For a long time now, I have been coping with Thumper's spraying habits, all the time losing furniture as he manages to get to parts I can't protect or fully clean. The downstairs living room has become barren and unwelcoming, a place where I can't sit with any comfort to be with the cats. He's healthy, I've checked. Pete is also downstairs because he won't leave Raven alone, forcing this very shy cat to live under a chair and terrifying him into peeing and pooping on himself. They are both FIV+ boys. Today, after months of mulling things over and much discussion with the staff there, I took them back to the no-kill shelter's FIV Land Room. Thumper had always been happy there and by the time I left he was racing up and down a climber, totally ignoring me. He loves other cats and he will get far, far more attention there from the many visitors and staff, with whom he'd always been a favorite. Pete is a very friendly cat who is gentle and playful with all other cats except Raven. I want him to find a home where he will get a lot more attention than he can get from me while shut up in an area where I don't spend enough time. This shelter has a very high adoption rate for FIV+ cats, 50 adopted in the past year.
Once the downstairs has been cleaned thoroughly and I've been able to put furniture back into it, it will be a place which the whole household of cats can share and enjoy. Surya will once again have the company of young Darcy and Cattulus who he always loved when he was upstairs. (Surya is downstairs because he also targets Raven.) B.L., the social feral Himalayan cat, will spend more time with me and become better socialized. Ginger can spend the summer in a much cooler area of the house. This is something that needed to happen for every else's welfare. But I do, of course and as is right, feel incredibly guilty.
Since I don't want the shelter to feel the burden of adding more FIV+ cats, I agreed to take two others. One is a terrified young cat who was abused by his former owner who called him Kitler (the cat has a dark mustache) and threw beer cans at him all the time. He really needed to get out of the shelter as soon as possible. The other is a very shy cat who bears all the scars of living rough for many years. His ears are almost tattered into lace and he has a large scar on his neck and shoulder where he was attacked by a racoon years ago. I will be picking them up at the end of this week and will post pictures.
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