Above: The Fox Hole Radio built with a WWII-era âbluedâ razor blade and pencil lead for the detector. Note the bamboo coil form and the paper clip attached to a cork used to slide along the coil turns to tune the radio. The orange wire goes to the antenna, the black wire to ground.
FIV is diagnosed with a âsnapâ test, usually in combination with the Felv test. A positive FIV test almost always indicates active infection. The exception is young kittens born to an FIV positive queen. Young kittens possess antibodies to FIV from mom, but may not actually have the disease. So, if you have an FIV positive kitten, before panicking, have the kitten retested at 6 months of age.
It is wise, however, to have the test repeated by a different laboratory using a different technique (Western Blot). Mother cats with FIV pass antibody to their kittens whether the kittens become infected or not. So positive test results in kittens do not mean they harbor the virus of FIV. If kittens are positive, they need to be retested every two months until they are six months old to see if the test becomes negative. If the test is still positive at six month, they probably have the disease.