This is the story of Sebastian, a beautiful classic Siamese cat that was brought in to our animal hospital where I work as a receptionist. Sebastian was found wandering around a church and was born in by a lady that wanted to keep him. My job is to educate clients who find strays to have them spayed/neutered and tested for any diseases they might carry. So the client agreed to have Sebastian neutered and tested for FeLV/FIV blood test as she wanted to keep this strayed beautiful cat but did not want an unhealthy cat.
Unfortunately, Sebastian tested Positive for FIV (which is Feline Aids). After hearing this, she did not want the expense or have the Sebastian put down but tried to take him back where she found by the Church. I told her that Sebastian could infect other outside cats as well as him dying a slow death without proper care. I agreed to keep this cat and see what I could do from having its little life snuffed away. Feline Aids is probably the most misinformed and misunderstood medical problem with healthy cats that are carriers. Yes, other negative cats can get infected and die from this, but FIV cats, with proper care & living conditions, can live long, healthy lives just as humans with Aids do every day. Should we kill humans because they have AIDS? The problem is situations like this finding the right adoptive owner who is willing to give that extra special attention to an FIV cat. It’s hard enough trying to save a healthy adoptable pet from needlessly being killed; this makes it even more challenging to go the extra mile for these pets’ particular needs.
There are many animal lovers out there that agree with me out who adopt FIV cats. They also have Positive FIV cats themselves that are living long healthy lives together with other FIV cats, as opposed to having them killed. I was willing to help save this cat’s life. I had Sebastian at our office and right before closing on March 16 in walked in Brenda Beck from Pets & Animals in Distress, a Pet Angel from above who at the same time had rescued and saved another pets life that day 1 hour before from being killed the German Shepard named Shotzee. (Click here to read the story) We were going to board, bathe & examine Shotzee Overnite for Brenda, who would pick up Shotzee the next morning for the St. Pattys Adopt-A-Thon. I told Brenda the story on Sebastian that he had Aided, and she did not hesitate to help. She offered to take this cat also with everything else she was dealing with at that time to take Sebastian to the Adopt-A-Thon and try her best to find Sebastian the Cat a right home under the circumstances she was dealing with already.
Well, Brenda talked to a lot of people that day regarding Sebastian but could not find the particular right person for him. I told Brenda I was willing to take this cat home for the weekend as my husband was out of town. Well, Monday came, and I had to take Sebastian back to the hospital and put him into a cage (he hates cages) and was praying for any miracle to save this cat’s life. Brenda did not give up and made numerous calls through her network of animal lovers & organizations she knows and put out a PET 911 regarding Sebastian. A lady Brenda had spoken with then made some calls and had contacted Diane at the Wildlife care center who knew of a lady that would be interested in taking in Sebastian with his condition.
My heart raced & jumped as I spoke to her. My prayers were answered when a call came 5 minutes later from a girl named Shana. We met at the hospital, and I knew she was the one for Sebastian. She immediately fell in love, and I cannot ever understand why a cat with FIV that looks healthy and friendly be put to death, there are other solutions if people would take the time and patience to give these special need cats a second chance to live their lives out naturally. Through all the hard efforts of Brenda from United Pet Way and all the animal lovers that worked together in networking as a PET Team, a cat’s life was saved, so remember miracles happen if you take the only time to make them happen.
