[littlgriz]

i started greving a gin yester day it hit me in the face mimikey is gon its my ffirsdst mothers day wwith tugger and clud i cold not sstp my tears i knowe its fine to cry i just wanted to share this with you all

[Fantine]

What the ----?

[Bill_Calhoun]

[Mungostoffelees]

[abbeycat]

Littlgriz:

Know that we are all here for you and yes, it's okay to cry. It's hard when you realise you are without something so precious to you but you should also know that Tugger and Cloud love you very much and Mikey is still in your heart and your thoughts and he always will be special to you.

*offers hugs*

[littlgriz]

[littlgriz]

[littlgriz]

[littlgriz]

[Bill_Calhoun]

[Etcetera Kitten]

It's ok to cry, as you said. Plus, your cat is probably safe up there in Heaven, which is a good thing! He was with you from up there, he'll always be there!

Now you can be happy with your Tugger, and give him a lot of love. He'll never replace Mikey completely, but he'll developp his own personnality and become just as special.

I will have good thoughts for both Mikey and Tugger.

Thanks for sharing this with us! We are there to listen!

Much love

EK

[littlgriz]

[littlgriz]

[darkmage]

It's always tough to lose a friend, human or feline. But he's still with you, wherever he is.

All the best...

[tmg]

I'm very sorry about Mikey.

We just had to have Tennessee (our youngest kitty) put down. She was only a year old and had lung cancer.

[littlgriz]

[darkmage]

[tmg]

[darkmage]

The Feline Lukemia virus (FeLV for short) is brutal. Fortunately, there is a vaccine, but like all vaccines, the success rate is not 100%. As for making the animal more susceptible to cancer, that's no surprise--the FeLV virus destroys the cat's immune system so it can't fight off any type of invader--and this includes cancer cells, unfortunately. The closest human equivalent is the HIV virus. There *is* an FIV virus, but there's no vaccine (yet) and it's not transmissible to humans. It, too, is a brutal wasting disease.

That's sad, but like you said, she didn't suffer much.

That having been said, you need to get your other cats tested for FeLV ASAP. It's usually spread by saliva or blood, meaning it's spread by fights and cats grooming each other. If your cats test positive, keep an eye on them. If the blood tests come up negative, get the vaccine, or if they've already had it, get a booster shot. This is one of those shots that has to be repeated every year. My cats hate it, it's an intramuscular and makes their shoulder sore for a couple of days, but it's for their own good.

[tmg]

Yeah, we know all about FeLV. We've read pretty much everything out there on it.

What had happened is we had 3 cats (Romeo, Emily, & Tennessee) then adopted a kitten from an animal shelter (Scout). We didn't really know anything about FeLV and since they were all indoor cats, we didn't think to get them vaccinated against it (they got all their other vaccinations, though). 3 months later, Scout got an infection after being spayed and wasn't fighting it off. We got her tested, found out she was positive, so we got the others tested and found out Ten was also positive. Scout ended up having to be put down after she got anemic, started having seizures, and wasn't able to kick the fever. We got the other cats vaccinated for it and started Ten on the immune boosters.

We later adopted Toonces specifically because she had tested positive but was not showing any signs of being sick (we figured our other two cats were safe since they didn't get it after being exposed when they weren't vaccinated and were now fully vaccinated, but we didn't want to introduce another negative cat). Toonces was pregnant when she was picked up by animal control. She tested as a slight positive but because she was pregnant, rather than immediately euthanizing her (standard practice for FeLV/FIV positive cats), she was turned over to a rescue group. She had 3 healthy, negative kittens and she went into foster care. After we adopted her, we had her tested again and she ended up testing negative so either the 1st test was a false positive or she was just exposed but was in the middle of fighting it off (generally, only kittens under a year old aren't able to fight it off and remain positive). And so far, Toonces is doing really well.

Then we were adopted by a stray cat we named Ghost. When we took him in to get tested, he was a very slight positive for FIV, but we had him retested a couple weeks later and it was negative so the 1st was most likely just a false positive.

So now we're going to have everyone tested one more time just to make sure they're all still negative and we're completely rid of all the nasties. Then we'll probably adopt another kitten (Romeo has been really depressed since we lost Ten - they were best buddies). The new kitten will be tested, fully vaccinated, and quarantined for a few weeks before being introduced to the other cats.

Anyway, that's my cat/FeLV/FIV history. Sorry for the hijack.

[darkmage]

All of my cats are indoors only, but we have a large colony of ferals in the neighbourhood and some come right to the door and touch noses against the glass (the French doors in my room and living room) or through the screen door. They get the full battery of inoculations every year, just in case.

When Miffy died, he died of leukemia/lymphoma (basically Hodgkins') but he had the non-viral, age related type. He was about 16, so he had a good life.


Still, I wish you the very best of luck and the best of health for you and the 'kids.'

Edit: based on what you've told me about your youngest, I'm not sure if she was truly kicking the virus or if it came back a weak positive because the antibody-producing cells had been destroyed. As a human with an autoimmune disease, I know from experience that the titer percentage alone can carry a wealth of information.

[tmg]

[darkmage]

Honestly, I'm not sure. Ask your vet next time you see them. They'll know.

[littlgriz]