Ricky

taryn

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I was looking into fostering a FeLV+ cat.Well I inquired about a kitten named Ricky and they called me today(and left me a voice mail) and told me that he had to be euthanized last week. It wasn't due to the leukemia, she said there had been an accident and he ended up having to be put down. I'm assuming he might have got hit by a car or something.

His sister Patty still needs a home(the FeLV+ foster family they're in has too many cats, they needed someone to adopt or foster Ricky and Patty) but Paul has thrown the wall back up and is back to refusing to allow me to foster or adopt a cat.

I was heartbroken to hear that Ricky had died. Just seeing his picture online was enough for me to really want him, and to get to know him and see if him and Nuts could be friends. I just hope it was peaceful for him and he didn't have to suffer before he want to the bridge.

I feel horrible for his foster parent(s), both him and Patty were bottle babies so I know this has to be horrible. I know how it felt to lose Attitude and she wasn't hand raised, her mom and aunt did all the work, but just knowing her from the time she was a little puffball of black and white fur, with no teeth, a giant meow, and a HUGE attitude.

I'm also sad that Ricky never got to have a furrever family as well. I was going to keep him until he found a family or for the rest of his life. I didn't even know him but it still hurts that I never got to meet him.

I feel like I lost another cat. First Maude(Feb), then Attitude(Nov) and Ricky(Dec.) It also hurts that Paul has thrown the wall back up and is refusing to let me get another FeLV+ cat.

I guess Nuts is just going to have to accept being alone for the rest of his life. I hate FeLV and the fact that it has robbed Nuts of ever getting to have a
feline friend, it robbed Attitude's life, and I'm sure it weighed in on Ricky's fate. I didn't like how the woman who left the voicemail kept referring to Ricky as 'the cat with feline leukemia', he had a name, why don't you use it instead of referring to him in general terms.

Taryn
 

katachtig

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I'm so sorry this happened to Ricky.

Give Paul some time. These losses are probably affecting him too and he doesn't want to see you go through another one.
 

ldg

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Oh how terribly sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Play happily over the bridge Ricky. You were loved more than you knew - but I think you know it now.


I'm so sorry sweetie. And you're right, he had a name, and the shelter should use it!

...I also agree... give Paul some time. He'll come around again. It IS hard.
 

my4llma

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I'm so sorry that Ricky died before he got the chance to be with you. I know you would have given him a good life.
 

farleyv

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RIP sweet Ricky. I am so sorry for his loss. This disease has to be wiped out. I pray all the time for these things to find a cure.

God bless Ricky and you for caring so much.
 
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taryn

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This was my 1 and only chance at having another cat until Nuts is dead. Paul changed his mind after the final FeLV test came back positive for Nuts. He was refusing prior and I almost passed out when he said yes. He is back to no and he isn't going to change his mind. It makes me mad I know Nuts doesn't want to be alone, and I don't want him to be alone but how we feel doesn't matter. Paul has decided no more FeLV+ cats and that is that. He got upset and 'yelled' at me the last time I brought it up. Ricky dying brought back that FeLV+ cat's lives are generally shorter than negative cats, not that there is any guarantee on how long any cat is going to live. Maude was only 10 and she was negative but that didn't prevent her liver from failing. I had a puppy die of parvo when I was 5, the fact that he was young didn't change that he ended up with a universally fatal disease(I'm 31 and parvo was universally fatal then and even 26 years later it still kills most dogs that end up with it.) My healthy active Old English sheepdog Abby went blind at 5, now obviously that wasn't fatal but you get the point that there are no promises of how long any animal is going to live and what might happen during the animals lifetime. Abby lived to be 11 1/2 and died after her liver or spleen burst and she had massive internal bleeding.

There is no stamp on Nuts' foot saying how long he is going to live, I mean he could get sick and die tomorrow or he could live a long healthy life and die of old age at 20, or he could wander out into traffic(unlikely he's inside only and there is little to no traffic where we live) and it all be over as well. I see it as a gift to spend any time with them and the only thing I will take away from it is good and I'll have helped out a cat that many wouldn't want to or be willing to help. Paul only sees it as us taking in a dying cat and then it'll die and he'll be upset and only bad. I wouldn't trade the time I had with Attitude for anything but Paul just doesn't see that.

Taryn
 
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