Re: Nina's Greeting and Question
Ah Presto, you and Everett sound like our kind of people! We seem to have some things in common, I devote myself to rescuing those animals I can, (not on your scale though!). I maintain two small colonies of ferals and my house is full of rescues. I have even enclosed the back of my house, (with bedroom window!), into a "habitat" of safe outdoor space. I too was introduced to the joys and tribulations of pos through the motherly devotion induced by the sweet innocent needs of a litter of kittens. I came upon my litter of 6, 2.5 week old kittens in a box placed outside the door of a closed spay/neuter clinic. The poor little angels were near death, starving, bloody from flea infestation and so very pitiful! I had had experience with bottle feeding and blindly jumped into the task of being surrogate mom to these new additions. At the time I couldn't figure out why anyone would pull such tiny babies from their mother's breast to abandon them in this way. When the first of the kittens, Flash, died 6 months later, (we had no experience with felv and never had them tested), I figured that the momma had probably succumbed to felv from the stress of delivery. We had adopted out 3 of the kittens, (the two that died within their first 8 months had been adopted out to the same home), the other kitten adopted out, (to a dream-home), is still healthy at 2.5 yrs old. Of the 3 that remained in my home, 2 have passed, Jazz at 18mos and Gracie at almost 2 yrs. Tim the 6th kitten tested neg and remains healthy, (thank God). We live in Oxnard CA. There's a site where you can add your name, location and a picture: http://www.frappr.com/felvtalk My husband Bruce and I share our home with 6 dogs and 5 other cats, a nice even dozen. Although, there is a newcomer to my feral dishes that looks to be a stray so... I'm very glad to have you with us. I'm sure you have much to contribute and this group is unparalleled in it's compassion and knowledge. I was close to losing my mind from grief and ignorance when I found the list. I truly don't know how I would have coped without everyone's support. Once again, welcome! Nina Presto wrote: Hi Nina, thank you for welcoming us. I'll describe our arrangements, and how we got started. Over three-hundred cats have come through my home, wherever it was, in the past twenty years. In CA, so many healthy cats are killed yearly because of overpopulation that I chose to have the positives euthanized, so that remained my policy. In '96, we returned from Zaire and moved to MA. We immediately became extensively involved in rescue work. In '01, a co-director of a humane society begged me to take in a litter of 8-wk-old kittens, six of whom had tested positive for leukemia. We were their last chance. We decided to take them. That was the turning point in our policy. Initially, we kept the kittens isolated, but eventually integrated them. The first kitten died at six months; the last, at 3 yrs. 10 months. The seventh is still negative. In the mid-eighties, I took in positives, thinking that the Felv vaccine was sufficiently effective to protect my other cats. It wasn't. That's why I stopped keeping positives. But now, although not foolproof, the vaccination is much more effective. We did our rescue work from apartments until '03, when we bought a modest house. We had the carpets removed and wall-to-wall vinyl flooring installed throughout the house. The vinyl is imitation marble:white with gray tracery, and shows anything that spills on it--hairballs, urine, anything.We can spot anything and clean it up immediately. We have eleven jumbo litter pans in several rooms, and change them often. Our back yard is enclosed with cat-proof fencing; only certain cats are allowed to go out there. Everett built an outdoorenclosed, roofed cat porch behind our bedroom window. It is accessible 24/7, 365, by an enclosed tunnel that runs to itthroughthewindow. All the catsare able to use that. We have quilted calico cat-pads throughout the house, onsemi-high surfaces, for the cats' comfort and privacy. We feed the cats on two enormous polished woodentables in our kitchen. Thismakes clean-up easier, and the cats enjoy being on a high surface. We havea supplementarysnacking station on the floor. The kitchen is actually quite lovely. Newcomers are isolated in our study, a large room with a picture-window, until two weeks after they've had their second FVRCCP/Felv vaccination and have been spayedetcetera. Then they are introduced. Welive with thirty-six cats, which is too many, but will go down through the sad attrition of death. Only two are placeable. The others are feral or positive or both. We haveresisted taking in any more, unless the case is extreme and there is no other alternative. Alley Cat Allies recently asked me to take in some positives from their hurricane rescuees. I couldn't do it. I was devastated. We sent them twenty Tomahawktraps and cash, but we're
Re: Nina's Greeting and Question
Nina, this is incredible. Your experiences very closely parallel ours. The only difference with the litter is that you received yours much younger, and that there were six kittens rather than seven. And your outdoor enclosure, complete with bedroom window...what parallels! I greatly admire anyone who bottlefeeds. That's a great deal of work. Cleaning the urine off the kittens' bellies after they're fed was the part I found frustrating; they got urine burns. How did you handle that? I'll check out the website; thank you. Ah, Oxnard. I applied to their public school system for an elementary teaching job, twenty years ago. I applied all over the state of CA. Oxnard never called me. I know CA by public school district. When I first arrived there, I put a state map on a corkboard on my wall, and put colored pins in all the places I applied to for teaching jobs. Must've beeneighty or more. It was very hard to get elementary positions back then, as it always is unless you're a bilingual or special ed teacher. I'm glad to meet you, Nina! Presto - Original Message - From: Nina To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 1:15 PM Subject: Re: Nina's Greeting and Question Ah Presto, you and Everett sound like our kind of people! We seem to have some things in common, I devote myself to rescuing those animals I can, (not on your scale though!). I maintain two small colonies of ferals and my house is full of rescues. I have even enclosed the back of my house, (with bedroom window!), into a "habitat" of safe outdoor space. I too was introduced to the joys and tribulations of pos through the motherly devotion induced by the sweet innocent needs of a litter of kittens. I came upon my litter of 6, 2.5 week old kittens in a box placed outside the door of a closed spay/neuter clinic. The poor little angels were near death, starving, bloody from flea infestation and so very pitiful! I had had experience with bottle feeding and blindly jumped into the task of being surrogate mom to these new additions. At the time I couldn't figure out why anyone would pull such tiny babies from their mother's breast to abandon them in this way. When the first of the kittens, Flash, died 6 months later, (we had no experience with felv and never had them tested), I figured that the momma had probably succumbed to felv from the stress of delivery. We had adopted out 3 of the kittens, (the two that died within their first 8 months had been adopted out to the same home), the other kitten adopted out, (to a dream-home), is still healthy at 2.5 yrs old. Of the 3 that remained in my home, 2 have passed, Jazz at 18mos and Gracie at almost 2 yrs. Tim the 6th kitten tested neg and remains healthy, (thank God).We live in Oxnard CA. There's a site where you can add your name, location and a picture: http://www.frappr.com/felvtalk My husband Bruce and I share our home with 6 dogs and 5 other cats, a nice even dozen. Although, there is a newcomer to my feral dishes that looks to be a stray so...I'm very glad to have you with us. I'm sure you have much to contribute and this group is unparalleled in it's compassion and knowledge. I was close to losing my mind from grief and ignorance when I found the list. I truly don't know how I would have coped without everyone's support. Once again, welcome!NinaPresto wrote: Hi Nina, thank you for welcoming us. I'll describe our arrangements, and how we got started. Over three-hundred cats have come through my home, wherever it was, in the past twenty years. In CA, so many healthy cats are killed yearly because of overpopulation that I chose to have the positives euthanized, so that remained my policy. In '96, we returned from Zaire and moved to MA. We immediately became extensively involved in rescue work. In '01, a co-director of a humane society begged me to take in a litter of 8-wk-old kittens, six of whom had tested positive for leukemia. We were their last chance. We decided to take them. That was the turning point in our policy. Initially, we kept the kittens isolated, but eventually integrated them. The first kitten died at six months; the last, at 3 yrs. 10 months. The seventh is still negative. In the mid-eighties, I took in positives, thinking that the Felv vaccine was sufficiently effective to protect my other cats. It wasn't. That's why I stopped keeping positives. But now, although not foolproof, the vaccination is much more effective. We did our rescue work from apartments until '03, when we bought a modest house. We had the carpets removed and wall-to-wall vinyl flooring installed throughout the house. The vinyl is imitation marble:white with gray tracery, and show
Re: Nina's Greeting and Question
Presto, Bottle babies are a great deal of work, but oh so rewarding. There's nothing like being mommy to these little tinnies. So trusting, so loving and adorable. They sort of imprint on you the way chicks or ducklings do. I'll never forget the first time I realized just how dependent on my guidance they were... I had them in our backyard for some supervised outside play, (they were probably about 8 weeks old at the time). I had been expecting a call and when I ran in to answer the phone, I looked down and all six, (who had been busily playing in different areas of the yard), were huddled around my feet looking up expectantly at me, waiting for the cue that the danger had passed. They had all raced in with me when they saw my alarm. Talk about cute! Talk about trust! The feeding regime, that of course has to be done every couple of hours 'round the clock, seemed to go on forever. By the time the last one had been fed and washed, the first was hungry again! Happily the soccer world cup games were being televised at the time, so my husband didn't mind taking some of the 3am feedings since he was getting up to watch the games anyway! I have a couple of short video clips of the kittens on my website, http://www.companiondogtraining.com/ go take a look. I never had a urination burn problem. Hmm, I'm not sure why. I did have the help of my dog Vladimir, (surrogate mom extraordinarie). He would happily help clean and groom the kittens, so maybe that's why they didn't get as irritated. I remember finding the "magic spot" on my first bottle-baby, Ursula's tiny bladder. Laying them on their back and pressing ever so slightly, will send a stream of urine flowing like a fountain straight into the air which can be caught with a wash cloth strategically placed! I caught myself musing the other day about how nice it would be to foster, (and I use the word foster lightly!), some litter in need. (I was so unhappy knowing I couldn't take in any kittens while I had felv in the house). I swear, I must be out of my mind! That invisible neon beacon on my front lawn probably has "helpless kittens wanted" written on it now! My sister substitute teaches 2nd and 3rd grades. When she was doing her student teaching for her credential, she had applied to an Oxnard district. She was told that they only hire bi-lingual teachers, (although they will take male candidates who only speak English occasionally because they're so scarce). Was the last time you lived in Ca 20 years ago? Nina Presto wrote: Nina, this is incredible. Your experiences very closely parallel ours. The only difference with the litter is that you received yours much younger, and that there were six kittens rather than seven. And your outdoor enclosure, complete with bedroom window...what parallels! I greatly admire anyone who bottlefeeds. That's a great deal of work. Cleaning the urine off the kittens' bellies after they're fed was the part I found frustrating; they got urine burns. How did you handle that? I'll check out the website; thank you. Ah, Oxnard. I applied to their public school system for an elementary teaching job, twenty years ago. I applied all over the state of CA. Oxnard never called me. I know CA by public school district. When I first arrived there, I put a state map on a corkboard on my wall, and put colored pins in all the places I applied to for teaching jobs. Must've beeneighty or more. It was very hard to get elementary positions back then, as it always is unless you're a bilingual or special ed teacher. I'm glad to meet you, Nina!
Re: Nina's Greeting and Question
Nina, you're fantastic. I love your stories. The kittens around your feet, looking up at you expectantly. Oh my. That reminds me so much of our leukemic litter. Gawd, how I miss them. And yes, I understand exactly why you wanted to take in another litter. When I lost our sixth, I called the group that had asked me to take the litter, and asked them to give me another. What they gave me was two Felv+ adults, one of whom is deaf and completely feral, and the other is cantankerous. But they were kittens, too, once. We delight in them both. All the same, there's nothing like raising a litter of positives. The wash cloth strategically placed! Oh my goodness. You're a great writer, and you catch images beautifully. Yes, the feeding every two hours is the even tougher part. I suffer from insomnia and sleep deprivation fairly consistently, so that was the worst part for me. But for the kittens, it was the urine burns--I'm thinking of a litter that was only four days old, and whose mother had toxoplasmosis. I'll check out the website. Funny how males can be surrogate parents. I've known that to be true in cats. But in dogs...interesting. I've heard that sometimesmale catstry to kill the babies, possibly thinking they're rats, or that they're invading the males' domain. But I haven't seen that myself. Perhaps there is as broad an array of behavior among male dogs and cats as there is among humans. It would make sense. Yes, the male elementary teachers are snapped up. Everett (who taught high school)and I left CA in 1995, to teach at the American School of Kinshasa. The last time I taught in CA was in '93-'94. I taught elementary music that year, and had nine-hundred students at three different schools, per week. It was fantastic, albeit challenging. I love music,and loveworking withchildren, so it was an especially enjoyable combination. Presto - Original Message - From: Nina To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 4:57 PM Subject: Re: Nina's Greeting and Question Presto,Bottle babies are a great deal of work, but oh so rewarding. There's nothing like being mommy to these little tinnies. So trusting, so loving and adorable. They sort of imprint on you the way chicks or ducklings do. I'll never forget the first time I realized just how dependent on my guidance they were... I had them in our backyard for some supervised outside play, (they were probably about 8 weeks old at the time). I had been expecting a call and when I ran in to answer the phone, I looked down and all six, (who had been busily playing in different areas of the yard), were huddled around my feet looking up expectantly at me, waiting for the cue that the danger had passed. They had all raced in with me when they saw my alarm. Talk about cute! Talk about trust! The feeding regime, that of course has to be done every couple of hours 'round the clock, seemed to go on forever. By the time the last one had been fed and washed, the first was hungry again! Happily the soccer world cup games were being televised at the time, so my husband didn't mind taking some of the 3am feedings since he was getting up to watch the games anyway! I have a couple of short video clips of the kittens on my website, http://www.companiondogtraining.com/ go take a look.I never had a urination burn problem. Hmm, I'm not sure why. I did have the help of my dog Vladimir, (surrogate mom extraordinarie). He would happily help clean and groom the kittens, so maybe that's why they didn't get as irritated. I remember finding the "magic spot" on my first bottle-baby, Ursula's tiny bladder. Laying them on their back and pressing ever so slightly, will send a stream of urine flowing like a fountain straight into the air which can be caught with a wash cloth strategically placed! I caught myself musing the other day about how nice it would be to foster, (and I use the word foster lightly!), some litter in need. (I was so unhappy knowing I couldn't take in any kittens while I had felv in the house). I swear, I must be out of my mind! That invisible neon beacon on my front lawn probably has "helpless kittens wanted" written on it now!My sister substitute teaches 2nd and 3rd grades. When she was doing her student teaching for her credential, she had applied to an Oxnard district. She was told that they only hire bi-lingual teachers, (although they will take male candidates who only speak English occasionally because they're so scarce). Was the last time you lived in Ca 20 years ago?NinaPresto wrote: Nina, this is incredible. Your experiences very closely parallel ours. The only difference with the litter is that you received yours much younger, and that there were six kittens rather than seven. And your outdoor enclosure, complete with
Nina's Greeting and Question
Hi Nina, thank you for welcoming us. I'll describe our arrangements, and how we got started. Over three-hundred cats have come through my home, wherever it was, in the past twenty years. In CA, so many healthy cats are killed yearly because of overpopulation that I chose to have the positives euthanized, so that remained my policy. In '96, we returned from Zaire and moved to MA. We immediately became extensively involved in rescue work. In '01, a co-director of a humane society begged me to take in a litter of 8-wk-old kittens, six of whom had tested positive for leukemia. We were their last chance. We decided to take them. That was the turning point in our policy. Initially, we kept the kittens isolated, but eventually integrated them. The first kitten died at six months; the last, at 3 yrs. 10 months. The seventh is still negative. In the mid-eighties, I took in positives, thinking that the Felv vaccine was sufficiently effective to protect my other cats. It wasn't. That's why I stopped keeping positives. But now, although not foolproof, the vaccination is much more effective. We did our rescue work from apartments until '03, when we bought a modest house. We had the carpets removed and wall-to-wall vinyl flooring installed throughout the house. The vinyl is imitation marble:white with gray tracery, and shows anything that spills on it--hairballs, urine, anything.We can spot anything and clean it up immediately. We have eleven jumbo litter pans in several rooms, and change them often. Our back yard is enclosed with cat-proof fencing; only certain cats are allowed to go out there. Everett built an outdoorenclosed, roofed cat porch behind our bedroom window. It is accessible 24/7, 365, by an enclosed tunnel that runs to itthroughthewindow. All the catsare able to use that. We have quilted calico cat-pads throughout the house, onsemi-high surfaces, for the cats' comfort and privacy. We feed the cats on two enormous polished woodentables in our kitchen. Thismakes clean-up easier, and the cats enjoy being on a high surface. We havea supplementarysnacking station on the floor. The kitchen is actually quite lovely. Newcomers are isolated in our study, a large room with a picture-window, until two weeks after they've had their second FVRCCP/Felv vaccination and have been spayedetcetera. Then they are introduced. Welive with thirty-six cats, which is too many, but will go down through the sad attrition of death. Only two are placeable. The others are feral or positive or both. We haveresisted taking in any more, unless the case is extreme and there is no other alternative. Alley Cat Allies recently asked me to take in some positives from their hurricane rescuees. I couldn't do it. I was devastated. We sent them twenty Tomahawktraps and cash, but we're full-up and cannot adopt. They have a group of sweet, feral positives they call the "Circle K's," who are fed in a store parking lot. Does anyone want them? Our cats get along beautifully. I attribute it to the following. Careful engineering of the household to reduce stress upon them. A combination of love and respect. An attempt to understand them, and to meet them half-way in communication styles. No anger, only gentle redirection. And total integration of them into our lives. It alsohelps that I am home 24/7, a luxury to most people. Thank you for your inquiry, Nina. May I learn about you? Presto
Re: Nina's Greeting and Question
Hi Presto, Sounds like your hands are full and that your kitties are all in good and loving hands. I have 6 furkids, Bailey is my positive and his housemates are all negative. They all eat, sleep, play, groom and occasionally rough house together. Bailey was 5 months old and positive when he found me, and he just turned 10 years old this past May. His only health problems have been within the last year with a very bad case of stomatisis which for 6 months we tried everything to get rid of. Everything helped, but only finally pulling most of his teeth took care of it. He and some of his housemates eat raw, which I make, and I unfortunely have several dry food junkies that absolutely will not give it up, so some eat both, some just dry. Bailey has actually put on the weight he lost while his stomastisis was still bad and some, he is up to 11lbs. and some a tad bit chubby now!! He also just this year has a touch of arthritis. The rest of his housemates are all doing great, no one has ever gotten infected by him, I tested all of them up until this year. I figure they are all old enough and have been exposed enough that if they were going to get it they either have and cleared it or are strong enough not to get it. -- Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties ... http://www.bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candle Light Service http://www.bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com (affordable hosting web design) http://HostDesign4U.com --- BMK Designs (non-profit web sites) http://bmk.bemikitties.com
