Animal Allergies

[natasha Bisson]

I do not know what to do, my cats who have been put to sleep this morning were so loving and happy, but they had mouth sores and I had to keep them on prednasone everyday.

They are in heaven now I know, but they were happy here with me... My god I do not know if I did the right thing agreeing to put them to sleep... tomorrow they will come to my home to test the rest of my cats, what if there is more babies who have it?

Is it really something that they died after a few month contracting it, or is it more like FIV that they can live a long life?

Should I keep them separated from they other one and keep them alive?

Please please help me.

[tatlexi]

Hello, my cat just got diagnosed with fiv, and i totally understand how you feel. my other cat just passed away because he got run over. that was the reason why i decided to adapt lexi. at the shelter i was informed that she has an allegry. well it was a lie. she has fiv. i did lots of research and i guess some cats live a long life. i am very scared. she is only 4 months old. she deserves to have a good live. so what happened to your other cats?

[pcniles]

I assume by now you know whether your other cats have tested positive to leukemia. I certainly they haven't.

There is a vaccine that cats can be given to prevent them from contracting leukemia. If your current kitties are healthy now, you certainly will want to vaccinate them for this. You just have to vaccinate them once, with a booster shot in six months. After that, they are good for life.

I'm sorry that you had to put your other kitties to sleep. I too lost a kitty, long ago, to leukemia. He died untreated because we didn't know what he had (1975--it wasn't a common disease at that time).

I assume your vets advised you to put them to sleep. Presumably because of the likelihood of your other kitties getting this disease. So yes, you did the right thing. They are in a much better place now, and they died a peaceful death, rather than a painful, contracted one had they lived with the disease longer.

You did the right thing.

[pcniles]

[quote="tatlexi"]Hello, my cat just got diagnosed with fiv, and i totally understand how you feel. my other cat just passed away because he got run over. that was the reason why i decided to adapt lexi. at the shelter i was informed that she has an allegry. well it was a lie. she has fiv. i did lots of research and i guess some cats live a long life. i am very scared. she is only 4 months old. she deserves to have a good live. so what happened to your other cats?[/quote]

FIV is very manageable in cats. It's very bad that the shelter did not inform you of this, however, and I would definitely contact them and ask them why they did not do that. If their answer doesn't satisfy you, you might consider reporting them to whatever authority in your area oversees shelters. What they did was very wrong.

FIV is not the 'death-sentence' it was once believed to be. It is not like HIV in humans, that will lead to AIDS in cats. In fact, chances are you will not even notice that your kitty is sick. However, it is important that you keep her as an only cat because FIV is very contagious. If, however, you wish to get another cat (at some point) you can specifically seek out another cat that is already FIV positive, and give that kitty a nice home.

FIV positive cats should NEVER be allowed to roam outside. It's not good for them plus any cat they come into contact with is susceptible to catching the virus. However, it has been determined that FIV is not as easily passed cat-to-cat as once believed.

Good luck with your new kitty. Take good care of her, with good food (but not too much!), plenty of fresh water, perhaps some special immune-boosting vitamins just to give her an extra bit of help, and the two of you should definitely have a long and happy life together.