Last august, of 2006, I was at work second shift when one of the girls I work with told me there was an adorable cat outside. Since I absolutely adore animals, I had to take a look. Before you know it, I was holding her in my arms, and 3 hours later I took her home. She was very tiny and unfed. That night she (Bella) acted as though she knew me forever, in fact she slept right next to me the whole night.

The following day I called my Vet to schedule an appointment to have her looked at. Turned out she was infected with Feline Leukemia Virus also known as FeLV I was terrified and I wasn’t sure wether I should keep her or put her down. Somewhere I found hope in my heart that she would be okay. I knew that I was already attached. For a while she would sneeze a lot and have really bad draining eyes, like a cold. Now, however, I haven’t seen symptoms of her FeLV for almost 6 months.

My Vet helped me so much with medications and things that I should do for her to keep her as healthy as I can. I can’t thank her enough. Does she still have FeLV? Yes. But I don’t see her as if she does because she no longer shows any symptoms of it. In fact she’s loving, playful, and loves to pick on my 2 dogs. She just turned a year old in January, and can you believe she picks on 2 big dogs almost 5 times the size of herself? I have to laugh when I see it. She definately is a wonder. In fact, I just got her fixed and declawed 2 days ago. I was in a very depressed mood because her risks were much higher because of her FeLV. I just called the Vet this morning, and they said she was ready to go home any time. What a relief! I’ll be going to pick her up as soon as I get off work, and I can’t wait to see those green eyes and here that meow.

It’s amazing what a pet can do to somebody, how it truly changes your life, and how much you really care about them when they’re gone. For me, it was only 2 days and I was going nuts without her. I’m very proud of Bella and I’m very proud of myself for having hope in her that she would be okay.