Vet appointment is set for retesting
I am so nervous thinking about it. These guys have their appointment for retesting set for Friday, July 23, 2004 at 4:15 pm. I plan to have the in-house ELISA test repeated and the IFA out-of-house test performed. There is a laboratory in Franklin Lakes, NJ who will perform the test for $10 per cat for the IFA--I just hope my veterinarian agrees to send the samples there.
I have mixed feelings about the local veterinarian I have been using. He is not my regular vet--the prices at my regular vet are quite prohibitive for 5 cats, so on one hand this vet has been very kind in discounting services for me. But, on the other hand, I don't feel like I have gotten much support in my efforts. I definitely get the feeling that I am annoying him and that he feels like it's a waste of time to work with these guys and that they should just be euthanized.
In general, I feel like I have received a lot of support from the pet community, but from the community at large there seems to be a stigma attached to these poor kittens and a general unspoken consensus that I should not bother trying to rehome them but have them euthanized instead.
A few years ago, I might have done just that. I have found a community of people, though, who have opened my mind to the possibility that frailty isn't a death sentence and that these cats can make wonderful lifetime companions, for whatever the span of their lives. They may live 15 years, they may live 2. No one knows but the universe how long they are slated for this world, but in the mean time, they are in my care and I plan to do all that is possible to get them the care that I would provide for my own pet.
Bedamn the rolled eyes of any who think I am wasting my time.
I have mixed feelings about the local veterinarian I have been using. He is not my regular vet--the prices at my regular vet are quite prohibitive for 5 cats, so on one hand this vet has been very kind in discounting services for me. But, on the other hand, I don't feel like I have gotten much support in my efforts. I definitely get the feeling that I am annoying him and that he feels like it's a waste of time to work with these guys and that they should just be euthanized.
In general, I feel like I have received a lot of support from the pet community, but from the community at large there seems to be a stigma attached to these poor kittens and a general unspoken consensus that I should not bother trying to rehome them but have them euthanized instead.
A few years ago, I might have done just that. I have found a community of people, though, who have opened my mind to the possibility that frailty isn't a death sentence and that these cats can make wonderful lifetime companions, for whatever the span of their lives. They may live 15 years, they may live 2. No one knows but the universe how long they are slated for this world, but in the mean time, they are in my care and I plan to do all that is possible to get them the care that I would provide for my own pet.
Bedamn the rolled eyes of any who think I am wasting my time.
2 Comments:
Hey, I don't know if you are on it or not, but there is a listserv for feral cat people on yahoo. Go to http://www.yahoogroups.com and search for "feral cats" and join the feral_cats list. They may know vets in your area. There are way over 1000 people on there.
Good luck with the tests.
Been meaning to reply since you posted but somehow would up on the 'create your own blog' track.
You're doing a great job! I have 6 FeLV feral foster kittens, so can totally relate to your comments, in particular your mixed feelings re your vet. I've had exactly the same feelings. Now I take only my own 3 cats to him; I take my feral cats to another (female) vet in the same practice who is wonderful at calming them, and treating them sensitively - and takes as much time as they need.
It really changed the way I perceived my vet - I had totally respected him before, but after seeing his apparent distaste when dealing with Flavia - the first feral kitten I had to take to a vet - I was puzzled and confused. It took me a while to conclude that he was almost certainly discriminating between 'pets' and 'ferals'. I find that unacceptable and I am still struggling with whether I should deal with him at all. (On the plus side, he has proven that he doesn't do unnecessary procedures - for 2 years running he's deemed 2 out of 3 of my cats to have teeth that are so good that they don't require a dental. He also won't give the FeLV vaccine now that he knows they are all indoor cats.)
I should probably talk to him about it...
Good luck with the testing today! I'll check in later.
Kerry M. PS Love your sign-off line. I'm going to file that one away for future use!
('Anonymous' because I can't remember my user ID etc.and I want to make sure I DO post this time)
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