Sweet Louie

First off, I wanted to apologize to everyone for not being around TCS much lately. Things at work have been crazy, and as some of you may know from my thread in Cat SOS, the rescue group I volunteer with has been involved in a couple of emergency cat situations that have kept me busy than usual. On a positive note, we've had 207 adoptions in 2011, with a couple of more pending before the end of the year.

I did want to share that after 3 years of feeding and working to earn the trust of a fixed neighborhood stray named Louie, this big, sweet black fellow is now safe and warm tonight at our shelter. Many of you already know Louie's story, so to keep it short, he showed up at my house in the winter, exhibiting the behavior of a feral cat. I trapped him in the spring only to learn he'd already been fixed. The clinic I took Louie to deemed him feral, ear tipped him and suggested releasing him. i continued to provide food and shelter and Louie was a regular visitor. It gradually became obvious, though, that Louie was no feral. With much time and patience he warmed up to me and rewarded my efforts with purring and head bumps. We'd planning to get him into the rescue before cold weather hit this year, but things were delayed a bit by the aforementioned emergency situations. This morning I was able to get Louie into a cat carrier and took him to the rescue where he was examined by our vet. He did great! In spite of being scared, he was such a sweetheart. Unfortunately, Louie tested positive for FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus) - not the news we were hoping for, but not the end of the world either. We're still determined to find this sweet, sweet boy a home.

Please send vibes for Louie tonight as he gets settled in at the rescue. He's still very scared, has had a pretty crazy day and has a whole new life to adjust too.

Thanks!

Thanks guys. Louie's settling in about as well as can be expected. He absolutely loves his comfy, plush beds; he has two. He still rather jumpy and wary of his new environment, but is accepting attention from the volunteers and being very sweet. Our main concern at this point is that Louie hasn't eaten much since arriving at the rescue. He's had a little bit of wet and dry food each day, but not nearly as much as he should be eating. Our vet tech gave him fluids today which seemed to help a bit and has consulted our vet about starting an appetite stimulant tomorrow. Louie also appears to have developed a URI that could also be affecting his appetite, so if needed, we'll get him started on antibiotics.

Please keep the vibes coming. Thanks!