Respectfully Patrica, I could not agree less. A positive result does not mean death is imminent. A healthy cat can suddenly become ill - just like people - does that mean that cat should be euthanized? This is a "what if" scenario.
You have done marvelous things in placing all of those cats. I think the problem is that we need massive spay/neuter programs - targeting pets of low income individuals and feral cats. Also shelters should not accept feral cats at all as they will simply be euthanized there. Instead, Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the answer - the only proven method. Pet cats of low income who cannot afford spay/neuter often roam and give birth to feral cats who supply an incredible amount of kittens to rescues and shelters. Spay/neuter itself is the one thing that does the most to reduce the occurence of these viruses (FIV and Felv). Best wishes, Anita "Every year shelters kill almost 5,000,000 cats, dogs, puppies & kittens. Most were beautiful, loving creatures (even feral cats!) that died simply because they did not have a home. Every puppy or kitten born costs a shelter animal its life. Save lives, spay-neuter, support Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) & adopt for life!" Visit http://www.castawaycritters.org/info/display?PageID=153 for information on Spay/Neuter in Mid-Central PA Visit http://www.alleycat.org and http://www.neighborhoodcats.org for info on humane control of free roaming cats Visit http://www.pawsofpa.org for information on spay/neuter clinics and resources in south-central PA Join the Yahoo! Group for feral & free roaming cats http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/feralcatsinsouthcentralpa/ > To: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:24:35 -0400 > Subject: [Felvtalk] Euthanizing FELV+ cats in shelters > > With respect to the general practice of euthanizing FELV+ cats in > shelters, having fostered many cats from > a big city shelter that of course was underfunded and understaffed, I can > say that in my city it is impossible to find foster homes, never mind > adoptive homes, for all that test positive. > > Very young kittens cannot be tested reliably and of course, the need for > foster homes for the littlest babies is great. > When fosterers finally test those kittens and find out that one or more is > positive, there are really only a couple of options. > That home can keep the kitten sequestered if possible for retesting when > older or take it back to be euthanized. > Then what happens if the kitten retests positive? Or what about the older > cat that is infected shortly before it gets > into the shelter and tests negative when going to a foster home but if > actually carrying the virus? > > In my case, I ended up with 3 positive one year olds along with my adult > cats who are vaccinated. > I have decided to no longer foster any other cats because, outside of the > logistics of separating which would be too hard > in my situation, I don't want to introduce a new stressor in the house > that might trigger the FELV to become active > in these positive ones. My answer is to care for these positives for the > rest of their lives. > > However, I fostered and found adoptive homes for > 100 kittens and cats in > the last two years but now, because I am hospicing these 3 cats, it is > fair to > say that a good number of cats will die in the next two years as the kill > rate is significant here. It is a really painful fact that I could > save the lives of many more than three cats if I put these FELV+ cats > down. > > Therefore, because healthy happy well adjusted wonderful pet cats are put > down every single day of the year in my > city and probably most other big cities, I think that a policy of > euthanizing cats that test positive for an incurable illness before > euthanizing healthy adoptable cats makes sense. > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail® is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_70faster_032009 _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
