Coping With Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

My best friend bought a desert lynx from a breeder and when I saw her exotic features and her demeanor, I knew I had to have one of her babies.
We had to wait for 1-1/2 years till she was old enough to breed…..she came in heat and my friend tried to keep her in but she slipped past and ran like the wind.
Needless to say she came home pregnant by a neighborhood cat and had five of the most beautiful babies you ever saw.
I got first choice and I took the only male in the litter, he was bronze spotted and polydactyl.
He was my soul cat if there is such a thing we bonded so much.
He started sleeping a lot and losing his appetite and when he had the energy to play, he had to sleep afterwards.
I knew something was wrong so we took him to the vet, they said he had an infection and gave us antibiotics and two weeks later he was worse than ever, I took him back he was 5 and a half months old at this time, they tested him and he had feline lukemia and kitty aids……..my whole world crashed.
The vet said he was born with it because he faded so fast, turns out when the mother got pregnant she contracted it from the male tomcat and the mother and all the rest of the kittens had it too.
Dually passed over the rainbow bridge on February 17th 2007.
I learned a hard lesson and that is no matter if you keep your cat inside or not if they get out and get tangled up with an infected cat they will get sick and this disease is not pretty.

Get the felv and the fiv shots for your cats and kittens.
I still miss Dually to this day, he is still in my heart…………I will never forget the 4 short months I had him. He made the biggest impact on my life I’ve ever had with an animal.