Hmm, I don't know if there's one on Long Island.
Terri in NJ
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 8:20
PM
Subject: Re: Emilio and Frito
I was wondering about Tabby's Place, but couldn't remember the
name. Isn't there one one on Long Island too? Again, can't
remember the name!
Gloria
At 06:40 PM 10/26/2005, you
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: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Christine
Ott >To: <mailto:Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org>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 >from poking at each other (maybe too late??), and
I'm terrified that my >cats are already at risk, even though I HOPE I'm
just being overly >paranoid (Emilio kicked a toy out from under the door
and Platooski >kicked it back in, etc. etc. etc.). We're committed to
hanging on to >the Mom until we get her spayed and retested in a few
months, though I >fear she's a sitting duck, since she was a very good
mommy: she nursed >them and doted on them, groomed them and shared food.
She is a >beautiful, sweet animal, we think about two years old, and we
would be >happy to keep her if she's healthy (or didn't have healthy
cats in the >house). They waiting will stink. > >I'm at a
complete loss. Anyone have any advice? Know of any place I can >place
the kittens? I know how hard it is to find homes for healthy >cats, and
I just don't know what to do. Any personal experience on >exactly how
contagious this disease is? I keep reading things like >"moist contact,"
"prolonged physical contact," and "highly contagious >and lethal" and I
have not gotten much in the way of reassurance from >the vet, either --
and I suppose, if that's the way it is, I'll have to >accept it, but
hearing some firsthand stories would be helpful. > >In the
meantime, two more cats have appeared on the back porch, and >after this
experience with Emilio and Frito, I'm not sure if I'm strong >enough to
keep doing this. I feel so weak, drained. They need us >though, and I
know no one else in my neighborhood helps them. > >Thank you so
much in advance for reading this, and anything thoughts >you may have
- >Chrissy >
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