but debbie, your email really grabbed me when you wrote your condolences about sissy--, because i hate to see you or anyone second-guessing yourself:
NONE of us know much about this disease, and we all do the very best that we can. there are STILL vets saying that FeLV can be spread by a positive kitty breathing through a screen door on our housecats. we are brought up in this culture to believe the experts--the doctors, the vets, the lawyers, the (goddess forgive us) politicians--and when we do, we have to FORGIVE OURSELVES when we find out as we often do, that they were not the best advocates. i was afraid of, and thought i hated, cats til i was 26. who knew i'd end up living/working in an FIV/FeLV sanctuary????? when i moved in, i knew that FeLV was NOT airborne, but that's about ALL i knew--and i knew less about FIV. did i, or any of us on this list, make a conscious choice, to get involved with the often heartbreaking task of loving and caring for these very special cats? i certainly don't remember signing on any dotted line--and if someone had ever told me that i would be very able to deal with the whole spectrum of terminal illness, i would never have believed them. (yeah, i am a trained grief counselor, so can help with people--but i would never have thought i could bear my own sadness at having to hold so many tiny paws as they crossed over the bridge)-- we are, each of us, called somehow to this work. we are here to learn, and to teach those who haven't yet learned. these guys come into our lives because we ARE able to handle it, on the important levels, and because our love and caring is strong enough to carry us through the pain. the lessons they teach us are both glorious and excruciating--but can any of us say that we'll ever forget what we've learned this way? we are their advocates when the vets can't or won't be--debbie, and lance, and everyone else, we are the ones who will stand up and say, "wait! FeLV is not a death sentence....... let's do the research!" we all do the best we can with the information we have at the moment: our cats understand that, and we need to honor ourselves for doing so, too. /rant. MC -- Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... MaryChristine go to my blog for updates: if you don't have the address, then you're not supposed to.
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