Hi - my name is William Collins, I am a 43 year old college student
working on my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Networking.  I know that
the preface was somewhat off-topic, however, my professor gave me an
assignment in which I was to post six or more times.  I also have
searched for this topic and have found most of the information already,
so please understand that even though I have found this information in
the newsgroup, it was several years old, so I suppose that I am asking
for "updated" information."  Any replies would be greatly appreciated
not only for my assignment, but so that I have more current information
about Pearl.  Here is my story:

Approximately 2 or 3 months ago a friend at work told me that she had 7
kittens that she needed to give away; a stray cad delivered her litter
almost in my friend's arms.  Carol cared for the mom and kittens and
overall they seemed very healthy.  My fiance' and I took a beautiful
grey kitten, Pearl, and have had her for about 6 weeks-she is
wonderful!  Carol just told me that she took the mother to the vets for
regualr testing/spaying/nueturing (I really do not know which is which,
sorry) and said that the mom cat tested positive for FIV.  Since had an
appt for Pearl anyway for the regular innoculations, we had her tested
too, and of course the results were positive.

Above I copied the header of one of Phil P's posts concerning FIV,
false positive tests, and longetivity of life, and I was hoping to get
some more info concerning FIV from the people who know.  I was not the
one who went to the vet with Pearl, but from what my fiance' explained
to me, the demeanor of the vet was almost one of non-concern.  My
fiance' told me that, according to the vet, many times newborn kittens
will have FIV antibodies in their blood if the mother herself had FIV.
The vet went further, saying that the test seemed to be "weak," and
that we should have her tested the next time we are in and gauge
Pearl's progress, for she seemed to convey that the kitten most likely
was not infected, but is currently carrying the antibodies from her
mother's milk, etc...  Is this possible? From reading earlier posts I
learned that FIV is a slow moving virus, and that Pearly may live her
entire life (or at least a good portion of it) without actually
becoming infected with the virus.  Is it true that the antibodies may
"be flushed out of her system" ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I again want to apologize
for bringing up a topic that was already covered earlier -- If any of
the regular posters have been to school/college lately, then you
understand how hard it is to "pick a topic," and with the entire 25,000
newsgroups from which to choose, well I had to narrow the field   :)
I started in the computer groups, but it seemed that for every few
posts that were valid, there was some jerk testing his/her ability to
flame.  I decided to go with a gentler crowd   :-)  Have a nice day.

Thank you!

Bill