We have had very sad news today. The second test on David Will has come back with
a very strong positive for leukemia. This is one of the very very few reasons that we
euthanize here at FFRC. David Will has never been healthy during his month stay
here. He's always held onto his cold/URI. He passed peacefully and quietly and was
held and kissed.
Now to explain. Of all the rescues/ shelters that I know of, we are the only ones that
does a second leuk/fiv test, 4 weeks after the first one is done. THIS IS WHY WE DO
IT--to catch those that get in under the first test. The antibodies have to build up
enough to show up on the test. So, let's say if a cat has just contracted either of
these dreaded diseases, they very well may show negative. But, by us then
repeating the second test in 4 weeks, 95% of any cat that had it but it didn't show
on first test, will now show positive on the second test.
It's expensive to do this. The test kit for 30 tests is over $500. But, I dedicated this
place to doing the best that we can medically for these cats and kittens and I aim to
keep doing this. I've had some vets tell me the cost doesn't equate with the rare
ones that we find positive on the second go-around. We've had probably 5 cats
show positive on the second tests in 7 years. But.....to me, it's worth the expense to
find this information out. Since we started this policy we have not had one single
adoption where they have found out later that their cat is positive.
Now......the worry about this. Yes, leukemia is very contagious. The sneezing, the
sharing food--all of it is a concern. THAT IS WHY WE DO LEUKEMIA
VACCINATIONS too. Not very many shelters/rescues do the leukemia vaccinations.
We do. And this is exactly why. These vaccinations offer protection against leukemia
virus--that's what it's designed to do. Granted, we cannot start them until the
kittens are 10 weeks old, but we do it at 10 weeks and repeat the second one at 13
weeks.
Is it scary? You bet it is. But, my vets tell me over and over again--this rescue center
is doing max on protection, cleaning, medical care. We have to depend on our
vaccinations and our cleaning to get us thru, every single day.
So....will I worry? Sure--I worry every day of every week about everything here.
But, I don't want the viewers to worry. This is for me to take care of. So.....you all
enjoy the kittens, let me do the rest.
Please, let's just carry on with what we do here. Remember...we're an FFRC Nation
and we can handle this. Do me a favor....let's not tell all the horrible leukemia stories
that we all know about. Let's keep this in prospective. We are clean, we are
vaccinated, we have prayers of health always being said and we try to keep the
stress level as low as possible here.
Please also don't ask about the possibility that we could've found a place to home
him. If he was healthy, yes. But, this leukemia had a strong hold on him. Also, his
test was very strong.
Just know that we're on top of this. We've been thru this before. And we've
survived it just fine. We'll do it again. Just offer your support, your prayers of peace
and health--that's all we are asking for from this post.
Thank you. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail. I'm always
open to questions. This FFRC Nation that we have created is strong and resourceful
and can survive this.
