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Coping With Feline Immunodeficiency Virus

This section is a place to share stories about Coping With Feline Immunodeficiency Virus.

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Twain


by: Lawrence on Thu, Sep 06 2007

I first met Twain on the back porch of my apartment. He liked to sun himself there, and would disappear every time I came out. Little by little he acclaimated to me, and feeding him some tuna/salmon helped.

One night, an unusually hot one in San Francisco, I left the back door open for some breeze. Watching a PBS documentary on Mark Twain, he marched in and jumped on the futon with me. That was the beginning.

That’s how he got his name. Soon I took Twain to the vet. That’s where I learned he was FIV+. He was black and white, a lovely tuxedo. He also had fleas and had some scars from fighting (but he was neutered). For awhile, he was an indoor/outdoor cat, and I left a window open for him. He’d jump up to the windowsill and walk out onto a desk pushed against the wall. Soon, I made him an indoor cat.

He was feisty and vocal, but loved people. Not much of a lap cat, still he loved being scratched behind the ears and snuggling with me at night.

That was seven years ago. Today, he lost the fight with FIV About a month ago he started losing energy. He had been on interferon, and when he stopped eating, I took him into the vet. After a few weeks of treatment, up and down, sometimes better sometimes worse, tonight September 05, 2007, I had him put down. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. But he had been at the vet for a few days with a severely low white blood count. I loved him dearly and will miss him.

Comment on this

Comments
  1. Mon, Sep 10 2007
    Thanks for sharing your story. My sympathy for the loss of your Twain--remember seven years of companionship....Read
  2. Sat, Sep 08 2007
    I am so sorry for your loss....Read

September 2007

  • Cayenne had a good life - by Deborahde - (Fri, Sep 28 2007)
    Those w. FIV+ cats, have a little hope. It is not always an immediate death sentence. I have a story to share of 8.5 years with my FIV+ cat. It ended this past Tuesday. I am at peace with this and my decision to work for a longer life for my beloved Cayenne. [more..]
  • Vets can mislead - by Yen Chin - (Wed, Sep 26 2007)
    My wife and I recently adopted two kittens who are now about three months old. A week ago we took them both the the vet for a check up and to have them tested for internal parasites. The vet also did an FIV test and found a positive result for one of them. [more..]
  • Scruffy and I - by Dalene - (Thu, Sep 20 2007)
    I have 2 cats, a male (Scruffy) & female (Kamakazi Kitty). Yesterday i took them in to get them fixed. I was told that they’d be tested for FIV and if they were + they would be put down. I replied, ” why, i wasnt put down when i was diagnosed with HIV.” [more..]
  • Chaos, the 5-6 week old Kitten, is FIV Positive - by Lissa - (Thu, Sep 20 2007)
    A policeman found two abandoned kittens near an old house where no one lived for many years. His wife had taken these kittens in and offered them on craigslist for adoption. I was browsing through the list and saw such a cute 8 week old black and white kitten (she posted the two cats seperately). [more..]
  • My FIV experience - by Nancy - (Fri, Sep 14 2007)
    My first FIV+ cat, Comet, wandered into my backyard when he was about7 years old. He was beat up, had a severe upper respiratory infection, giardia, coccidia, roundworm, tapeworm and a severe case of conjunctivitis. [more..]
  • Our one night battle - by Nikki - (Mon, Sep 10 2007)
    My boyfriend & I had bought 2 fun loving kittens from the same litter, a male & a female. They were both fun & energetic & then one day our male cat stopped wanting to play & would keep to himself a lot, but we didn’t think anything of it at first because he still showed us love and would play on occasion. [more..]
  • ACE (FATBOY) - by lisa - (Sun, Sep 09 2007)
    last night at 5.30 we took our cat to the local vet because what we thought was a sore on his face was actually a cat bite they did a simple blood test on him for fiv we found out that he was positive for this when we got ace he was from the wellington spca the vet thought he had contracted this from there. [more..]
  • Twain - by Lawrence - (Thu, Sep 06 2007)
    I first met Twain on the back porch of my apartment. He liked to sun himself there, and would disappear every time I came out. Little by little he acclaimated to me, and feeding him some tuna/salmon helped. [more..]
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