Melissa -- Thanks for the update! I'm glad Cassidy is going in for her zipper, vibes that all goes well. I know you're kind of crunched for time, but it would really be better to wait longer to retest her -- if the first test was a true positive (which of course you don't know) you should give her some time to lose the FeLV herself before retesting. (The theory here is, she may have gotten it from her mom at birth, but will defeat it herself in time as her body's natural defenses mature.) I'm excited and impressed about your vet! Maybe he's been bored stiff with the cows and pigs, and really wants to know and do more! The TNR program would be a huge boon to everybody in your area. Best of luck with that! Diane R.
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Melissa Lind Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:51 AM To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Subject: Updates on Cassidy It's the newbie again. I'm not sure if I'm using this mailing list correctly-please advise me if I'm not! And I apologize for being wordy-I'm an English major/instructor who just can seem to mince her words! Cassidy is getting spayed today. She's very healthy considering what she's gone through with her lame foot, and her tail seems to not know where it's at sometimes due to the nerve damage. I forgot the digital camera again today, so the vet's going to take a picture of her for my adoption posting. Yesterday I did copious amounts of research, and I've been emailing places all over Nebraska. I'm going to work on South Dakota and the Twin Cities area (Minnesota) today since these areas are relatively close to where I live. I've been astonished by the outpouring of support. Even though I haven't found a home for her, I'm now convinced that I could never euthanize her. There just wasn't any support around here for my passion for cats, so I was feeling a little desperate! I know I'll find a home for her eventually. I've received other reports of people housing their FeLV positives with the negatives. I'm just not sure I can do that just yet. Plus, my youngest (less than a year old) is not vaccinated because my vet did not recommend it. He said that the vaccine has a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing a sarcoma which would lead to amputation and chemotherapy. I certainly cannot afford that emotionally or financially! My vet doesn't vaccinate his house cats against FeLV either since (like mine) they never go outside or even occasionally escape. I have mixed feelings about getting my youngest, Smokey, vaccinated after reading more about FeLV. I haven't decided yet what to do. If I didn't have her, I believe the older cats (5 and 10 years of age) would be resistant to the disease. Crazy enough-another cat found me last night! I've named her Ashley since she looks like my Smokey and they are about the same age (smoke/ash, get it?). Luckily, her test came back negative for FeLV (the Elisa test). She's getting spayed Wednesday, and I'll pick both her and Cassidy up on Thursday. I think I'll be able to find a home quite easily for Ashley. I talked to my vet about having another test. He strongly suggested the better test (IFA is it?) that others have also advised me on. If I still have Cassidy in a couple weeks, I'll get her tested. If she comes back negative then, I'll consider getting Smokey vaccinated and keeping them all together, that is if my husband doesn't kick us all out before then! No, he's very tolerant, but if I ever got his baby Smokey sick from another cat, he'd be very upset (as would I). In defense of my vet, he's very knowledgeable-much more so than any vet we've had in these areas when it comes to pets (cows and pigs are the thing here)-but I think he's used to dealing with penny-pinchers around these parts who won't even consider spending money on cats like these-so he wasn't expecting that I'd be so open to alternatives. I've let him know that I'm going to make up a handout for his clients who might bring in an FeLV positive cat in the future. He was very pleased and luckily very supportive. I hate it when vets are condescending or think that people shouldn't save strays. He's discussed doing a feral trap and spay/neuter project-I'll work on that with him for the summer. If you'd like, I'll keep you posted on Cassidy. Again, sorry about the length of this email! Melissa This electronic mail transmission and any attachments are confidential and may be privileged. They should be read or retained only by the intended recipient. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the transmission from your system. In addition, in order to comply with Treasury Circular 230, we are required to inform you that unless we have specifically stated to the contrary in writing, any advice we provide in this email or any attachment concerning federal tax issues or submissions is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, to avoid federal tax penalties.
