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- Aug 3, 2021
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Hello all. Long story ahead.
I recently rescued a little stray kitten, who we named Loki, from our neighborhood which backs up to a forest. He is now 7 or 8 weeks old, we rescued him on July 16th. Originally, his first 2 vet appointments only consisted of checking vitals & then for giardia and coccidia because of his diarrhea. At his 2nd appointment they found he had giardia & we went through that treatment (as well as regular dewormer) with success. He went from 0.95 lbs to 1.63 lbs in 2 weeks and is happy and seemingly healthy.
Fast forward to yesterday - I took him to the vet a 3rd time for a giardia follow-up & first round of vaccines. It wasn’t until yesterday that they decided to check for FIV & FeLV or even mentioned the possibility of them to me. I am new to rescuing kitties straight off of the street, so that was not common sense to me. Most of the cats I’ve had in my life were when I lived with my parents and they handled all the vet care. I guess I should have paid more attention then.
Well, he is FeLV+. (AND has coccidia, which I’ll address further down) I was so upset and angry at the vet for not mentioning the dangers of those things to me at the first appointments.
Since he was a new kitty & had giardia initially, I did quarantine him to my best ability before even finding out about the FeLV. However, my resident cat, Oliver who is 2 years old, opened up the bathroom door on multiple occasions and hung out with Loki, Loki ran around our house, and Oliver used Loki’s litter box while we were gone. This happened before the FeLV result. And before anyone says “you should have done a better job at keeping them away from each other”, I did what I thought was my best and Oliver always seems to outsmart me, and it is now in the past. I feel the guilt of a mother allowing her child to be in the presence of a deadly disease, and I will have to live with that. Oliver truly loves Loki, he sits outside of his door and cries all day. At the time, I thought the worst that could happen is Oliver contracts giardia and we have to treat him too.
But now, obviously, my biggest worry is FeLV. Oliver is not vaccinated since he’s an indoor only cat. He was vaccinated for it in his first kitten vaccine appointments when he was with his foster last year, but we didn’t vaccinate for it the past times because it was not recommended. I am 100% sure that he ate Loki’s food, drank his water, used his litter box, and probably even played with him or groomed because he’s a big lovey and loves other kitties.
Poor Loki is now confined to our bathroom. It’s the only room without carpet that we can isolate him in. We have better barrier now so that Oliver can’t get to the door. We had every intention of keeping him and giving him a chance at a good life, but now it seems if Oliver turns up negative for FeLV in a week when he gets tested (praying to God he is negative, he is my baby), Loki will need to be rehomed. Even with getting Oliver vaccinated, I know that the vaccine is not 100% effective and we can’t risk that, it’s just not fair to him.
Questions:
Is this even impossible, adopting out a kitten with FeLV? I feel so bad, I am doubting that anyone will even want him. I wish I had a cat-loving friend or family member who didn’t already have a cat. But we can’t keep the poor guy confined to a small room all of his life, that’s a sad life and he will miss out on socializing & just being a kitten. And I can’t bear putting him down just for this. Does anyone have any advice for this?
For Loki’s FeLV - Does he have a chance? He already went through malnourishment, giardia, and now coccidia. Does a kitten this age not live long past diagnosis? Or could he possibly live a long life?
Are there any supplements I can give him to boost his immune system?
For Oliver’s possible FeLV - If he is a healthy adult, could his body be strong enough to fight it off? I am in denial that he could have it, I feel so much guilt. My vet wants to wait one more week to test to give it more time to show up if it’s there. I am aware that it can be dormant in the body for months and months and then show up, so this test won’t even give us a 100% guarantee.
For the coccidia - I know this is highly contagious through fecal matter. I also know that the dang things are almost impossible to kill, and with his compromised immune system I want to do everything I can to protect him from reinfection. What do y’all recommend I use to sanitize his space that not only kills the coccidia, but is safe for him and us? I know I’ll have to throw away his cat tree and bedding if and when he tests negative.
Also, what are the odds of the coccidia being toxoplasmosis? My husband and I are trying for a baby right now, and now I’m freaking out that he has toxoplasmosis and that it’s in our home. Might put that on pause this month. I will call my vet to ask if we can test for that specifically, since I’m guessing the test he had just tested for the presence of coccidia overall and not what the strain is.
Sorry I have so many questions. This whole situation is truly an entire shi*show and I am devastated in so many ways. Mentally, I have hit a wall and feel defeated. I don’t even know the first step.
Thank you for any advice or even personal stories.
I recently rescued a little stray kitten, who we named Loki, from our neighborhood which backs up to a forest. He is now 7 or 8 weeks old, we rescued him on July 16th. Originally, his first 2 vet appointments only consisted of checking vitals & then for giardia and coccidia because of his diarrhea. At his 2nd appointment they found he had giardia & we went through that treatment (as well as regular dewormer) with success. He went from 0.95 lbs to 1.63 lbs in 2 weeks and is happy and seemingly healthy.
Fast forward to yesterday - I took him to the vet a 3rd time for a giardia follow-up & first round of vaccines. It wasn’t until yesterday that they decided to check for FIV & FeLV or even mentioned the possibility of them to me. I am new to rescuing kitties straight off of the street, so that was not common sense to me. Most of the cats I’ve had in my life were when I lived with my parents and they handled all the vet care. I guess I should have paid more attention then.
Well, he is FeLV+. (AND has coccidia, which I’ll address further down) I was so upset and angry at the vet for not mentioning the dangers of those things to me at the first appointments.
Since he was a new kitty & had giardia initially, I did quarantine him to my best ability before even finding out about the FeLV. However, my resident cat, Oliver who is 2 years old, opened up the bathroom door on multiple occasions and hung out with Loki, Loki ran around our house, and Oliver used Loki’s litter box while we were gone. This happened before the FeLV result. And before anyone says “you should have done a better job at keeping them away from each other”, I did what I thought was my best and Oliver always seems to outsmart me, and it is now in the past. I feel the guilt of a mother allowing her child to be in the presence of a deadly disease, and I will have to live with that. Oliver truly loves Loki, he sits outside of his door and cries all day. At the time, I thought the worst that could happen is Oliver contracts giardia and we have to treat him too.
But now, obviously, my biggest worry is FeLV. Oliver is not vaccinated since he’s an indoor only cat. He was vaccinated for it in his first kitten vaccine appointments when he was with his foster last year, but we didn’t vaccinate for it the past times because it was not recommended. I am 100% sure that he ate Loki’s food, drank his water, used his litter box, and probably even played with him or groomed because he’s a big lovey and loves other kitties.
Poor Loki is now confined to our bathroom. It’s the only room without carpet that we can isolate him in. We have better barrier now so that Oliver can’t get to the door. We had every intention of keeping him and giving him a chance at a good life, but now it seems if Oliver turns up negative for FeLV in a week when he gets tested (praying to God he is negative, he is my baby), Loki will need to be rehomed. Even with getting Oliver vaccinated, I know that the vaccine is not 100% effective and we can’t risk that, it’s just not fair to him.
Questions:
Is this even impossible, adopting out a kitten with FeLV? I feel so bad, I am doubting that anyone will even want him. I wish I had a cat-loving friend or family member who didn’t already have a cat. But we can’t keep the poor guy confined to a small room all of his life, that’s a sad life and he will miss out on socializing & just being a kitten. And I can’t bear putting him down just for this. Does anyone have any advice for this?
For Loki’s FeLV - Does he have a chance? He already went through malnourishment, giardia, and now coccidia. Does a kitten this age not live long past diagnosis? Or could he possibly live a long life?
Are there any supplements I can give him to boost his immune system?
For Oliver’s possible FeLV - If he is a healthy adult, could his body be strong enough to fight it off? I am in denial that he could have it, I feel so much guilt. My vet wants to wait one more week to test to give it more time to show up if it’s there. I am aware that it can be dormant in the body for months and months and then show up, so this test won’t even give us a 100% guarantee.
For the coccidia - I know this is highly contagious through fecal matter. I also know that the dang things are almost impossible to kill, and with his compromised immune system I want to do everything I can to protect him from reinfection. What do y’all recommend I use to sanitize his space that not only kills the coccidia, but is safe for him and us? I know I’ll have to throw away his cat tree and bedding if and when he tests negative.
Also, what are the odds of the coccidia being toxoplasmosis? My husband and I are trying for a baby right now, and now I’m freaking out that he has toxoplasmosis and that it’s in our home. Might put that on pause this month. I will call my vet to ask if we can test for that specifically, since I’m guessing the test he had just tested for the presence of coccidia overall and not what the strain is.
Sorry I have so many questions. This whole situation is truly an entire shi*show and I am devastated in so many ways. Mentally, I have hit a wall and feel defeated. I don’t even know the first step.
Thank you for any advice or even personal stories.