My Tucson is going to be 7 years old; she tested neg as a young kitten & pos last year. She was indoor only since 3 months old & her major problems during the last year have been a couple of UTI's and low white blood count. Big Boy is about 4 (or 5?)--he is a stray I was feeding for a couple of years until I brought him in last year. That's when I found out he was pos. I've never seen any sort of medical problem & vet pronounced him in good health during last visit. I don't think you really can predict; maybe it has to do with the particular strain of the virus; or maybe its just luck.... I don't think anyone could have done any more than you did for Simon-
Chris [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 8:59 AM To: felvtalk@vlists.net Subject: life spans of positives If it is not too hard, could people let me know the ages of their positives now, and the ages of positives who have passed? I keep being told that I was being unrealistic in my hope that Simon, and my others, would live longer than they did. I had heard of positives living as long as 14. My Jo died at age 3, Buddy at age 18 months, and Simon was around 4. My largest grief right now is about his suffering and what he went through, but I am also so grief-stricken at how short his life was. And it was short, very short, at 4 years old, when cats can live to 20. But I also feel like it was short for a positive, like I should have been able to help him live longer than that. I am trying to assess my expectations of this, regarding my remaining positives as well, and so just want to know what the age spans really are for positives who are well cared-for, so maybe I can be more honest with myself about what truly can be expected. Thanks, Michelle