I am always out there looking for neat cat oriented sites. I was doing some research on FELV due to a bunch of kittens we found homes for this week. These tiny kitties came to us mangled, abcessed, eye infected, flea ridden, and just plain gross!

I'm a sucker for a cat. No matter how dirty or nasty it is on the outside. So these kittens hit a soft spot and were tossed on antibiotics, eye medication, and some hydrotherapy on one of the kittens with a foot 5 times larger than it was supposed to be and with a chewed up shoulder.

2 days before we deemed them healthy to go out, we had to do 'the works' to them. This consists of *for those of you who do not know- a DECENT rescue society will do this* the first feline distemper vaccines. *no no, this is not a 'change the attitude of the cat vaccine*. Feline distemper or FRCVP takes care of many of the upper respitory and other viral diseases a kitty can get. It also consists of the first deworming with pyrantal pamoate. A de-fleaing product called Advantage. We also make sure every cat gets the felv/fiv test. (feline leukemia and feline immunodefecieny virus)

Of course, one of them needs to turn up positive for feline leukemia. No, they weren't put to sleep. Jeeze... euthanasia happy aren't you? Or should I say, what a lack of education you have. *This is the TYPICAL attitude I get from most people. "oh, its sick! It's going to be put to sleep right?" *

Should I say, due to education and getting this bunch out in pairs, all of them got a home by monday. Mind you, they were put on the floor sunday.

We are concerned that the rest of the kittens may turn positive one day. We did recommend for them to be retested in 3 months. The one kitten that is positive, we cross our fingers for him. There is a chance hey may turn out negative in the future. Immune systems in kittens are funny that way. They still have lots of 'mom's immune system in them. Most of the time their system will kick in and combat what is left of mom's.

Our kittens are well taken care of. We make sure they are healthy, or if someone wants one with an 'issue', we make sure they get a home that won't give up on them.

They all got homes. All with people that are understanding and willing to treat their cat accordingly if needed.

This site is a neat place to look at many different avenues on FELV care and treatment. FelineLeukemia.org

This is also a neat CD that I purchased a few years back. All the proceeds of the CD go to funding research for FELV. You can find it at Amazon. Cat-Shaped Hole in My Heart

Rember, FELV is not a death sentence to a cat. It's a challenge to it. Yes, it will most likely expire from lymphosarcoma eventually. BUT, with lots of TLC and regular visits to a vet that is WILLING to try new avenues of treatment, you are likely to have your cat around for a long time.

=^^=