Since Woody’s mom was FIV+, he will currently test positive for FIV but should test negative at around 10 months old. “FIV”–feline immunodeficiency virus is not contagious to people or to dogs at all, and ONLY contagious to other kitties if–and ONLY if–they bite the kitty really hard and draws blood (which he loves other cats and doesn’t want to bite them!) or if the cat bite them very hard. This would have to be a deep wound with another cat and they would have to exchange blood. This is only if a cat is a true positive, which most kittens are not.

The majority of kittens that test positive when young will retest negative at 10 months old. The reason for this is that the majority of kittens that test positive, test this way because they are still caring their mom’s antibodies in their blood from nursing. But as they grow and burn off these antibodies they are not be positive anymore. Kittens do not truly have the virus unless they have been in a serious fight with an adult cat that has FIV. (which the kittens have no wounds, so this is not the case for them) In short, kittens born to FIV positive mothers are at low risk for infection, although they may initially test positive due to the presence of maternal antibodies and will later test negative. These kittens are extremely healthy and require no special care.

Here is some additional info and education on FIV:

What is FIV?:

“FIV”–feline immunodeficiency virus is not contagious to people or to dogs at all, and ONLY contagious to other kitties if–and ONLY if–she bites the kitty really hard and draws blood or if they bite her very hard. This would have to be a deep wound with another cat and they would have to exchange blood.

Below are a few articles we found helpful:

Info on FIV: http://bestfriends.org/resources/fiv-cats-faqs
Myths vs Fact: http://fivcatrescue.org/fiv-myths.html
FIV cats living with non-FIV cats: http://www.v63.net/catsanctuary/mixed_households.html