Table 2.

FIV testing recommendations for FIV‐vaccinated cats and cats with an unknown FIV vaccination history in Australia and New Zealand

FIV testing indication	Time of FIV testing	Initial FIV testing	Confirmatory FIV testing
Unwell cat (e.g., unexplained weight loss particularly in a young cat, diarrhoea, lymphadenomegaly, renal disease in a younger cat, behavioural issues, respiratory disease, uveitis, anaemia of unknown cause)	Concurrently with other blood tests (e.g., haematology and biochemistry)	Anigen Rapid™ or Witness™ PoC kit (EDTA whole blood)	Anigen Rapid™ or Witness™ PoC kit – Whichever was not used for initial testing (EDTA whole blood)
Blood donation (only enrol cats with no risk of cat fights in previous 12 weeks)	During screening, prior to collecting transfusion blood (will also need blood for FeLV PCR testing)
Annual (or lapsed) FIV vaccination	At time of health check and prior to annual FIV vaccination administration	Anigen Rapid™ PoC kit (EDTA whole blood or saliva) or Witness™ PoC kit (EDTA whole blood)	Anigen Rapid™ or Witness™ PoC kit – Whichever was not used for initial testing (EDTA whole blood)
Cat fight abscess (CFA)	8 weeks after CFA

Two commercially available FIV point‐of‐care (PoC) antibody kits to date have been independently validated in Australia in FIV‐vaccinated cats: Anigen Rapid™ and Witness™. FIV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to detect FIV infection is not recommended since the relatively lower sensitivity compared to PoC testing means that a negative PCR result does not rule out FIV infection. Note that none of the FIV PoC antibody kit manufacturers currently endorses using saliva instead of blood as a diagnostic specimen. FeLV, feline leukaemia virus.