Deb,
You are afraid of mixing because the danger is real. Your household is
indicative of that. We might never know how it is that you have 3
previously believed neg cats testing pos. Was the disease dormant in
their systems before they came to you, are they in the process of
clearing the virus, did one carrier give it to the others? My one piece
of advice for you is to keep them separated until you have come to terms
with what mixing them might mean. Imho, I don't think you are going to
spare any of the negs from the possibility of whatever fate has in
store, they've already had too much contact together for that. One of
the hardest things we have to learn in being the guardian of special
needs animals is that no matter how desperately we want to control the
outcome, no matter how diligently we arm ourselves with information and
advice, it is ultimately not in our power to keep them safe from
illness. All we can do is our best to insure that the time they do have
to share with us is filled with as much joy, safety and love that we can
offer. Early on I made the decision that I would opt for quality of
life rather than quantity. Each and every one of us must make these
types of decisions on our own. It's a very personal judgement call that
only you can make. We must weigh the potential consequences and be
ready to live with whatever the results turn out to be. There are no
guarantees with felv or with life. Why do you think so many otherwise
caring people still advocate pts? It's the only sure solution to save
you from dealing with the possible ramifications of living with felv.
No life, no felv.
Dealing with the "what ifs" after the fact is always punishing, (what if
I'd kept them separate, what if I'd sought out treatment sooner, what if
I'd done this or that differently). Researching my alternatives,
knowing I did the best I could with what I knew at the time, following
my intuition and heart, are my talismans against the bitterness of "what
if".
Nina
Deb Stockbridge wrote:
Hi Nina,
I Love to hear more and more experiences from all of you that mix
negatives and positives...it's building my confidence more each day.
What I need to know is do you still keep them together if one still
has a persistent cough that just won't clear even after treatment or
if one sneezes here or there? My situation as it is now is that I
have 3 positives , the two boys that I might have homes for , and my
calico girl that I thought I had a home for but after seeing her with
symptoms of her cough which I had thought went away, I feel I can't
let her move and be more stressed out until I can get her completely
healthy and a little more weight on her. My boys seems healthy but
may sneeze here and there or have a little cough....nothing persistent
or on a daily basis so I was just wondering if it's still OK to mix
them with my negative boys? My Calico girl is back on antibiotics and
while she was with us that night for about 5 hours ,before she had
that bad coughing spell she was fine for the 5 hours. So can she
still be with my negative boys while I treat her. You said I
should've seen her face when I had to confine her......well I barely
could see her face because I was crying my eyes out myself:( She was
not put by herself thank god , otherwise I would've grabbed a sleeping
bag and slept with her! She was put back with her two feline brothers
who are also positive so I hope she wasn't too distraught....I sure
know I was though!! I know my kits have all been exposed and I have
now vaccinated the negative ones. I just don't know the do's and
don'ts of mixing them all together again. I think I'm so scared
because I had thought I had 6 healthy cats, 3 had been tested for FELV
and showed negative and lived healthy and happily for over 2 years. I
then brought in 3 more over the past year of which one tested negative
and I never tested the last two thinking they came from parents that
were tested. Then all of the sudden one gets sick and I have 3 FELV+
cats, one is my oldest Bengal boy who tested negative previously and
then the two that were never tested. None are related. I was told
this is a rare situation and if FELV doesn't spread that easily then
why are 3 of mine infected? So I either have really bad luck and more
than one brought this in my home and the FELV tests I had done that
were negative meant nothing or the last 2 I brought in came here with
it and spread it to my adult cat. I will never know, but after having
been hit with 3 of my 6 cats getting this disease at one time with
still one kit to test, to me that makes me think this spreads like
wildfire and that is why I'm so nervous about putting them all back
together. The first night we decided to bring up my calico girl was
after I had fed them all so they didn't share any food dishes and my
other kits didn't really even go near her as they were surprised to
see her and she just really followed me around the house all night and
then fell asleep with me while my boys seemed a bit mad that I was
showering attention on her all night and they slept with my Son so
there wasn't much contact in that 5 hours. I'm trying to my best to
get used to doing this but I'm still in panic mode here and just
trying to learn all I can and make sure I do right by all my cats.
For now I'm trying to rehome the positive boys that I know will take a
move easier and the home I found for my 6 month old boy sounds perfect
as he will have a 7 month old FELV+ playmate. This home might take
both boys but I won't know until she comes to meet them. So this is
where I'm at right now and my mind is spinning every day with more
info and seems to change daily on how much I can handle so I'm just
taking it all a day at a time and giving them as much TLC as I can
until I figure this all out:)
Thanks for your advice/input here.....it's much appreciated:)
Deb
- Re: New Member - Deb and mixing Nina
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