Rufus - FIV positive needs home ASAP Update 2.8 #40

[jennielynn1970]

[QUOTE=kuhio98;2329728][SIZE="3"]Jenn ~ You would be the answer to all of our prayers if you were able to give Rufus a permanent home.

The current plan is for Rufus to go to a rescue in Pennsylvania! How far is this rescue from Allentown? [/QUOTE=kuhio98;2329728]





Allentown is a few hours drive to Harrisburg. Not far at all, I'd say 2 to 2 1/2 hrs and nothing for me to drive.

[Bibette & Lulu]

I had an experience with an FIV+ kitty that adopted me back in the late 80's. I was living in a community of duplexes and quadraplexes in Portsmouth NH that had been built in the early 1900's for workers in one of the local privately owned shipyards. So the homes were pretty close together. The neighborhood was a mixture of different socioeconomic strata and there were a number of feral and wandering cats around. Tommy Tom Cat appeared on my door step one very cold February and I invited him in. At the time, I had a border collie-mix dog who really didn't give a hoot who she shared our abode with. I discovered that Tom had what appeared to be a growth on his ear and contacted a local vet about bringing him in for it to be checked out. He was still coming/going on his own. Needless to say, the morning of the appointment, he was out. A friend and I went looking for him and that's when I discovered he had several look-alike (black and white short haired) kin he was hanging out with - which one was Tommy? He wasn't ready to come to me. The vet said bring him in when you catch up with him and leave him, which I was able to do. A call later, she told me they would need to put him under and did I plan to keep him (they wanted to neuter him at the same time) - I said of course!!! It turns out his ear was badly infected and they discovered that he had several BB's in him (someone in the neighborhood thought it was great fun to use these roamers for target practice!!!). Thus began a companionship that lasted a number of years. Tom was one of those tough guys who was of an indeterminate age. When I moved into Maine and my partner and I joined households (by this time Sapphire dog had made her trip over the Rainbow Bridge), Tommie was joined by Geraldine (actually another neutered male - but that's a story for another time). When Tommie developed an infection in his gums that just wouldn't go away, the vet we were seeing ran the blood test for FIV and he came up positive. At that point, both cats became totally indoor (well, except for Geraldine's occasional spring forray around the yard's perimeter). They were not fighters and peacefully co-existed. Unfortunately, the compromise to Tommy's immune system left him unable to fight the recurrent infections he encountered and I tearfully bade him good bye, freeing him to join Sapphire over the Rainbow Bridge. Geraldine never tested positive and lived to a ripe old age of 20 something, we think. I had never heard of FIV (I was well acquainted with HIV in humans and was active with one of the Seacost organizations at the time - but I know they are not the same thing). It's sad that it has been such a difficult time to find Rufus a forever home. I trust that he is settling in with his new setting. But reading this thread brought back many of the happy memories of my time with Tommy and the sad time when he was losing his battle to the recurrent infections. God speed to all who have been a part of Rufus' tale.

Mom1 (with Bibette & Lulu watching along)