Update 2/7 Before and After pics! - Another stray, but such a cutie!

[CritterHill]

We have yet another stray cat on our doorstep. Sweet little thing. Came right up to me.

Real small orange and white short hair. STARVING. I can nearly get my fingers all the way around its spine...

Well, we fed it. I'll try to get it to the vet this week to get its vaccines, defleaed, tested for FIV/Felv, make sure it is neutered.

After $400 and several months, we were able to find a great home for the last FIV+ stray that came by. I don't know if we can afford to do that again...

If it is Felv+, what can we do? I don't think that is at all treatable is it?

I am worried because this cat has that weird puffy head look that I have only seen on really old or really sick cats. Maybe just because it is almost starved to death?

Sigh. Maybe he just won't be there in the morning.

Anyone near Elverson/Morgantown/Pottstown (west of Philadelphia) want a cat?

 

[mangled]

A lot of our feral males have that thick neck look. I've always associated it with older, intact toms.

I feel your pain about drop-offs and strays. We're the middle of nowhere, and it seems like our house is the point of delivery for all cat-dumpers.

FeLV and FIV have no cure, and the cats will always be carriers. If the cat is positive, and will be an outside cat, it will constantly be shedding the virus and can infect any cat it comes in close contact with.


Good luck-
Em

 

[PitterPaws]

Hi, Well the large puffy head could be because it is undernurished.
I had 2 Feline leukeumia possitive cats I had them since they were kittens they had it bad, the vet said I should put them to sleep but I was already attached so I couldn't. they were former strays, so I took care of them and loved them and they lived for three years. the vet said they could live for 1 to 3 years but no longer. Those are three years I would not have given up for anything.
Good Luck with what ever you decide to do.

 

[CritterHill]

Yeah, we were all set to keep the last stray that came around, but he tested FIV+ and since our cats need to be outdoor cats, I had to find him a home where he could be an inside only animal.

At least with FIV, he can have a long and reasonably healthy life as an indoor animal. But I thought Felv was much more immediately devastating? I guess I am trying, in a round about way, to find out if the right thing to do would be to put him down IF he comes up felv+?

 

[CritterHill]

Quote:
Oh, wow. That isn't a long time. I'm sorry to hear about your kitties. I'm glad you could give them the happiness they had.

Since we have other cats and couldn't keep him indoors, we may not have an option then.

Well, I am getting ahead of myself. Maybe he is healthy and just starved.

When DH saw him, the FIRST thing out of his mouth was "I guess we have another cat! Ours don't seem to mind him."

I do NOT NOT NOT want to get my hopes up! I was in tears in the vets office when I found out the last stray had FIV. I had already bonded and decided he was our cat.

Sigh.

 

[texasgirl]

We generally suggest euthanasia for Felv + cats when the owners have other cats just because it is very infectious to other cats and it is always fatal (whether it is sooner or later). I wouldn't take the chance of bringing it into your house or letting it be near your cats until it is tested. Same if it is FIV + but obviously FIV cats can live full lives.
I wish you the best of luck! Remember that young kittens can come up FIV positive just from exposure to mothers milk, they are not necessarily affected, it is just a false positive, they should be tested again 6 months later to know for sure.

 

[texasreb]

If that cat is Felv+ euthanasia would be a kind thing for you to do. I wouldn't feel bad about it at all. At least you didn't leave him on your doorstep sick and unattended. Regardless of how things turn out, you did the right thing.

Thanks for the compassion.

 

[gaited horse]

we want pics we want pics

 

[penelope77]

my vet had a positive cat and it lived to be about ten. they had to keep it inside as the outside life for one that is positive has a shorter life span. like all things it just depends on the cat. there is a stray male outside that has the thick neck, big head. i thought he looked funny. he's been out there for almost a year now and i feed him and he seems fine. i thought it was just his build and lack of food. he always looks that way though and as i've said he's been out there almost a year getting fed. anyway if it is positive maybe if you don't put it down you could find it a nice indoor home where it would be spoiled and the only cat. i'm sure there is some sympathetic cat lover out there.

 

[CritterHill]

Quote:
I was just out with the flashlight and the digital camera hoping to get a picture. But after it just had its first meal in what must have been weeks, I guess it went off to sleep somewhere.

I will post pics if it comes back in the AM.

(I just fed a starving stray cat, and I still have some delusion that it may not come back in the morning? I don't know what planet I think I am living on)

FIV+ I can probably find a home for. I did once before. Felv+, not so confident...

(please be healthy, please be healthy)