Kat, I'm so sorry for the loss of your sweet friend Lancelot. I hope you find comfort in remembering the good times you shared. On Dec 29, 2014 1:45 AM, "Marsha" <mar...@lynxe.com> wrote:
> Kat, my heart goes out to you and your family in your loss of little > Lancelot. > > Marsha > > On 12/28/2014 4:16 PM, Kat Parker wrote: > > *Once upon a time, almost 4 years ago, I was fostering for a group, > which incidentally had major problems later, called Guardian Angels. I was > also indie fostering myself, for cats from Downey high kill shelter in LA. > I had recently pulled a mama with 3 babies that had raging URI, newborn > kittens with pneumonia, and sadly lost two, though through the magic of the > nebulizer, one kitten, Kiwi, and Mama Goldie were saved. Mama was > despondent for her babies gone, and Guardian Angels brought me two babies, > different litters. One, Angelina Jolie, was one day old. The other, who > we named Mimi, was one week old. The woman who brought them to me said I > should put them with Goldie to see if she would accept them I did. Now, I > am a very experienced bottle feeder, and I could have bottle fed them both, > and I did supplementally bottle feed them, but Goldie was so happy, and > cared for the babies all so well, and it was quite a sight those three all > nursing. I will NEVER AGAIN place untested babies on an unrelated nursing > mom, again. Never. As you can guess, one of the babies was FeLV+, > unbeknownst to us. About a month later, I took a cat who was about 8 weeks > old from Downey, who came with the name, Precious (we called her Isis, or > just "the buzzsaw"),and that same week, GA brought me the saddest bunch of > siblings I had ever seem, pulled by our San Diego firefighters out of a > well, during a rainstorm. From what I understand, somebody, apparently, > had been walking in the rain, and heard some little frantic "mews" from > somewhere nearby. Investigating, they found a covered well, with water > rising to the top,and kittens inside. The fire dept responded and freed > the kittens, turning them over to GA, and then to me. These babies had > muck everywhere, and fleas on parts of their bodies you couldn't even see, > just overrun. I have pictures its amazing. But, these were some of the > friendliest most endearing kittens I've ever had here, and it wasn't long > before the two black sisters were adopted out, through GA. Then, the little > Mimi kitten got really sick and tested positive for FeLV, finally > euthanized at 8 weeks old. I tested all of the cats, then, and none who > came into contact with her were positive. I didn't know much about the > disease then. Boy, I do now. Well the orange boy, Stinky Lancelot, and > Angelina Jolie as well as Isis were going to Rescue House, a terrific local > rescue org here, and they have wonderful protocol there, and tested all > three kittens. Sadly, this time, two were positive, Isis neg. Isis was > kept iso'd at their vet for an entire month to retest and be sure. Stinky > and Angelina came home, and didn't get into RH, although they did pay for > retest in them, at 60 days, just to be sure they didn't "turn" negative, as > so many do. Isis stayed negative, as did Mama Goldie, and Angelina Jolie, > my little miracle baby, who later got FIP and died in my arms at a vet, at > 8 months old and Stinky Lancelot stayed positive. Stinky went to live with > my mom, who had no other animals then, after her 21 yr old rescued Peekaboo > kitty passed, and was a perfect fit. What a ham, what a life! My son also > lived there during this time, and the two became best friends. Two weeks > ago, Stinky went to my vet as he was not feeling well, and had like little > pools of blood inside the bottom of both his eyes. Bloodwork was done, > and it was found that he had raging leukemia cancer, severe anemia, with > his white cell count, especially leukocytes, right through the roof. As > this progressed, quickly, I wanted to take him in to gently help him pass, > but my son was having such a hard time letting go, I wasn't able to. > Finally, about 1 am dec 26th, David was pounding on my front door, ringing > the bell like crazy, and woke me. He said, "Stinky is doing bad, he's in > lots of pain and gramma can't find the pain meds, help him!" So I drove > there and got him through the night, and next morning we got in to see my > vet early for euthanization. But when they tried to put a catheter in, dr > could find no veins at all. We had waited too long. Stinky was completely > blind with thick cataracts, and one eye was totally filled with blood, om > the inside. He was in bad shape, and I was glad we finally were going to > release him from the suffering. But because my Doctor could not find a > vein, they could only sedate him while we were there,and had to wait till > we left in order to finish the euthanization, which I have a strong > suspicion was by heartstick, as there really was no other way due to him > being so emaciated and so far gone. My son wanted to hold him, and thus > get some closure, but of course that was not possible and he is distraught, > still. All of us are very affected, him the most. He was the last of > many beautiful lives destroyed by my decision to take the lazy way out and > allow the mom cat to care for my bottle babies. I will never forgive > myself for that, and will advocate against it whenever I hear anyone > considering it, or looking for a nursing mom. Goodbye dear Stinky > Lancelot. You were so loved, during you short life here with us. You are > gone, but will never be forgotten, and the love will live forever. * > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > >
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