Re: [Felvtalk] campaign to get an felv cat to sanctuary

[Margo]

Hi Lee,

 

            I don't think the concept is wrong, and I agree with your thoughts. I headed a rescue for many years, and now have the remaining "un-adoptables" with me. Currently I need to expand, and erect housing and enclosure for another 20 some cats. My feed bills run over $500 a month, and the Vet bills can really mount up. I get the costs :). And the debt.

 

            I have contributed to sites like these, but before doing so, I verified the cause. I want the name of the place where the funds will be going. I want contact info. I want the Vet who is involved to be available to confirm diagnosis, and that treatment is forth-coming, or on-going. I want to know if there will be additional costs, later. This "case" had several elements I consider red flags.

 

            As I said, I hope that this is legitimate. Maybe they just don't know how to go about asking, as you said. FeLV is an unusual condition to be trying to "hook" the public with. It's not  something laypeople would generally respond to as a place to allocate their charitble contributions. If NOT an actual need, better to use a cute, cuddly pup or kitten with an extremely urgent need for medical attention. That's why I'm not condemning outright. I think a scam would be better organized, but who knows. Whatever the truth, I hope that Alan finds Sanctuary.

 

             Maybe the years have just made me reluctant to trust, but experience can be a bitter teacher.

 

All the best,

 

Margo

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Evans
Sent: May 26, 2013 1:17 PM
To: "felvtalk@felineleukemia.org"
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] campaign to get an felv cat to sanctuary

It may not be a scam. There are a lot of these types of contribution sites around, mainly because people are struggling with vet bills and animals that are difficult to get adopted. Matter of fact, I am developing a site called Community Cats in Crisis and going to try to get funds through YouCare, another publicly used site for contributions. This is in answer to the fact that several people in my independent rescue group have spent over $5,000 of their own money dealing with illnesses and injuries of colony cats and abandoned cats in our community. I am $3,000 down in my finances from two rescued cats, one still surviving with bone cancer.  That said, these people are going about this slightly backwards. They should first identify the Sanctuary that has agreed to accept Alan so people can contact the Sanctuary and see what it's all about. Then they need to find out where Alan will be living at the Sanctuary and what other types of cats will be living with him. You wouldn't want to mix FeLv and FIV+ cats together. Anyone can start a Sanctuary and take in cats. That's a problem. Here near San Antonio there was an FeLv sanctuary. The woman had over 100 FeLv+ cats there, all crammed into a small shed, with an outside enclosure that was smaller than a small backyard. The rest of the property was a sheep ranch. She took very poor care of the cats and did not separate those who were positive but not active for the disease from those who were already showing signs of the disease. The place was filthy, food was rotting or very low grade and symptoms were not treated with medications. She had no certification as a shelter or sanctuary or certified rescue group. Just a woman using part of her sheep ranch to store FeLv+ cats. She would collect up to $2,000 per cat and the people who released the cats to her care were shown a very nice living room type area with several cats lounging about. They never saw the real place where she eventually crammed more and more cats.

 

Spay and Neuter your cats and dogs and your weird relatives and nasty neighbors too!

.

_______________________________________________
Felvtalk mailing list
Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org