Final kitten update

It is with a heavy heart that I have to post an update like this. Yesterday afternoon, after a two day battle, we let the kittens go. We tried everything... I was bottle feeding them every three hours, they were on medication, had their own heating pad. It was when the wonderful Dr. Corbett at the AWA said we could keep trying fluids with them that I knew we had to let them go. I heard the kittens the first time they received fluids, and couldn't continually put them through that with the odds stacked against them in such a way.

What I hadn't posted was that Llana (mama cat) had posted positive for both FIV and FeLV. Both are immune deficiency disorders that are transmitted from cat to cat. We found this out on Tuesday when she seemed to be getting worse. I knew in my gut something was wrong, but didn't expect such a blow. Odds are that the kittens had at least one, if not both of these diseases. Most kittens do not survive that diagnosis.

We are working on getting Mama cat well now. Getting her over this URI is going to be the major step on the ladder. Adult cats with these diagnosis can often live a fairly normal life for at least a couple of years. Dr. Corbett has allowed me to keep working with her despite the diagnosis. Most shelters would have euthanized on spot. As long as we can get her over her current URI we are going to keep her. Carl and I agree that she deserves a chance, a life in a home, love, and comfort. You can read more about FIV here and FeLV here.

I try to keep my strong points of view about animal care and rescue, etc, from this blog but please. Learn from what I have just seen. While this was not my unspayed, free roaming cat, it was heartbreak just the same. Spay/Neuter your animal. Keep your cats inside. Llana was someone's pet once, she had to be. Feral cats as a rule do not sit in your lap, purr, and rub their face against yours. My thoughts are she was tossed outside like trash, but any cat that roams outside, whether it be at night only or not, is much more susceptible to these diseases. All it takes is one bad fight and your cat could be exposed. Spay and neuter, because there are enough animals dying every day. It also makes for a much healthier pet. I just spoke to a woman who's 9 year old dog succumbed to pyometra, which is a serious infection of the uterus. She said the one thing she regrets most is never spaying her beloved pet. If she had, it never would have happened, but she always thought about breeding her, and then once she got too old to breed, she just never got around to it.

I also wanted to share the one thing that got me through the day yesterday. I often cruise other blogs throughout the day and happened across the most inspiring one I have ever seen. She is 22 years old and has brick by brick built a children's home for children in Nepal. She currently has 20+ children with her in Kopila Valley Children's Home, and has helped 60+ more children get enrolled in school. The home she has for these beautiful children is amazing, but hasn't come without a struggle. Read her blog here. I spent every spare minute I had yesterday (at work, hah) reading as much as I could. On one of her pages she says "We are all truly limitless."

I'm going to relax with my furbabies and try to eventually get out in the weather. It looks beautiful out.