Thanks

[Noelle Ehrenkaufer]

Hi, I couldn't figure out how to post in the thread I started, so I guess this will show up as a new one.   I just wanted to thank those that responded. I live in Chile, so vet care is not nearly at the level of the US/Europe.   My boyfriend and I do a lot of rescue independently since there are not a lot of organizations for that here. We take in strays and find them homes. Some end up staying with us. We currently have 3 cats, 3 dogs, all but one are rescues of that type.   The good thing is that our new vet has given us a lot of confidence. We took in a very sick puppy and she helped us nurse him back to health. He had ringworm, a respiratory infection, stomach problems, etc. and when we found him a home a few months later he was gorgeous and in great health. When Cleo was sick, she spent almost a whole weekend with us taking care of her, getting the bloodwork done and finally advising us that euthanasia was the best choice since she had hemobartonella (I think it's called), anemia and renal failure. Transfusions might have given her a week or two, but there was no possibility of her having a good quality of life.   Our previous vet just didn't seem to have the time to really do things like that since she had small kids. She never advised to do the leukemia tests before vaccinating, which probably contributed a lot to Cleo's rapid decline.   So, the new vet, when I talked to her the other day, did not mention anything about euthanasia just because Loca tested positive. She said there are things we can do to strengthen her immune system and she wants to meet with us next week to discuss what we can do. Wendy sent me a document with a lot of info and I am definitely going to ask her about some of the treatment possibilities since things are not at the level as the US in terms of vet care. I did a project for work on pet care products and some of the people I met with said that 1/2 of the cats here and 1/4 of the dogs have never been to the vet.   Anyways, it is nice to connect with other people who are going through or have been through situations like mine. I hope to learn a lot.   As if this wasn't bad enough, I found out yesterday that another cat of mine who escaped in January (on my boyfriend's watch) was found hit by a car yesterday about a 15 minute drive from our house. It's hard, but at least we know now. It was 4 months, but she still had her ID tag so they could let us know. - Noëlle