I think I summed it up well on my sanctuary page ( http://ucat.us/NoKillSanctuaries.html ) when I said I believe in the Asilomar Accords +1:
" Here at Little Cheetah, we believe that any cat that is living a good quality of life, or has an excellent prognosis of recovering to live a good quality of life once rehabilitated DESERVES a chance! We support The Asilomar Accords +1. What does the +1 mean? It's simple, it means that while we support the typical ideals of the general "No Kill" community, it also means we take it one step farther, to include all asymptomatic FELV+ and FIV+ cats, as well as any other cat in danger of being discriminated against due to medical limitation or disability! We take exception to Asilomar Accord Part III, Unhealthy and Untreatable, Paragraph 2: "(2) are suffering from a disease, injury, or congenital or hereditary condition that adversely affects the animal's health or is likely to adversely affect the animal's health in the future, and are not likely to become "healthy" or "treatable" even if provided the care typically provided to pets by reasonable and caring pet owners/guardians in the community;" We feel that it is unfair to condemn an animal to death for something that COULD happen many years in the future. We feel that QUALITY or life is much more important than quantity of life - even short lives deserve to be lived! We also believe that the "typically provided" care that the average pet receives should not be the end all cut off point to which we should "give up" on an animal. Special pets happen, and there ARE special people out there willing to provide exceptional care for EXCEPTIONS to this rule! We believe that there are conditions that are not treatable and that do cause disability, that do not cause suffering, like Cerebellar Hypoplasia, Blindness, and Terminal Heart conditions. We do not feel these cats are candidates for Euthanasia! Then, there's the simple fact... To us, you can't be "No Kill" if you're still routinely euthanising healthy, asymptomatic cats because of a test result! " Phaewryn aw, i feel so sad for the ones who are scared...... my FIV+ flamepoint himmie is so timid that, for the first five months he was with me, the only way i knew he was alive was to lift up the upholstered chair he lived under to make sure he was still breathing... then he progressed to letting me see him streak past on his way to the litter box. three years later, he'll get up on the bed once in awhile.... still hasn't purred, tho.... what happened with morgana underscores the truest reality of working with critters of any kind: there are just no guarantees. people would bring FIVs and FeLVs to the sanctuary because, "they're going to die." well, yeah. but so might the $2500 showcat, or the healthy 6-month-old kitten. to not love something because it's gonna die someday, well, think about it.... even if we were to know the full medical histories of every critter that comes out way, there is STILL no way to know what hidden things might crop up in their own biochemistries--and trying to second-guess ourselves and the vets we trust, when there were no signs to tell us that there was anything wrong or no treatment that was making any difference just doesn't do any good. we love them, and ourselves, as deeply and as long as we can, we learn the lessons they've come to teach us, and we open our hearts and arms to the next little furry beast that appears--because it WILL appear. hmmmm--maybe there ARE some guarantees, after all....
