Re: Sweet Buzz
I have mixed positives with negatives going on 15 years now. My negatives were vaccinated when they were younger. No one has ever caught the leukemia from one of my positives. tonya [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello to All... I recently took a cat my brother had rescued from some neighborhood kids who were abusing and kicking him. He had fleas, worms and ear mites and was near death. My brother and his wife nursed him back to physical health, but he was terrified of people. They had been calling him Buzz Saw because of the way he behaved when anyone tried to touch him. When I visited my brother, my sister in law threw a blanket over him to catch him and handed him to me. I cuddled him in and after a while he began to purr. He was terrified of people reaching for him, so when we reached for him we did so with treats in our hands. His whole personality began to change and Buzz and I really began to bond. When I took him home I had fortunately kept him away from my other 5 cats. I took him to our vet to be checked over and neutered. I found out he is 8 - 10 months old and the heartbreaking news - he is FeLV positive. I have read as much as I could and tried to find a way I could safely keep him with my other cats, but that does not seem to be possible. Even if I vaccinated my other cats the risk is too great. A couple of them have their own issues, and if they got feline leukemia, too, it would probably be the end of them. Buzz is now living in one room of my home and I am trying to find a good home for him. I would almost like to be selfish and keep him anyway because he has turned into one of the most loving, entertaining wonderful cats I have ever had, and I have had many. It would not be fair to keep him in one room for the rest of his life, though. Oh, by the way, his name is still Buzz, but now it stands for Buzz Light Year - To Infinity and Beyond! If anyone knows of a home where he will be well taken care of and happy, please let me know. Thanks, Sue
Re: Sweet Buzz / Tucker
My cat Calpurrnia had to have all her teeth removed several months ago as they were terribly infected. She is NOT leukemia positive so this may not pertain to a cat who is. However, my vet had me give her 25 mg twice a day of ClindaCure (Clindamycin Hydrochloride Oral Liquid) for two weeks prior to surgery. She came thru beautifully and is still doing great. - Original Message - From: Dawn Morrison To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 6:03 PM Subject: Re: Sweet Buzz / Tucker Sue, May I ask you about your cat Tucker and having to have all his teeth removed. My Bea is FeLV + I've been battling the same thing as Tucker - because of her FeLV status, she can't fight the bacteria on her teeth. I've been doing almost monthly courses of Clavamox/Prednisone. I've been brushing her teeth but that doesn't seem to be helping much. My vet suggested as a last resort full extraction. Did you do any meds prior to the extraction? or have any advice/suggestions? On a side note about Buzz and keeping him in a room by himself. I adopted Bea 4 months ago and after spending 4 days with my other 2 cats we found out she was +. I struggled with keeping her in a room by herself or finding her a home where she could be free to roam. I did look some but in the end I knew she was best right where she was. She already knew me, had a routine and I already loved her. So now she lives in our spare bedroom (with all the amenities) which we put a cheap wooden screen door on so she can see and hear everything that is going on in our house. I do let her out of the room everyday for an hour or so with surpervised visits, although I am not suggesting mixing + & -'s it's just a personal decision I made. Dawn , : "Sue & Frank Koren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Sweet Buzz To: Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Thank you for your advise about Buzz, and I am so very sorry about your Brumley. What an aching empty place they leave in your heart when they are gone! It sounds like he couldn't have been in a better place for his last months, though. I just joined this group and I think the first thing I have learned is not to read these e-mails at work. I sat at my desk this afternoon with tears rolling down my face when I read about Brumley. Buzz is here with me in my computer room right now. He enjoys laying on my arm while I am trying to type. I have set the room up like a cat playground with loads of toys, a chair by the window, a place to scratch and of coarse his food tray and litter box. Even so he cries when he is left in here and it breaks my heart. I bring him out and hold him often in the rest of the house and I can see that he wants to get down and play with the other cats. I am afraid to let him mingle with the others even if they are older cats. Charlie is my big dumb dark grey boy. He loves everyone that comes near him, human and cat. He loves to lick the other cats. If a cat could bounce along going doit de doy de doy with a huge smile on his face, that would be Charlie. He has asthma and for several months last year he had a lot of trouble with the feline herpes virus in his eyes. Tucker is about the same age as Charlie (7). He recently had to have all his teeth removed because his immune system was attacking the bacteria on his teeth. He also gets spells where he acts drunk (the vet calls it a vestibular episode). They only last for about a half hour and the vet has said to give him vitamin B1. Because of these problems I am afraid that they might have problems fighting off the FeLV virus. Thank you for the advise about food, I will look into feeding Buzz something that is better. Right now he gets IAMS dry food for indoor cats, and I heard that spring water is good for FeLV + cats, so he gets that also. I still think he would be happiest in a home where he could roam the whole house and maybe be with other cats, but in the meantime I intend to do everything for him that I can. I am not the best at computers, so if I am doing this incorrectly, I apologize and please feel free to correct me. Thank you, Sue - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:56 AM Subject: RE: Sweet Buzz I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment (which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months
Re: Sweet Buzz / Tucker
Sue, May I ask you about your cat Tucker and having to have all his teeth removed. My Bea is FeLV + I've been battling the same thing as Tucker - because of her FeLV status, she can't fight the bacteria on her teeth. I've been doing almost monthly courses of Clavamox/Prednisone. I've been brushing her teeth but that doesn't seem to be helping much. My vet suggested as a last resort full extraction. Did you do any meds prior to the extraction? or have any advice/suggestions? On a side note about Buzz and keeping him in a room by himself. I adopted Bea 4 months ago and after spending 4 days with my other 2 cats we found out she was +. I struggled with keeping her in a room by herself or finding her a home where she could be free to roam. I did look some but in the end I knew she was best right where she was. She already knew me, had a routine and I already loved her. So now she lives in our spare bedroom (with all the amenities) which we put a cheap wooden screen door on so she can see and hear everything that is going on in our house. I do let her out of the room everyday for an hour or so with surpervised visits, although I am not suggesting mixing + & -'s it's just a personal decision I made. Dawn , : "Sue & Frank Koren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Sweet Buzz To: Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Thank you for your advise about Buzz, and I am so very sorry about your Brumley. What an aching empty place they leave in your heart when they are gone! It sounds like he couldn't have been in a better place for his last months, though. I just joined this group and I think the first thing I have learned is not to read these e-mails at work. I sat at my desk this afternoon with tears rolling down my face when I read about Brumley. Buzz is here with me in my computer room right now. He enjoys laying on my arm while I am trying to type. I have set the room up like a cat playground with loads of toys, a chair by the window, a place to scratch and of coarse his food tray and litter box. Even so he cries when he is left in here and it breaks my heart. I bring him out and hold him often in the rest of the house and I can see that he wants to get down and play with the other cats. I am afraid to let him mingle with the others even if they are older cats. Charlie is my big dumb dark grey boy. He loves everyone that comes near him, human and cat. He loves to lick the other cats. If a cat could bounce along going doit de doy de doy with a huge smile on his face, that would be Charlie. He has asthma and for several months last year he had a lot of trouble with the feline herpes virus in his eyes. Tucker is about the same age as Charlie (7). He recently had to have all his teeth removed because his immune system was attacking the bacteria on his teeth. He also gets spells where he acts drunk (the vet calls it a vestibular episode). They only last for about a half hour and the vet has said to give him vitamin B1. Because of these problems I am afraid that they might have problems fighting off the FeLV virus. Thank you for the advise about food, I will look into feeding Buzz something that is better. Right now he gets IAMS dry food for indoor cats, and I heard that spring water is good for FeLV + cats, so he gets that also. I still think he would be happiest in a home where he could roam the whole house and maybe be with other cats, but in the meantime I intend to do everything for him that I can. I am not the best at computers, so if I am doing this incorrectly, I apologize and please feel free to correct me. Thank you, Sue - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:56 AM Subject: RE: Sweet Buzz I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment (which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months and it's fine. A lot of people on this list- or more so formerly on this list- have FELV+ rooms. Many people even mix them because the transmission rate is very low- much lower than you would think- and vets have differing opinions on this (so do owners of FELV cats). I had an FELV cat and he was my only cat for the 4 years I had him but I made that choice because he hated other cats (and that is probably why he had FELV to begin with- he was a "fighter"!) and I was so obsessed with him that I didn't want to expose him to any run-of-the-mill diseases
Re: Sweet Buzz
Charlie is on oral prednezone (?) and he only gets it when his athsma flares up. He has been healthy almost a year now with both his athsma and his eyes. His eyes were so bad at one point that they looked like bright red marbles in his head and the specialist vet I was taking him to couldn't seem to do anything for him. His eyes started clearing up after I took him to an internist for cats who discovered his athsma. Maybe the two things were related but it seemed that his eyes just spontaniously started clearing up. He is such a sweetheart of a cat and I would hate to risk exposing him to the FeLV. The other three cats in the house besides Charlie and Tucker are healthy young adults and they would probably be OK. Does yours have much trouble with being blind? Sue laurieskatz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Sue, you cracked me up with your description of Charlie! My Frankie has > asthma. So did Teddy and Keisha. Sometimes Frankie's eye runs. Is Charlie on > inhaled meds? Frankie is and this has all but stopped his attacks. What a > blessing as he is also blind. > > My friend had a feline leukemia negative cat living in the room with her > positive cats for 5-6 years. She didn't realize he was negative (and he may > have tested positive before she put him there). She retested him because he > never got the upper respiratory infections or anything that the others seemed > to get. He was negative! She moved him then and he is still alive. He' was an > obnoxious long haired red boy when he was staying in that room. He is > gorgeous but he would come sailing across the room at you, totally > unexpectedly and land on you ~ nails extended! He was probably trying to get > someone to notice his robust health! > L > - Original Message - > From: Sue & Frank Koren > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 6:39 PM > Subject: Re: Sweet Buzz > > > Thank you for your advise about Buzz, and I am so very sorry about your > Brumley. What an aching empty place they leave in your heart when they are > gone! It sounds like he couldn't have been in a better place for his last > months, though. I just joined this group and I think the first thing I have > learned is not to read these e-mails at work. I sat at my desk this > afternoon with tears rolling down my face when I read about Brumley. > Buzz is here with me in my computer room right now. He enjoys laying on my > arm while I am trying to type. I have set the room up like a cat playground > with loads of toys, a chair by the window, a place to scratch and of coarse > his food tray and litter box. Even so he cries when he is left in here and > it breaks my heart. I bring him out and hold him often in the rest of the > house and I can see that he wants to get down and play with the other cats. I > am afraid to let him mingle with the others even if they are older cats. > Charlie is my big dumb dark grey boy. He loves everyone that comes near him, > human and cat. He loves to lick the other cats. If a cat could bounce along > going doit de doy de doy with a huge smile on his face, that would be > Charlie. He has asthma and for several months last year he had a lot of > trouble with the feline herpes virus in his eyes. Tucker is about the same > age as Charlie (7). He recently had to have all his teeth removed because > his immune system was attacking the bacteria on his teeth. He also gets > spells where he acts drunk (the vet calls it a vestibular episode). They > only last for about a half hour and the vet has said to give him vitamin B1. > Because of these problems I am afraid that they might have problems fighting > off the FeLV virus. > Thank you for the advise about food, I will look into feeding Buzz > something that is better. Right now he gets IAMS dry food for indoor cats, > and I heard that spring water is good for FeLV + cats, so he gets that also. > I still think he would be happiest in a home where he could roam the whole > house and maybe be with other cats, but in the meantime I intend to do > everything for him that I can. > I am not the best at computers, so if I am doing this incorrectly, I > apologize and please feel free to correct me. > Thank you, > Sue > - Original Message - > From: Caroline Kaufmann > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:56 AM > Subject: RE: Sweet Buzz > > > I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have > regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually > 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean > environment (w
Re: Sweet Buzz
Sue, you cracked me up with your description of Charlie! My Frankie has asthma.
So did Teddy and Keisha. Sometimes Frankie's eye runs. Is Charlie on inhaled
meds? Frankie is and this has all but stopped his attacks. What a blessing as
he is also blind.
My friend had a feline leukemia negative cat living in the room with her
positive cats for 5-6 years. She didn't realize he was negative (and he may
have tested positive before she put him there). She retested him because he
never got the upper respiratory infections or anything that the others seemed
to get. He was negative! She moved him then and he is still alive. He' was an
obnoxious long haired red boy when he was staying in that room. He is gorgeous
but he would come sailing across the room at you, totally unexpectedly and land
on you ~ nails extended! He was probably trying to get someone to notice his
robust health!
L
- Original Message -
From: Sue & Frank Koren
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 6:39 PM
Subject: Re: Sweet Buzz
Thank you for your advise about Buzz, and I am so very sorry about your
Brumley. What an aching empty place they leave in your heart when they are
gone! It sounds like he couldn't have been in a better place for his last
months, though. I just joined this group and I think the first thing I have
learned is not to read these e-mails at work. I sat at my desk this afternoon
with tears rolling down my face when I read about Brumley.
Buzz is here with me in my computer room right now. He enjoys laying on my
arm while I am trying to type. I have set the room up like a cat playground
with loads of toys, a chair by the window, a place to scratch and of coarse his
food tray and litter box. Even so he cries when he is left in here and it
breaks my heart. I bring him out and hold him often in the rest of the house
and I can see that he wants to get down and play with the other cats. I am
afraid to let him mingle with the others even if they are older cats. Charlie
is my big dumb dark grey boy. He loves everyone that comes near him, human and
cat. He loves to lick the other cats. If a cat could bounce along going doit
de doy de doy with a huge smile on his face, that would be Charlie. He has
asthma and for several months last year he had a lot of trouble with the feline
herpes virus in his eyes. Tucker is about the same age as Charlie (7). He
recently had to have all his teeth removed because his immune system was
attacking the bacteria on his teeth. He also gets spells where he acts drunk
(the vet calls it a vestibular episode). They only last for about a half hour
and the vet has said to give him vitamin B1. Because of these problems I am
afraid that they might have problems fighting off the FeLV virus.
Thank you for the advise about food, I will look into feeding Buzz something
that is better. Right now he gets IAMS dry food for indoor cats, and I heard
that spring water is good for FeLV + cats, so he gets that also. I still think
he would be happiest in a home where he could roam the whole house and maybe be
with other cats, but in the meantime I intend to do everything for him that I
can.
I am not the best at computers, so if I am doing this incorrectly, I
apologize and please feel free to correct me.
Thank you,
Sue
- Original Message -
From: Caroline Kaufmann
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:56 AM
Subject: RE: Sweet Buzz
I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular
house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms
put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment
(which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they
are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into
being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months and it's fine. A
lot of people on this list- or more so formerly on this list- have FELV+ rooms.
Many people even mix them because the transmission rate is very low- much
lower than you would think- and vets have differing opinions on this (so do
owners of FELV cats). I had an FELV cat and he was my only cat for the 4 years
I had him but I made that choice because he hated other cats (and that is
probably why he had FELV to begin with- he was a "fighter"!) and I was so
obsessed with him that I didn't want to expose him to any run-of-the-mill
diseases that another cat could have that he maybe wouldn't be able to fight
off as well b/c of his FELV. But I have a vet who mixes Felv cats with
non-Felv and she says there's never been any transmission- that the critical
time period is when they are very young kittens and if they don't pick up Felv
then, it's very unlikely they will g
Re: Sweet Buzz
Thank you for your advise about Buzz, and I am so very sorry about your Brumley. What an aching empty place they leave in your heart when they are gone! It sounds like he couldn't have been in a better place for his last months, though. I just joined this group and I think the first thing I have learned is not to read these e-mails at work. I sat at my desk this afternoon with tears rolling down my face when I read about Brumley. Buzz is here with me in my computer room right now. He enjoys laying on my arm while I am trying to type. I have set the room up like a cat playground with loads of toys, a chair by the window, a place to scratch and of coarse his food tray and litter box. Even so he cries when he is left in here and it breaks my heart. I bring him out and hold him often in the rest of the house and I can see that he wants to get down and play with the other cats. I am afraid to let him mingle with the others even if they are older cats. Charlie is my big dumb dark grey boy. He loves everyone that comes near him, human and cat. He loves to lick the other cats. If a cat could bounce along going doit de doy de doy with a huge smile on his face, that would be Charlie. He has asthma and for several months last year he had a lot of trouble with the feline herpes virus in his eyes. Tucker is about the same age as Charlie (7). He recently had to have all his teeth removed because his immune system was attacking the bacteria on his teeth. He also gets spells where he acts drunk (the vet calls it a vestibular episode). They only last for about a half hour and the vet has said to give him vitamin B1. Because of these problems I am afraid that they might have problems fighting off the FeLV virus. Thank you for the advise about food, I will look into feeding Buzz something that is better. Right now he gets IAMS dry food for indoor cats, and I heard that spring water is good for FeLV + cats, so he gets that also. I still think he would be happiest in a home where he could roam the whole house and maybe be with other cats, but in the meantime I intend to do everything for him that I can. I am not the best at computers, so if I am doing this incorrectly, I apologize and please feel free to correct me. Thank you, Sue - Original Message - From: Caroline Kaufmann To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11:56 AM Subject: RE: Sweet Buzz I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment (which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months and it's fine. A lot of people on this list- or more so formerly on this list- have FELV+ rooms. Many people even mix them because the transmission rate is very low- much lower than you would think- and vets have differing opinions on this (so do owners of FELV cats). I had an FELV cat and he was my only cat for the 4 years I had him but I made that choice because he hated other cats (and that is probably why he had FELV to begin with- he was a "fighter"!) and I was so obsessed with him that I didn't want to expose him to any run-of-the-mill diseases that another cat could have that he maybe wouldn't be able to fight off as well b/c of his FELV. But I have a vet who mixes Felv cats with non-Felv and she says there's never been any transmission- that the critical time period is when they are very young kittens and if they don't pick up Felv then, it's very unlikely they will get it as they get olde because their immune system matures and their body develops antibodies and a system for fighting off these feline retroviruses. It's when they are kittens and have an immature immune system that they are most susceptible to transmission. So she will mix adult non-Felv cats with Felv+s and has never had a transmission issue. I'm not telling you what to do- it's a personal decision- but I do think it's one that has to be made with as much info at hand as possible and one single vet is not going to provide you that. Sadly, in this day and age, there are STILL vets who recommend putting to sleep an ASYMPTOMATIC Felv cat (which frankly, I think is malpractice). So you need to consult a lot of different resources to make a fully informed decision. You also need to have Buzz retested in approximately 6 months. There can be a lot of false positive tests in kittens for FELV. My Felv cat was already about 2 years old when I found him and I had him retested 3 times (positive every time) b/c I was in such denial! He was so strong and
RE: Sweet Buzz
I agree with everything Lance said. I foster kittens and also have regular house cats and the fosters have a room- my bedroom which is actually 2 rooms put together-- that they live in. As long as they have their clean environment (which I have to keep clean because it's my room!) and play and affection, they are fine with it. Eventually, the ones I end up keeping may be integrated into being house cats, but I've been doing it this way for months and it's fine. A lot of people on this list- or more so formerly on this list- have FELV+ rooms. Many people even mix them because the transmission rate is very low- much lower than you would think- and vets have differing opinions on this (so do owners of FELV cats). I had an FELV cat and he was my only cat for the 4 years I had him but I made that choice because he hated other cats (and that is probably why he had FELV to begin with- he was a "fighter"!) and I was so obsessed with him that I didn't want to expose him to any run-of-the-mill diseases that another cat could have that he maybe wouldn't be able to fight off as well b/c of his FELV. But I have a vet who mixes Felv cats with non-Felv and she says there's never been any transmission- that the critical time period is when they are very young kittens and if they don't pick up Felv then, it's very unlikely they will get it as they get olde because their immune system matures and their body develops antibodies and a system for fighting off these feline retroviruses. It's when they are kittens and have an immature immune system that they are most susceptible to transmission. So she will mix adult non-Felv cats with Felv+s and has never had a transmission issue. I'm not telling you what to do- it's a personal decision- but I do think it's one that has to be made with as much info at hand as possible and one single vet is not going to provide you that. Sadly, in this day and age, there are STILL vets who recommend putting to sleep an ASYMPTOMATIC Felv cat (which frankly, I think is malpractice). So you need to consult a lot of different resources to make a fully informed decision. You also need to have Buzz retested in approximately 6 months. There can be a lot of false positive tests in kittens for FELV. My Felv cat was already about 2 years old when I found him and I had him retested 3 times (positive every time) b/c I was in such denial! He was so strong and never had anything wrong with him until the end. But retesting is a must with this disease, but you need to wait at least 6 mths. There's lots of good info in the archives about mingling Felv and non-Felv cats, retesting, and if you should decide to keep him- all the things you can do to boost his immune system and hopefully keep him asymptomatic for as long as possible-- diet is HUGE-- very important. So definitely take a look at those and look for subject lines that will indicate what the discussion was about. Good luck. Caroline > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> Subject: Re: Sweet > Buzz> Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 09:56:10 -0600> > Hi Sue,> > I think it's great > that you've given Buzz a new lease on life. It amazes> and> disgusts me that > anyone would abuse an animal. Thanks to you and your > brother's family for > taking care of him.> > I will say that, as someone who has to isolate a > wonderful, sweet FeLV+> girl, I don't think it's cruel to keep an animal in > one room, as long> as their needs are met, they are given love and > affection, and they get> some time to play, even if it's in the one room. > > > If you love Buzz, I think you should consider keeping him. If he does> not > have direct contact with your other cats, and as long as you keep> his > dishes and litterbox away from them when you're taking them out> to be > cleaned, the risk of them catching the virus AND actually becoming> > persistently infected would seem to be incredibly low, if not zero. The> > virus is fragile, and can't live outside of a cat for more than a few> > minutes.> > I'm definitely not trying to make you feel guilty or bad. It's > just that> you> obviously love the little guy, and you might be the person > he> needs for the rest of his life. My Ember is almost six years old, and> > other> than what seems like a yearly, intestinal bacterial overgrowth > that's> been> easily treated thusfar, she's really doing well. Whatever you > decide,> thanks again for looking out for Buzz.> > > Lance> > > > On Wed, 06 > Feb 2008 08:35:19 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:> > Hello to All... > > I > recently took a
Re: Sweet Buzz
Hi Sue, I think it's great that you've given Buzz a new lease on life. It amazes and disgusts me that anyone would abuse an animal. Thanks to you and your brother's family for taking care of him. I will say that, as someone who has to isolate a wonderful, sweet FeLV+ girl, I don't think it's cruel to keep an animal in one room, as long as their needs are met, they are given love and affection, and they get some time to play, even if it's in the one room. If you love Buzz, I think you should consider keeping him. If he does not have direct contact with your other cats, and as long as you keep his dishes and litterbox away from them when you're taking them out to be cleaned, the risk of them catching the virus AND actually becoming persistently infected would seem to be incredibly low, if not zero. The virus is fragile, and can't live outside of a cat for more than a few minutes. I'm definitely not trying to make you feel guilty or bad. It's just that you obviously love the little guy, and you might be the person he needs for the rest of his life. My Ember is almost six years old, and other than what seems like a yearly, intestinal bacterial overgrowth that's been easily treated thusfar, she's really doing well. Whatever you decide, thanks again for looking out for Buzz. Lance On Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:35:19 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: > Hello to All... > I recently took a cat my brother had rescued from some neighborhood kids > who were abusing and kicking him. He had fleas, worms and ear mites and > was near death. My brother and his wife nursed him back to physical > health, but he was terrified of people. They had been calling him Buzz > Saw because of the way he behaved when anyone tried to touch him. When > I visited my brother, my sister in law threw a blanket over him to catch > him and handed him to me. I cuddled him in and after a while he began to > purr. He was terrified of people reaching for him, so when we reached > for him we did so with treats in our hands. His whole personality began > to change and Buzz and I really began to bond. When I took him home I > had fortunately kept him away from my other 5 cats. I took him to our > vet to be checked over and neutered. I found out he is 8 - 10 months old > and the heartbreaking news - he is FeLV positive. I have read as much as > I could and > tried to find a way I could safely keep him with my other cats, but that > does > not seem to be possible. Even if I vaccinated my other cats the risk is > too > great. A couple of them have their own issues, and if they got feline > leukemia, > too, it would probably be the end of them. Buzz is now living in one > room of > my home and I am trying to find a good home for him. I would almost like > to be > selfish and keep him anyway because he has turned into one of the most > loving, > entertaining wonderful cats I have ever had, and I have had many. It > would not > be fair to keep him in one room for the rest of his life, though. Oh, by > the > way, his name is still Buzz, but now it stands for Buzz Light Year - To > Infinity > and Beyond! If anyone knows of a home where he will be well taken care > of and > happy, please let me know. > Thanks, > Sue > > > > > > -- Lance Linimon [EMAIL PROTECTED]
