FIV: NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

My family and I have been caring for our own FIV+ cats for the past
four years, and we regularly correspond with other pet owners who are
doing the same.

Cats with FIV can enjoy a high quality of life for many years, if
properly cared for. Yet many vet clinics still encourage pet owners to
euthanize their cats the moment they test positive for the disease,
even when the animals aren't showing symptoms yet.

I would encourage any pet owner faced with this difficult news to get
the facts before making any rash decisions. Best Friends Animal
Society has a wonderful article on their site, which dispels a number
of common myths about FIV. "Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" by
Thomas Hapka also discusses this issue in depth and offers natural
treatment strategies and additional resources.

Best Friends can be found online at: http://bestfriends.org/

"Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" can be found at: http://felineaids.org/

The bottom line is that FIV is not an automatic death sentence, and no
cat should be put to sleep simply for testing positive for this
disease. Thanks for listening.

Steph
http://www.geocities.com/stephcat560/

FIV: NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

On Sat 18 Aug 2007 04:46:08p, stephcat wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com:

The bottom line is that FIV is not an automatic death sentence,
and no cat should be put to sleep simply for testing positive
for this disease. Thanks for listening.

I agree. I had one positive for FeLV for a couple of years before his
other problems took him from me. I had two other cats at the time who
were negative. He became positive from a blood transfusion, so I
wasn't prepared to let the vet take him out just to prevent my others
from getting sick. They got vaccinated while Shadow was still here,
and never became sick. FIV isn't as transmittable as FeLV, but both
are often considered a death sentance by some vets. Heck, life is a
death sentance. Good message and good luck with your cats.

--
Cheryl

FIV: NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

"Cheryl" wrote

Heck, life is a
death sentance.


Yes indeed. :)

NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

"stephcat" wrote in message
oups.com...
My family and I have been caring for our own FIV+ cats for the past
four years, and we regularly correspond with other pet owners who are
doing the same.

Cats with FIV can enjoy a high quality of life for many years, if
properly cared for. Yet many vet clinics still encourage pet owners to
euthanize their cats the moment they test positive for the disease,
even when the animals aren't showing symptoms yet.

I would encourage any pet owner faced with this difficult news to get
the facts before making any rash decisions. Best Friends Animal
Society has a wonderful article on their site, which dispels a number
of common myths about FIV. "Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" by
Thomas Hapka also discusses this issue in depth and offers natural
treatment strategies and additional resources.

Best Friends can be found online at: http://bestfriends.org/

"Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" can be found at: http://felineaids.org/

The bottom line is that FIV is not an automatic death sentence, and no
cat should be put to sleep simply for testing positive for this
disease. Thanks for listening.

Steph
http://www.geocities.com/stephcat560/


My oldest cat, Buddy, is FIV positive, FeLV positive, FIP positive and has a
bad liver. He was a stray I took in 6 years ago this coming week and he
picked up all that while living rough. He is still alive 3 years after
being diagnosed with all those diseases. He is getting old now, tired and
skinny but in no pain. He probably won't be with me much longer., But he
is an old cat and has lived with serious diseases for year now and he has
been quite happy and content and clearly enjoys his life.

There simply is no reason to put down an animal unless it is suffering. I
was torn up when I hard Buddy was so sick. So I resolved to just take it
day by day, make sure he gets good food, make sure he does not get into
trouble with other cats and the result is 3 years of happiness with him.

When the time comes, they will tell you. I remember my first cat, Zipper.
He died of cancer in 01. I kept him alive too long, he was ready to go and
I wouldn't let him. So you can be too quick, you can also be too slow.
Best to let them tell you.

Paul

NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 23:51:30 +0000, Paul M. Cook wrote:


"stephcat" wrote in message
oups.com...
My family and I have been caring for our own FIV+ cats for the past four
years, and we regularly correspond with other pet owners who are doing
the same.

Cats with FIV can enjoy a high quality of life for many years, if
properly cared for. Yet many vet clinics still encourage pet owners to
euthanize their cats the moment they test positive for the disease, even
when the animals aren't showing symptoms yet.

I would encourage any pet owner faced with this difficult news to get
the facts before making any rash decisions. Best Friends Animal Society
has a wonderful article on their site, which dispels a number of common
myths about FIV. "Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" by Thomas Hapka also
discusses this issue in depth and offers natural treatment strategies
and additional resources.

Best Friends can be found online at: http://bestfriends.org/

"Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" can be found at:
http://felineaids.org/

The bottom line is that FIV is not an automatic death sentence, and no
cat should be put to sleep simply for testing positive for this disease.
Thanks for listening.

Steph
http://www.geocities.com/stephcat560/


My oldest cat, Buddy, is FIV positive, FeLV positive, FIP positive and has
a bad liver. He was a stray I took in 6 years ago this coming week and he
picked up all that while living rough. He is still alive 3 years after
being diagnosed with all those diseases. He is getting old now, tired and
skinny but in no pain. He probably won't be with me much longer., But he
is an old cat and has lived with serious diseases for year now and he has
been quite happy and content and clearly enjoys his life.

There simply is no reason to put down an animal unless it is suffering. I
was torn up when I hard Buddy was so sick. So I resolved to just take it
day by day, make sure he gets good food, make sure he does not get into
trouble with other cats and the result is 3 years of happiness with him.

When the time comes, they will tell you. I remember my first cat, Zipper.
He died of cancer in 01. I kept him alive too long, he was ready to go
and I wouldn't let him. So you can be too quick, you can also be too
slow. Best to let them tell you.

Paul


Purrs for Buddy's comfort as long as he lives. MLB

NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

On 19 Aug, 00:51, "Paul M. Cook" wrote:
"stephcat" wrote in message

oups.com...





My family and I have been caring for our own FIV+ cats for the past
four years, and we regularly correspond with other pet owners who are
doing the same.

Cats with FIV can enjoy a high quality of life for many years, if
properly cared for. Yet many vet clinics still encourage pet owners to
euthanize their cats the moment they test positive for the disease,
even when the animals aren't showing symptoms yet.

I would encourage any pet owner faced with this difficult news to get
the facts before making any rash decisions. Best Friends Animal
Society has a wonderful article on their site, which dispels a number
of common myths about FIV. "Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" by
Thomas Hapka also discusses this issue in depth and offers natural
treatment strategies and additional resources.

Best Friends can be found online at:http://bestfriends.org/

"Feline AIDS: A Pet Owner's Guide" can be found at:http://felineaids.org/

The bottom line is that FIV is not an automatic death sentence, and no
cat should be put to sleep simply for testing positive for this
disease. Thanks for listening.

Steph
http://www.geocities.com/stephcat560/

My oldest cat, Buddy, is FIV positive, FeLV positive, FIP positive and has a
bad liver. He was a stray I took in 6 years ago this coming week and he
picked up all that while living rough. He is still alive 3 years after
being diagnosed with all those diseases. He is getting old now, tired and
skinny but in no pain. He probably won't be with me much longer., But he
is an old cat and has lived with serious diseases for year now and he has
been quite happy and content and clearly enjoys his life.

There simply is no reason to put down an animal unless it is suffering. I
was torn up when I hard Buddy was so sick. So I resolved to just take it
day by day, make sure he gets good food, make sure he does not get into
trouble with other cats and the result is 3 years of happiness with him.

When the time comes, they will tell you. I remember my first cat, Zipper.
He died of cancer in 01. I kept him alive too long, he was ready to go and
I wouldn't let him. So you can be too quick, you can also be too slow.
Best to let them tell you.

Paul- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

How refreshingly honest, & candidly true too.

That was a brilliant bit to share with us all, & a wonderful way of
describing the truth of the matter. You have offered a loving home to
an old chap who would now have been a long time dead had you not taken
him in & offered him the unconditional love that he needed to get
through the hardships that both he & you have obviously endured.
Well done & I am so pleased to hear a brilliant happy story for a
change.

There are so many people that turn up here asking you a question, that
quite obviously only a vet would be able to diagnose. It is so clear
that you have gone with the flow & completely understand his problems.
So many others don't, & sadly even *Won't* even bother to try coping
with them.

Congratulations on both of your achievement's. & make the most of all
of the time that you still have to share. It is stories like this that
make you see how lucky you really are. I would offer you a scritch
behind the ears, but you probably wouldn't appreciate it as much as
your feline family member, Buddy?!!
So, if you wouldn't mind, please could you give him a second one on
our behalf too?
Many thanks,

Sheelagh "o"

FIV: NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Sat 18 Aug 2007 04:46:08p, stephcat wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com:

The bottom line is that FIV is not an automatic death sentence,
and no cat should be put to sleep simply for testing positive
for this disease. Thanks for listening.

I agree. I had one positive for FeLV for a couple of years before his
other problems took him from me. I had two other cats at the time who
were negative. He became positive from a blood transfusion, so I
wasn't prepared to let the vet take him out just to prevent my others
from getting sick. They got vaccinated while Shadow was still here,
and never became sick. FIV isn't as transmittable as FeLV, but both
are often considered a death sentance by some vets. Heck, life is a
death sentance. Good message and good luck with your cats.


I wonder how many vets just read from the manual? Cat has FIV, page 327
says put it down. It was my vet that told me there was no need to put Buddy
down. She said at the time he was more in danger from his liver problem.
And she said that as long as Buddy was not subjected to stress, as long as
he and my other cats did not fight or otherwise bite or scratch each other,
that he could live for a long time and not put the others at risk.

And she was right. But she is by no means typical. Everything I read from
vets on the subject just seem to be a hopeless diagnosis with immediate
euthanasia. I know many years ago my then neighbor had her 14 year old cat
diagnosed with FeLV and he was put down the next day. She was quite
devastated. He was last seen snoozing in the sun and not looking the least
bit sick. I wish she had my vet instead of the one she did. He very likely
could have lived out the remainder of his natural life.

Paul

NOT An Automatic Death Sentence
 

My oldest cat, Buddy, is FIV positive, FeLV positive, FIP positive and has
a
bad liver. He was a stray I took in 6 years ago this coming week and he
picked up all that while living rough. He is still alive 3 years after
being diagnosed with all those diseases. He is getting old now, tired and
skinny but in no pain. He probably won't be with me much longer., But he
is an old cat and has lived with serious diseases for year now and he has
been quite happy and content and clearly enjoys his life.

There simply is no reason to put down an animal unless it is suffering. I
was torn up when I hard Buddy was so sick. So I resolved to just take it
day by day, make sure he gets good food, make sure he does not get into
trouble with other cats and the result is 3 years of happiness with him.

When the time comes, they will tell you. I remember my first cat, Zipper.
He died of cancer in 01. I kept him alive too long, he was ready to go
and
I wouldn't let him. So you can be too quick, you can also be too slow.
Best to let them tell you.

Paul



Just to clarify - does you cat have FIP or did it test positive for the
Corona Virus? As far as I know there is no test that will test positive just
for a corona virus that has mutated to the FIP form and can only indicate
the presence of some form of Corona.

W