I'd agree with spaying the FELV kitty, and that's what I've done. I
took in a little 8 month old FELV kitty who was pregnant, and my
choice was to have her spayed. She came thru it with flying colors.
I give my FELV kitties daily interferon, to boost the immune system.
Gloria
On Dec 15, 2005, at 11:51 AM, wendy wrote:
Janet,
I have to agree with everything that Nina said.
Having the cat spayed would probably be the humane
thing to do. My cat Cricket was born with Feline
Leukemia; his mother had it. I would like to urge you
to consider keeping this cat if you are at all
attached to it, and caring for it yourself. FELV+
positive is not necessarily a death sentence; many
cats throw off the virus after they've been exposed,
expecially those with good health care and a lot of
love. FELV+ cats are hard to place, and many times,
are euthanised because a lot of vets recommend it.
But we do not agree with this policy. These kitties
deserve a happy life being loved just as much as a cat
that isn't FELV+. Cricket lived 4 and a half years,
and probably would have lived longer had he not been
stressed out by a house full of Hurricane Rita
evacuees for a week, when the virus kicked in and he
became anemic. Because he was born FELV+, his life
expectancy was a lot less than he actually lived.
Many kittens die by 6 months because their immune
systems are so weak, and even more by two years old.
No one can make this decision for you, but learn a
little more before you make the decision and I wish
you luck. Let us know what you decide. I'll keep you
in my prayers.
:)
Wendy
--- Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Janet,
As Terri and Tonya have already mentioned, many of
us mix adult negs
that have been vaccinated with pos. It's a
judgement call and of course
no matter what our success rate in doing this is,
there's no safer
protection for your elderly cat than to not mix them
together. That's
what most vets will tell you. Being that your
current kitty is older, I
might not mix them together either. That said, if I
were in this
situation, I'd figure God sent her to me for a
reason and I'd personally
dive in with both feet and do whatever I could to
save her and her kittens.
I am all too familiar with the heartache involved
with pos kittens. My
experience with felv came when my husband and I
found a box of kittens
that were just 2.5 weeks old. Because they were so
young, I assume the
mother succumbed to felv from the stress of having
them and the people
who abandoned them didn't know how to care for them.
Why else would
they take them from their mother at that age? We
lost 2 of our babies
when they were about 6 mos old and two more before
their 2nd birthday.
The other two are doing fine and are reaching 2.5
yrs. Their lives were
filled with love and concern and I'm not a bit sorry
that I made the
commitment to try and save them.
Janet, you have some tough decisions ahead of you.
You don't know me,
so you might think I'm a monster for even bringing
this up, but given
what you've said in your post... It's going to be
hard enough to place
the mother, if she's healthy. I can't say what I
would do in your
place. I'm not you and I have no idea what you have
to contend with.
If someone steps up very quickly to adopt her,
knowing she's pregnant,
well that's a different story altogether. If you
just found out she's
pregnant, I'm supposing she's not too far along.
Under the
circumstances you describe, if you have her spayed,
the kittens would be
aborted at the same time and praying that she
remains asymptomatic after
the stress of the operation, you might have a chance
of placing her. I
couldn't bear to think about what might be in store
for those babies if
they lose their mother, and don't have a human
willing to step in and
care for them. My 2 cents on the harshness of
reality. Now, what I'm
praying for is that you've fallen in love with this
little stray and
you'll want to adopt her yourself. If so, there are
many wonderful,
knowledgeable people on this list who will support
you no matter where
that decision takes you. I'm also praying that
someone, if not you,
will hear this little girl's story, take her in and
give her the kind of
life every kitty deserves.
Nina
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hello,
Two weeks ago I took a cat in that had been
abandoned. Today, I took
her to the vet and found out she was tested as
positive for feline
leukemia. I also found out today that she is
pregnant.
I have a 15 year old cat that does not have
leukemia. Thus, I cannot
keep this new cat but I need to find a shelter
that can take her or a
family that this will be their only help.
Please let me know if you have any ideas. I live
in Florida.
Thank you in advance,
Janet
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