Welcome to the group. I'm sorry for your loss, but thank you for taking in positive cats. Unfortunately with this disease you just never know when or if they are ever going to get sick from the felv. I have a 10 year old positive here with me as I type right now. My first positive died around 8 years old. Others have lived lives into the high teens. The bad thing about it is that when it hits, it can hit fast, as you have discovered. I don't know about the new med.s. My cat is asymptomatic, so I don't give her any medicines, additives, etc.... just a good diet and a stress free (as possible) environment. My girl DD was left at my vet's office and my vet talked me into taking her because I already had a positive cat. Vet's call dropped off animals "door dumps" and I named her DD because my first positive cat was CC (because I found her living behind a coke machine). DD RULES my house. Your positive cat could have many years ahead of her. I hope you'll consider taking in another positive. :) thank you! tonya
Amber Gilewski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hello everyone, I am new to this listserv, but wanted to thank all of you in advance for your insights and kindness! I recently adopted 2 FeLV positive cats, Neo and Parker (1 in April and 1 in September). I knew their lives would be cut short by the illness, but wanted to give them a happy, comfortable life before they left this world. Some friends and family members have given us grief over purposely adopting these sick kitties. I've heard things to the effect of "You'll be sad when they die" to "You're keeping a healthy cat from having a home." But I didn't (and still don't care) what the naysayers have to say. I know that I'm doing a good service to these cats that otherwise would be euthanized before they needed to be or would be without a loving home. Someone (who was in my corner) told me that she worked at a shelter once and no one would even play with the FeLV cats, let alone adopt them. This solidified my belief for the need of loving homes of these forgotten felines! Their happiness is more important than my sadness, as profound as it may be. I'm saddened to report that baby Parker (who we got more recently in September) died on November 8th. It was a sad death as he suddenly collapsed and died a couple of hours later in our home. It was late at night and the emergency vet closest to us was in surgery. Other vet services were an hour or more away. We saw him take his last few breaths and wanted to end his suffering sooner (but couldn't). But he died knowing (hopefully) that he was loved and that he didn't die alone. He was the sweetest cat ever! :( Our other cat, Neo is doing great! He's not showing any symptoms, has put on weight since we got him, and has a strong appetite! I recently read about LTIC/Imulan and told my vet about it. He didn't know too much about it as it's a newer medication, but I asked him to order some for Neo. It's quite expensive, but if I would have known about it sooner I would have tried it on little baby Parker to help him. Since Neo is quite healthy, I'm not sure what effect it will have on him, but I'd do anything to keep him as healthy as we can for as long as we can. I'd be most pleased if anyone tries this with their cat and could tell me how it works out. Also, did your cat have any symptoms before or were they asymptomatic before starting treatment? Thanks for reading and for all that you do for your beloved cats! Amber _________________________________________________________________ Proud to be a PC? Show the world. Download the Im a PC Messenger themepack now. hthttp://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/119642558/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org

