Helpful Links

The Best Little Cat House in Pennsylvania

Feline Leukemia support page
It's a great page, full of useful information. Subscribe to their lively online support discussion group for great advice from real people who love their FeLV+ kitties.

Looking to adopt an animal?
If you're looking to adopt, please consider adopting from the Trenton Animal Shelter. Because of the huge amount of stray animals in this city, Trenton Animal Shelter is a kill facility. So, by adopting through the them, you'll definitely save a life, and you'll help to improve the city.

Also, be sure to check out Marley's Fund to learn more about this very sad disease. Great merchandise is available; proceeds help Marley's people to further their efforts to educate others and save more lives. It will also help them take care of the animals residing at the Marley House, a safe haven for those asymptomatic cats infected with the Feline Leukemia Virus. Cats can be adopted through Marley's House, too.


An Aside
Lady, the mother of Emilio and Frito, was also tested for feline leukemia in October 2005. She tested negative: yet she doted on and nursed her FeLV+ kittens, shared their food, and groomed them thoroughly and regularly. It's a tricky virus, with an incubation period of at least 3 months, so she'll be retested then. My mother is fostering Lady for now, and we're really hoping she'll continue to test negative.
This is Lady:





UPDATE on Lady
My mother had Lady retested for the virus in January, and she again, tested negative. She was spayed, and my mother, despite never owning -- or even liking -- a cat in her life, decided to keep Lady! Hooray for my mom! My father is still adjusting to life with a cat. Oh well. But Lady is enjoying her new life very much; I knew she'd make a nice pet. Here's a recent picture:



Doesn't she have the cutest beauty mark?





But if you tame me,
then we shall need each other.
To me, you will be unique in all the world.
To you, I shall be unique in all the world;
You become responsible,
forever,
for what you have tamed..."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery






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Emilio and Frito,
rest gently
2005-2006

Unique in all the world.
Emilio and Frito were the fourth and fifth stray cats to show up and stay in the backyard of our Trenton, NJ home, within our first year. We had already taken in three neighborhood cats, bringing us to five cats and one dog. It was time to share the joy! We found someone who agreed to take them, contingent on a clean bill of health from the vet.

Unfortunately, Emilio and Frito tested positive for feline leukemia, a contagious and often fatal cat disease. Most vets recommend euthansia; many shelters, who can't get enough healthy cats adopted, also will euthanize animal with positive test results. The general thought is FeLV=death.

Maybe it was denial, but it didn't seem right to us. After all, nothing in life is given: a negative test result does not guarantee a long, wonderful life, so we hoped a positive test result would not equal a death sentence.

We did some research and found that with a good diet and lots of love, many cats with feline leukemia can live long lives. Unfortunately, it's more difficult for kittens, who don't have much of an immune system; and we had the added problem of protecting our five healthy cats from the virus. Our cats were not vaccinated, since they are inside cats. We have to wait until January -- due to the potential exposure -- to have them tested and vaccinated. Finding a home for Emilio and Frito, when so many healthy kittens are killed every year for lack of good homes, was a heartbreaking and frustrating task.

We were lucky: we found The Best Little Cat House in Pennsylvania, a sanctuary in Harrisburg for sick cats. Lynn Stitt, who runs the facility, agreed to take Emilio and Frito. They made their big trip in early November 2005, and they loved their new home! We missed them very much, and we received a few happy updates about how much they enjoyed "helping" the volunteers clean, by chasing the broom. Sadly, the updates stopped coming, and in early 2006, we found out that Emilio and Frito were gone, inevitable, given their young ages, and the nature of disease, I suppose.

Maybe it's human nature, but we may always wonder if we did the right thing by Emilio and Frito. After all, some cats DO eventually test negative. Maybe they would have done better in an individual's home, fewer pathogens flying around? We'll never know. That wasn't in any way, a knock on the Cat House at all. They bury every single cat in their Memorial Garden and have a little brick "tombstone" for every single cat. And the volunteers love the kitties like crazy while they're alive. Be sure to visit their website (it's linked all over this page) to look at the pictures.

Cats with feline leukemia have so few options, and yet, the people who care for them, do so with so much love. Please consider making a donation to the Best Little Cat House in Pennsylvania, or Marley's Fund, or an animal hospice near you.

Please spread the word.

-- Glen and Chrissy