Hi Nita and welcome,
You do seem to have your hands full! I'm sorry for your health problems
and am sending prayers for strength and rehabilitation. You are right,
the folks on this list are good friends and feel the same way you do
about our fur babies. I'm so sorry that the adoptive parents you found
decided to pts the kittens you entrusted to them. You'll get lots of
information and insights about felv on this list and will see that it
isn't the death sentence that some vets still consider it to be.
I'm glad you are having everyone spayed/neutered. Felv is spread
through mating and Mommas do transmit it to their babies in vitro. The
costs of caring for so many can be overwhelming. Have you contacted
rescues in your area to see if they have any suggestions to help you? I
have a local rescue that will allow me to use their discount at
participating vets, sometimes they will even pay for vet care if their
finances permit. I've found that rescues are much more willing to help
those that are doing their best to rescue on their own and not just
looking to abdicate their responsibilities. You might even find a
rescue that tests "in-house" to help you with that.
The first thing you need to do is have everyone tested to see who
actually is pos and who is neg. A pos result, esp in a kitten doesn't
mean that they will continue to test pos, they could be testing pos
because of the mom cats antibodies and test neg later. A healthy adult
cat that is exposed to felv has a very good chance of never contracting
the disease themselves, or fighting off the virus and testing neg in the
future. Anyone that tests neg would benefit from being vaccinated
against the disease, (you may hear arguments among the group). Never
vaccinate or put any cat through the stress of surgery unless they are
healthy.
You mentioned not knowing what happened to one of your cats... Does
that mean that your cats are indoor/outdoor? Keeping them confined to
the house or areas where they are less likely to come in contact with
other cats will help safeguard them from illness. I don't know how much
you know about felv, but cats don't succumb to the virus itself, it's
like human aids in that the immune system is compromised and isn't able
to fight off secondary illness as well as neg cats can. Something as
simple as a cold can escalate if not treated quickly. The good news is,
that with good support and treatment for secondary illnesses, many of
our pos babies live happy, relatively healthy lives, (even if those
lives are shorter in time span). It is important to keep the
environment as stress free as possible, feed the best quality diet you
can afford and never take a "wait and see" approach when they are
showing any symptoms of illness.
The list is slow right now. I'm sure you'll be getting more feedback as
more people log on. Hang in there, I'm glad you found us!
Nina
Nita Cantrell wrote:
I call you that "sight unseen" because how could you be anything but
friends since you love cats...
I am "mama" to 12 cats. Hubby, Chubby, Fuzzy, Milo, Mickey, Jerry,
Eve, Muffin, Gabby, Austin, Nosey and Nappy. Upon count I see that 6
are toms, so 6 must be gals. It might take a while to tell my story so
I'll try to break it down. (I talk about cats as if they were people
or my children. I hope you'll overlook it.)
We started out with 5 cats when we moved to this house. We have 4 of
those left. I'm pretty sure Patch went to Rainbow Bridge. My teenage
daughter "rescued" two abandoned females that we thought were males to
start with. Thus, the girls are Mickey and Milo. I don't understand
how after all these years as a cat person, I could mistake gender but
I did, so...
On July 6, 2005, I had a tumor removed from my spinal cord at C1/C2. I
was in the hospital for a week. Mickey and Milo waited until I got
home to have their litters. The surgery had a year's recovery period
(during which I didn't worry so much about cat health but my own).
Otherwise, I think I would have realized that some of the cats had
FeLv. Actually, it was confirmed when two kittens I had placed in
other homes tested positive and the new owners decided to put them down.
I have been concentrating on getting rabies shots and
spaying/neutering. Since I also have MS, but am not on disability, we
only have one income and it is a challenge to do what is needed for my
furbabies. I am here to learn how to keep my furbabies healthier and I
need to see if I can find a way to find good homes for some of them.
I have much to learn and I hope I will have something to contribute as
well.
Have a blessed day all,
Nita in NC
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