Chloe Mackintosh PGCert, BSc (Hons), RVN. Chloe completed the Level 3 diploma at the College of Animal Welfare in Edinburgh before graduating from Edinburgh Napier University in 2021 with a 2:1 in the veterinary nursing top-up degree. During training and since qualifying as a veterinary nurse, Chloe has worked for several charities and has a passion for practising veterinary medicine in shelters and charitable organisations. She currently works as a head veterinary nurse in a charity hospital in London and has plans to undertake a degree in veterinary medicine at the Royal Veterinary College in the near future.

ABSTRACT There are limited data on whether neutering a cat affects its risk of contracting feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). A group of cats must be sampled and data collected to examine whether
a correlation exists between disease prevalence and neuter status. This comparative study aimed to determine whether the neuter status of cats affected the rates of FIV positivity among the stray cat population of a north London RSPCA hospital. Data were collected from the RSPCA’s ‘Stray Cat Archives 2019’ and stored in Microsoft Excel. The data were analysed using Minitab 15 software. Of 869 stray cats admitted into the hospital, 433 were tested for FIV and feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) using the combined MEGACOR FASTest. Of the cats tested, 20% tested positive for FIV and, of these FIV positive cats, 89% were entire males. The results indicate that entire male cats are substantially more predisposed to being infected with FIV than neutered male cats, entire female cats and neutered female cats.
Keywords FIV, immunodeficiency, virus, neuter, castrate, stray, cat, feline, charity.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56496/SIBN3659

To cite this article: The effect of neutering cats on the prevalence of feline immunodeficiency virus. Mackintosh, C. (2024) VNJ 39 (3) pp32-38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.56496/SIBN3659

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