During the very cold week last week, my husband and I found this sweet young cat trapped in our basement crawl space. She must have found her way in there to escape the cold. Very hungry and scared. We let her out into our basement where we have been feeding and caring for her. We have been canvassing our neighborhood searching for her owner, but all we were able to come up with was some information from neighbors that they have seen her wandering for weeks and that she is mostly likely a stray.
We already have two cats of our own, so we have kept her in our basement until we could get her to the vet to be checked out. When we took her to the vet, to our heartbreak, she tested positive as a carrier for the Feline Leukemia virus. She herself is not showing any symptoms (and may not for years), but she can spread the virus easily to other cats. We are desperate to find her a loving owner as we have two cats of our own and we cannot let them co-habitate due to the contagious nature of her virus. Continuing to have her in our home is not a permanent option. We must find her another loving home where she can be an only cat and can live indoors.
She shows no symptoms to FeLV; therefore she looks and acts just as a regular kitty and FeLV is not contagious to humans or dogs. Additionally, a positive test result is only an indication of retrovirus infection, not clinical disease. The vet would like to have her tested again in 6 weeks. In most cases, leukemia is lifelong, but sometimes, it can just be a transient infection. This sweet cat is beautiful, well behaved, loving and would make a wonderful companion. She is very small and the vey says she will always be around 5-7 lbs. She has medium hair and lovely color. Loves to snuggle and cuddle! We would love to help in any way that we can to make the transition to a loving new home quickly.
After calling every animal ‘rescue’ and adoption group in Spokane, it has become apparent that there are very few options for this cat. I believe as a pet lover that there is moral dilemma with putting an animal to sleep that is not ill, dangerous, or suffering—though that is what I have been told to do, not because she is sick, but because it will be ‘inconvenient’ for us to worry about re-homing her. Yes, it has been very inconvenient, in fact, it’s become a pretty much all consuming venture, but this is something that I am passionate about and while I can’t continue to care for her in my home, I am reaching out to others who share a desire to really give deserving animals a good quality of life and who might be interested to know her story and help her have a normal life with a family.
Please help me find a home for this sweet girl, she so deserves it!
