Ok.. Im a new cat on the block :)

Hi all ... I just found the website and the forums today.. looks like a GREAT place .. and oh my goodness.. so many smilies! hehe Id love to add some..but Im overwhelmed

Anyway a bit about me and my crew...My name is Vicki.. and I have 3 girls.. Snowy and Bricker, who are sisters.. about 7 years old and real sweeties A few months ago.. a stray adopted me.. a beautiful white furbaby, our 4 year old son named Snowy... when we took Snowy to the vet to be spayed and have her shots... we got the news that she was FIV+... we guess she is about 1-2 years old. With the guidance of my vet and some great people on the FIV boards... we decided to keep her. She is slowly getting adjusted to being inside again. (our neighbor saw a couple drop her off in our neighborhood a few months prior to us adopting her) She was spayed when we took her in.. so most likely the found out she was positive and dropped her off Ill post pictures later on tonite..of all of them.. but Im just so glad I found this site..and be forewarned.. you will no doubt be seeing alot of me around *grins*

Vicki, Stoney, Bricker and Snowy

Welcome to the site Vicki! How wonderful of you to take in Snowy, and even more wonderful of you knowing she is FIV+. How are your other girls adapting to her? What special accommodations do you have to make for Snowy?

Shamless plug.......We would love to host your rescue story of Snowy at www.savesamoa.org, which is a website that was founded because of a story here at The Cat Site. We love all rescue stories, but one like yours, that shows that FIV+ doesn't mean you have to "get rid" of the cat would be especially wonderful. We really try to be educational there as well as heartwarming.

I look forward to getting to you, Stoney, Bricker and Snowy on the Board! Just be careful, this place is very addicting. But that's a good thing.

Welcome!

Glad you're here! So good of you to give Snowy a loving home. She's a very lucky kitty but I'm sure you're the one that feels lucky!

Tammie, Mommy to Peaches

welcome!!

hi there and welcome, you will love it here, i do it is very busy and some really nice people here, looking forward to seeing your gang, and that was so sweet of you to take this kitty in, i wish her well, and happy posting

Hi there Heidi...

Hmm how do the other girls get along with Snowy...well they are all still adjusting.. Snowy being much younger and being a stray... wants to of course be the alpha... I dont think Stoney will ever go for that.. Snowy also I think.. sometimes feels threatened by Stoney and Bricker.. you know how the life of a stray is.. having to fight and fend for everything... so there is a bit of hissing going on when they get within a foot or so of each other... Stoney and Bricker arent biters and as far as Ive seen Snowy isnt a biter either. They are just working out the pecking order... Im lucky enough to have a house.. where Snowy can have the run of the upstairs (4 bedrooms and a bathroom) and Stoney and Bricker get the living room, dining room, kitchen, computer room and a bathroom. So when we are not home they are seperated. I also seperate them, as needed.. Snowy lets me know when she has had enough socializing and upstairs she happily trots.
Its only been since April...and initially I kept them all seperated...so I would say they have been getting to know one another, up close and personal for 2 months or so... I know in my heart eventually they will be buds or atleast tolerate one another

Other than that..the seperate living spaces, when they cant be supervised.. no other changes have occured.. well other than the pharmacy I have in my kitchen now hehe Snowy get a touch of baby food, with L-lysine, COQ10 and Missing Link daily.. and nightly she get Interferon orally. She is a great sport about it though.. just laps up the Interferon from the syringe. hehe thank goodness!!

I stopped by your site and read some of the rescue stories.. brought tears to my eyes. Its so wonderful to know there are so many kind people in our world. Ill surely be shooting you a story in the near future. Can I just type it up say in Wordpad, email it and some pics to you.. and you will arrange it in html format for me? I can do it if need be. Just lemme know

Take care
Vicki, Stoney, Bricker and Snowy

Originally posted by valanhb
Welcome to the site Vicki! How wonderful of you to take in Snowy, and even more wonderful of you knowing she is FIV+. How are your other girls adapting to her? What special accommodations do you have to make for Snowy?

Shamless plug.......We would love to host your rescue story of Snowy at www.savesamoa.org, which is a website that was founded because of a story here at The Cat Site. We love all rescue stories, but one like yours, that shows that FIV+ doesn't mean you have to "get rid" of the cat would be especially wonderful. We really try to be educational there as well as heartwarming.

Click to expand...

That would be ideal, just write it up in Wordpad or whatever word processing program you have, with some pictures if you can. Send it all on to [email protected]. Thank you so much for being willing to write up Snowy's story. She's a special kitty with a special mommy.

(Of course, this offer extends to everyone who has rescued their pet from a bad situation, we love all of those warm-fuzzy happy ending stories!)

Hiya

Just wanted to welcome you too, I am pretty new here also.

Hope to see your pics of your fur babies soon.



Clare

:girly2:

Hi there and welcome!

Thank you for rescuing a cat off the streets. There are so many in need of people like you. The hissing is a natural reaction, and it will dissapate in time. As long as they are not full-on fighting, locking tooth and claw and rolling together it should be fine. Separating them was a good idea. Most people would of put their FIV+ cat to sleep. I applaud you for keeping her!

You might keep in mind that because she is carrying this she may smell *funny* to the other cats. You can help them all smell the same by putting a little bit of vanilla extract under their chins and at the base of their tail. Also Farnum Pet has a new product out called Feliway Comfort Zone room mister. If you buy one of those and plug it in, that will help the aggression factor as well.

I've heard that cats with FIV+ can live a long happy life...
Thumbs up for not giving her away... Or leaving her on the streets!!!

I'm a big supporter of reiki, which is energy healing.
It works particularly well on animals as they are more open to healing energies unlike us humans who can be skeptical about these sorts of things....

My fiancee's mum's cat was, cured of complete kidney failure by a reiki practitioner. Even the vet was amazed that her urea levels dropped so dramatically...

Maybe you can send your cat for reiki as well as normal medication from your vet.

If you need to find a practitioner maybe i can help you...or you can just do a search on the net. Reiki treatments are usually done for free, though there are some who do charge a small fee.

Hi Vicki and welcome!

i have three girls as well.

Hugs and for your babies!

Cheers!

Welcome!

*headbuts* to everyone else's message, couldn't agree more

Sam.

Hiya Vicki

Thanks so much for taking in Snowy. I was faced with the same thing just over a year ago. We finally adopted a long-term stray that we'd been feeding only to find out he was FIV.

He is now top cat in the house, ruling my 2 persians and being number 1 lap cat of all time. He has adjusted very well to being an indoor cat, and although he sits in the garden with us he has no inclination to wander.

Only thing is - he's pure black rather than pure white!!!!

You can read about him (Ferdy's story), on the savesamoa site that Heidi mentioned.

Great to have you here and hope to hear more about your furry brood in time.