Hi Karen,
Welcome, and thank you for caring about these little guys. If
possible I would keep them and even though at some point there may come
a time when they become actively sick and at that point you may have to
make some hard decisions, we all can only do what we can do, and as long
as that is done with love in your heart it is always the right thing. I
firmly believe that if these little bundles of joy could talk they would
rather live as long as they have especially since they are all healthy
and asymptomatic right now rather than be euthanized now and miss out on
however long they may have. It doesn't make any sense to euthanize
healthy animals and it is very possible they may live long fairly normal
lives.
My Bailey who is currently sick was positive at 5 months of age when he
found me and has not had any health problems until last year at the age
of 9 years which were teeth related, and now with anemia. He is 10 and
a hlf years old and has been healthy, happy and a complete joy for most
of that time and even his teeth weren't that big a deal, this anemia is
but we are doing everything we can to turn him around and pu the virus
back into remission. Bailey is my 4th positive, I lost 3 back in the
early 90's before much was known about it and I had no computer then,
and I wouldn't have missed having any of those furkids even though
losing them was so hard. They gave me years of joy, companionship and
memories I can look back on that are priceless. I wouldn't give that up
for anything.
There are many ways to boost their immune system that isn't horribly
expensive and that alone can make a big difference in the quality and
quantity of their lives. Mega C plus is suppose to be very good for
boosting and even reversing the positive status. I spoke with a women
who has 10 cats that as youngsters tested positive, she put all of them
on the Mega C plus and all of them today are negative, ALL of them. She
said the main thing with the Mega C plus is it takes as long to convert
them to negative as they have been positive. So if they have been
positive for 1 year, it will take a year to convert them to negative. I
used this on Bailey, knowing converting him was not going to happen he
is after all 10 years old and has been psotive that long, but it is a
very good immune system booster also so for that I got it for him.
Unfortunetly this anemia had already taken hold and I had to stop giving
it to him because the treatment for this type of anemia is to suppress
his immune system. I do give it to my other cats who are all negative
to keep them healthy and strong. There is interferon, some poeple have
had success with that, Lysine, COQ-10, Salmon oil, and most importantly
a good diet, try to feed the best cat food you can afford. Foods
without alot of chemicals and preservatives in it. They do cost more
initially but in the long run they will save you money in vet visits.
Keeping these guys may mean that possibly in the future you may be
looking at getting your heart broken as they succomb to this horrible
disease, but for me anyway the love and joy they give you for the time
you do have together is well worth any sadness later. They definately
have a specialness about them!!
--
Belinda
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