That feels very right on a psycho-spiritual level.
Many years ago I had two cousins who had been raised as siblings. When their surrogate mother passed away at almost 18 years of age my vet offered to do a free necropsy to find out why her response to antibiotics had been so poor. She was both FIV+ and FeLV+ and she had actually produced milk and nursed these two cousins. Before we tested I had already descided that no matter the results I would not separate them. Both were negative and remains so throughout very long lives. So I never had to face some crisis of faith.
Ah, but that story relates to my experience with my personal cats. I get the impression that the original poster is a rescue/foster person who may not be able or inclined to adopt these two siblings. If that is the case, as a rescue, I would seriously consider splitting them up and getting
the negative kitten into a godd forever home. I've split up littermates and been very happy with the homes they got, and I have delayed breaking up what I considered to be a bonded pair often to the detriment of one of the kittens. (Today I listed an orange teenager for adoption. He's 9 months old and an absolute love. I had been listing him with his sister, a pretty yet still semi-feral calico, for the longest while. How long can I deny him access to his own home when I know his sister may never really tame up enough?)
If you can keep both positive and negative kitten, great. But if these kittens need to be on track for adoption, list them for adoption separately and together. If they are meant to be together they will be adopted together. But we really can't assume that. Give them every option to find their own way.
Hideyo Yamamoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hideyo Yamamoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I agree with everyone --- I try not to let the test result completely
determine how their life is going to be if it may not make sense to do..
they are gifted to this world as litter mates for a reason...and that
means they should be raised together..
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Nin
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 1:56 PM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: 2 littermates - one pos/one neg
Janine,
I agree with Belinda and Rachel. I would keep them together, for both
their sakes. Poor little lambs have been through so much already. Have
you been reading the posts lately? We just had a kitten on the list
apparently turn out to be a false pos. I know it's less likely in your
case, given that other members of the colony are testing pos too, but
your little boy is only 7 weeks and may very well be testing pos because
of his mother's antibodies still. Whatever you decide, I know that you
have their best interest at heart. Still, I'm praying that they can be
kept together and adopted out to someone that cares as much as we do for
their quality of life.
Thanks for all you do,
Nina
janine paton wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>Two brothers, 7 weeks today tested one positive, one
>negative for leukemia. The mom is feral, and has not
>been tested yet, but her sister tested positive. The
>mom had been trapped by someone trying to do the right
>thing, but the kittens were born beforre she could get
>her to the vet. All have been living together crated
>in this person's home.
>
>As an organization, we had a pair of littermates
>testing the same as these 2, and we let them stay
>together. The positive cat died at around 3 yrs, the
>negative cat is still negative (and has recently been
>adopted!) so it's not entirely new to me but what's
>the best thing to do? Try to adopt them out as a
>pair? Separate them now? Or it doesn't matter at
>this point, even if the negative kitten is so young?
>
>The test was Elysa and we are re-running both.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Janine
>
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