Hi Chrissy, Welcome to the group. I have no advice for you. All I can do is tell you that I admire you for taking care of all the cats as you have.
I was in your situation pretty much when I got my first positive cat. After crying for a few weeks (I found out on December 23, Merry Christmas!), trying to find her a home, taking her to my mom's for a while (where she was miserable)......... I boostered all my negative cats and brought my positive kitten back home. And there she stayed until she died at around 6 years old. At the time I had 11 or 12 negative cats. Since that time none of my negatives ever 'caught' felv from my first positive, and I've even brought in another positive since then. A lot of people on this list mix their cats and some do not. No one can tell you what's 'best' in your situation. You just have to do the best you can and what you feel comfortable with. I hope you can find a positive home, but that is hard to do. I wasn't able to find anyone to take a positive cat. I couldn't put her to sleep. So I took my chances. I'm glad now that I did. Best of luck to you. I know how upsetting this is. tonya --- Terri Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Chrissy, > > Wow. What a big heart you have. > > There are no FeLV+ shelters in this area (I'm in Bordentown, right > around the corner from you). Taffy's Place in the Flemington area is > full I think. Any shelter you take them to will PTS. I think > Nikki's FeLV Rescue is full too. She's way up in the Sparta, NJ > area. > > No doubt you've got your hands full. I'm full myself (in a 1 bedroom > apartment), and all the cats are FeLV free at the moment. I mostly > lurk on the list nowadays -- I've been with the group since 1999. > > Since we're so close (geographically), maybe give me a call sometime > and we can chat. If nothing else, at least I can be a sounding board > for you. > > 324-1604 > > Terri in Bordentown, NJ > > =^..^= Terri, Siggie the Tomato Vampire, Guinevere, Sammi, Travis, > and 6 furangels: RuthieGirl, Samantha, Arielle, Gareth, Alec & > Salome' =^..^= > > Furkid Photos! > http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7sgqa/<http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7sgqa/> > My Personal Page: > http://www.geocities.com/ruthiegirl1/terrispage.html?1083970447350<http://www.geocities.com/ruthiegirl1/terrispage.html?1083970447350> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Christine Ott<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org<mailto:Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> > > Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 9:43 PM > Subject: Emilio and Frito > > > Hi everyone, > > I'm brand new here, and am so happy to have found you! How > wonderful to > have found such a group! Of course, it's sad news in my life that > brings me here, though, but it's good to know there are other > people > out there doing what they can. > > We moved to Trenton, NJ, last year with a dog, Lacey, and two > young, > (felv - ) cats, Monkey and Simon, and within a day, acquired a new > cat, > Angus, whom we kept in seclusion for months until we could > determine if > he had any of the feline nasties (he was tested twice, several > months > apart). Of course, we didn't seek to get another cat, but cats have > the > ability to acquire us. He came up negative for FIV and Leukemia, > and we > were so thankful. Monkey and Simon may not feel the same way, since > > he's much bigger than they are, but we're working out the issues! > > Four months later, I heard a terrible crying sound coming from the > hedges, and honestly had no idea what it was -- despite the growing > > number of cats in my household, they're all pretty young; I didn't > have > a cat until I was 31, so I was not well versed in the wide range of > > noises they're capable of making. I went to check it out, and > discovered Platooski, a kitten about 4 weeks old, in the bushes. > > We figured three cats was enough; since Platooski was a kitten, we > thought it would be easy enough to get him adopted. And as luck > would > have it, THREE people said they'd take him. We offered him to the > first > person who asked, and of course, she fell through, but not before > the > other two women got other kittens. So, we figured, "What's one > more?" > And then came Crabcake, another kitten. And again, we figured we > could > adopt her out, and planned to take her to adoption day at PetSmart, > but > she developed a horrible eye infection. Despite her hideous oozing > face, all of my cats fell in love with her while she was healing, > and > by the time she got better, we couldn't bear to give her up. > > Platooski and Crabcake also came up negative for FIV and FeLv. All > of > my cats are indoors only. Angus, by the way, the bully, adores the > kittens, though he still gets a scary blank stare when he looks at > Simon and Monkey... > > So, last month, on our one year anniversary in the house, a mommy > cat > and two young kittens show up, smelling a sucker, I guess. The > neighborhood has a bad cat problem, and we've been talking about a > trap-neuter-release program, but of course, every time a cat shows > up, > circumstances go weird, and we're not able to do the TNR thing. I > volunteered at the shelter for a bit to get a sense what was going > on > with that, and while I admire so much of what the volunteers do, I > will > do my best to never surrender an animal to them, since it's a kill > facility, and the city is so hard pressed for resources. So we > figured > we'd do our best to "take care of our backyard," so to speak. We > fed > Mommy and babies (whom we named Emilio and Frito), and they stayed > on > the back porch. I asked around again to see if we could find a > taker > for these cats, and again, we got lucky and found someone who'd > take > Emilio and Frito, if they came up negative for FIV and FeLv. > > Because we live in a city with a stray cat problem, as well as a > number > of other problems, I brought the crew inside and put them in the > spare > room, so nothing would happen to them before we could get them to > their > new home. We let them adjust for a week or so, and then we > separated > the mom from the babies -- we figured they were at least 8 weeks > old. > They were still nursing, but were also eating solid food. Called > the > vet, who makes housecalls, and she > came by last Monday, and tested Mommy, who's staying in my office: > negative. Tested Emilio: Positive. My heart sank, but my vet tried > to > reassure me that sometimes they get false positives; she'd send the > > blood out for a more definitive test. Frito was flipping out, so > the > vet couldn't draw blood. We put the kittens in a large cage in the > spare room, so they couldn't hide from us (they were avoiding us) > and > Emilio began to deteriorate rapidly. Lethargic, snotted up. > Heartbreaking. Frito seemed fine, in her not-very-outgoing way. > Mommy, > too, once she got over the initial separation, seemed fine. Again, > I > have a lot of cats, but not that much experience, and until the > other > day, I knew very little about this disease, and when Emilio got > sick, I > thought the worst. > > While Emilio was lethargic, he didn't fight me: I could pick him > up. I > cleaned him up and fed him tuna, and he perked up a bit. But only a > > little bit. The next day, I let them out of the cage, and he > improved > 100%. > > I'd been bracing myself for the worst, and I suppose it didn't > help. > The lab results came back and he's positive. The woman who said > she'd > take the kittens now (understandably) doesn't want them. And I'm > just > sick to death about the whole thing, I have been for the whole > week, > even before I had the official news. They are sweet little babies, > and > if I didn't have 5 other healthy cats, I'd keep them, as painful as > it > would be to know their futures were so uncertain. I can't bring > myself > to put them down, knowing, in the brief time I've been reading up > about > this, that they can have still have decent lives. > > My vet told me about The Best Little Cat House in Pennsylvania, a > hospice in Harrisburg, PA, a few hours from here, where I could > bring > them. I contacted them -- will have to talk to the woman who runs > the > shelter tomorrow, though -- and off the bat, they said they have > too > many cats right now, though they said they might be able to take > them > in about a month. Which is not ideal, but doable. > > I'm exploring other options in case that doesn't work out, except, > I > really don't know of any other options. To make things more > distressing, my healthy gang getting even more curious about what's > > going on in the spare room: last week, after the first FeLv > screening, > we put some old wood down in front of the door to prevent little > paws > === message truncated ===
