement from the International Society of Feline Medicine (icatcare.org/veterinary/isfm).
The last AAFP retrovirus guidelines were published 12 years ago, and so the 2020 guidelines represent a major update on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of feline retrovirus infections. Much has changed in the intervening years, especially in our understanding of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection. The outcomes of infection with FeLV have been redefined, and new test methodologies are available. There is now recognition that the clinical expression and prognosis for FeLV may change over time relative to the cat’s current immune status and resulting levels of virus in circulation. This ushers in an era in which quantitative FeLV testing may be used to better predict outcomes.
For feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), new research has improved our knowledge of the effect of the virus on morbidity and mortality, and shows the outcome of infection may depend, in part, on the cat’s environment. Point-of-care tests have been identified that distinguish between FIV-infected cats and FIV-vaccinated cats.
Ideas about determining the retrovirus infection status of a cat have also changed. Since cats are tested under various circumstances and for various reasons, a single testing protocol is difficult to recommend for all cats. In these guidelines, we present some practical options. A further difficulty is that a single test at a single point in time may not be sufficient to determine a cat’s infection status, especially for FeLV. However, one thing has not changed: the most important measure for the control of FeLV and FIV remains identification of infected cats. These guidelines address an emerging trend in which screening for FeLV and FIV is increasingly shifting from animal shelters, where cats are adopted, to veterinary practices, where animals receive comprehensive care.
Cat owners and caregivers play an important role in the identification and treatment of infected cats and prevention of infection. Adoption programs for infected cats are growing in popularity, necessitating a new area of focus for veterinarians in both shelters and practice. A client brochure (pictured) accompanies these guidelines and can be downloaded from the AAFP (catvets.com/guidelines/client-brochures) and JFMS (jfms.com) websites. The Advisory Panel hopes these guidelines and the client brochure will be of benefit to veterinarians, whether in private practice, shelter medicine or educational institutions.