Quote Originally Posted by Karen View Post
I'm sure she does care about the fate of the donor cat, and is thinking it will usually get adopted by the recipient's family as well. I know humans who have lived a good long time with one good kidney, and have no doubt a kitty can as well.
Of course I care, that's why I put in my first sentence "and for the donor cat who is getting a new home". I knew the family had adopted him, and I know it's always been part of the deal for a pet kidney transplant. The transplant centers won't do the procedure unless the donor is going to a good home as soon as they recover. I once looked into it at U.C. Davies for one of my cats and knew I'd be adopting the donor cat. Unfortunately, the cost was far more than I could cover and I hadn't heard of IMOM then. My thought is that it's better for a cat to lose a kidney but get a home than stay in the shelter and risk euthanasia. We all know that even young, friendly and beautiful cats are euthanized every day.

I subjected one of my foster cats (with the shelter's approval) to donating blood for a transfusion to another foster cat last year. Cordelia breezed through the procedure (the only real risk was anesthesia) and literally saved Sam's life. I knew if Cordelia had a bad reaction to the anesthesia that it would haunt me all my life.