Those who love and care for feral cats have a very difficult calling,
one that causes great pain when a feral leaves for any reason.
However, when a feral cares about you, it is the most rewarding
experience because that caring can not be forced nor is it bred into
the cat. Bless you and your friends for caring about these wonderful
animals. You did the right thing. The fear and anger would have made
Bashful's time unbearable for her.
On Mar 24, 2009, at 10:17 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
so sorry about Bashful. if only there was a way we could get thru
to them that we are there to help them, we could do so much more for
them. i know lymphoma first hand, had it myself and you are right,
that is an awful lot to put anyone thru. even then, it doesn't
always work. my oncologist told me that all 3 chemos i had did
nothing. i simply went into spontaneous remission 1 year after
treatments were stopped. i know prayer had a lot to do with it.
that and because God had something else in mind for me. dorlis
---- Heather <[email protected]> wrote:
I haven't posted much lately, sadly have had quite a few rescue
losses in
the last months as well as rescue "emergencies" which has me so
behind on
all fronts....
However, one of our dear, fairly elderly university campus ferals,
Bashful,
will be crossing this afternoon and I wanted to share her story so
that many
thoughts will be with her.
Bashful's caregiver has been taking care of her for at least 10
years, she
disappeared a couple of weeks ago which was attributed to roofers
at the
Library where she has lived for so many years. When she showed
back up she
was clearly in dire need of help. Elaine her caregiver called me
for help
trapping, 2 friends and I set out without much success the first two
days--it was heartbreaking, she was half under the drop trap the
first night
but just a bit of food made her choke & cough so horribly, we had
tears in
our eyes just hearing & watching. Her neck was very, very swollen
impairing
her ability to eat and walk.
We got her 2 nights later, began b/w, exam....cytology via needle
aspirate
confirmed a high grade, aggressive lymphoma.
We discussed the possibility of chemo but Bashful is very feral and
already
unhappy even being at the vet, it was clear this was not going to
be a way
to give her quality time and that she was already in a very bad
state.
One of my good campus friends who came to the call to help drop
trap is
leaving now to be with Bashful for her final moments. Bashful was
not
FELV+ (likely was FIV+), but I know many here can sympathize with the
dreadful diagnosis of lymphoma.
We treat feral cats for illnesses as much as we possibly can, I've
actually
got 14 campus feral kitty Bobbye on my porch now for that reason
(CRF, FIV+,
along with Toxoplasmosis & possible eye tumor which has not
progressed--she's done well other than not liking the fluids of
course)....but it just didn't seem there were any way we could put
Bashful
through chemo, weekly vet visits, and possibly never feeling good
enough for
the time to have been of quality for her. She is very stressed at
my vet
and we hope things go as peacefully as possible this afternoon.
Go with love, sweet Bashful, and know how badly we wanted to help
you--you
will not be forgotten.
Heather
_______________________________________________
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
Marylyn, Copper & Thomas
_______________________________________________
Felvtalk mailing list
[email protected]
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
