Hello FFRC friends. I have some updates on 3 cats. That would be Qapla, Yoey and Bingo.
You all know how we double test our cats for leukemia and FIV. And that is because upon admission, it's possible that the new arrival may have just developed one of these two diseases. We've been told by people that it is a waste of money, but............I don't agree. Years ago, we had two incidents where we had two cats come up positive for leukemia the second test. Of course, we then retested everyone and those were ok. But, this is a method we can do to protect the cats. Most cats, IF they indeed have the disease upon arrival, but have not had it long enough to show on the test, will be positive then in 4 weeks, which is when we retest. Which is also why we vaccinate here for leukemia. Leukemia is fairly easy to be spread cat to cat. FIV has to be the result of a deep bite wound.
Qapla was retested, a few days early than her 4 weeks, because I noticed she was acting punky. Sure enough, her test came up positive for FIV. She was showing active signs--fever, weight loss, enlarged lymph nodes. Qapla was euthanized since she was actively ill with the disease. There is no cure for FIV. And I do not believe in letting a cat suffer.
These decisions are not made lightly. Much thoughts and prayer goes on for me to make these decisions. Sometimes I know what I have to do in my brain but I have to analyze everything to be sure the right decision is made.
And then......in regards to Yoey and Bingo. These two boys came in fairly close together. One had just been neutered and the other one we had the neuter done. So, these were full out tough outside boys . Both friendly but started nipping early in their time here. This progressed to out and out fights with other cats. These fights were instigated by these two boys, especially with Nyota, Asha, Magic and Lena. We simply cannot have our residents attacked. After trying pheromone plug ins, pheromone sprays, etc. the behavior did not improve. Actually, they both started to display the "bully pose" seen in tom cats, before they would attack. And then they started spraying. Both took to nipping the human hand also. I have a few resources for cats like this.............and I called in a favor. These two boys are in the care of a person who does animal behavior problems. This is no small feat as I could not adopt them out, knowing they fought with cats and would bite people. This organization that has the boys, then will rehome them when the time is right and they feel they are safe.
I hope you all understand that this needed to be done for the safety of the cats and volunteers and now visitors. We cannot have the cats and kittens here in danger and cannot risk having a person bit when we know what these two boys are capable of.
These are hard decisions, but that is part of having a Rescue. We try our best to save lives and to give them a good quality of life. Sometimes, sadly, these decisions have to be made.