Most of my cats are still at my parents house for various reasons.. some of them were family pets and my really old cat HATED the time I tried to move it to my apartment (well, this was several years ago, I never tried moving it to my house).. so I took it back to their house and it was happy, so I left it there.
Anyway, my dad fell in love with a stray kitten about 2 years ago.. it was actually a really fun kitten when I was over there and enjoyed playing. Last October (my birthday actually) my old cat was put down because its back legs stopped working. The cat had a previous stroke that it recovered from.. so at the time everyone (vet included) thought it just had another one.. I mean, Ive had the cat for around 20 years, so it wasnt that odd.
Then about 3 weeks ago the kitten my dad brought in the house was put down because it had feline leukimia, and was probably born with it. Its incurable, and works similar to AIDS (destroys their immune system). Normally animals live about 2 years after they get it.. this cat seems to have lived a bit longer than normal..
in hindsight, losing function of the hindlegs can be a symptom of this disease, and now my other two cats are starting to lose weight, their eyes look glossy and their mouths are full of canker sore looking things.. all signs of the disease.
Im pretty bumbed/pissed right now because they will all probably be dead in the next month, and the cat that Ive had my entire life probably could have lived another 5 or so years had it not contracted the disease. I feel really bad that my dads kitten had to be put down because it was a really good cat and it didnt live very long, but at the same time we've had these other cats much longer and now we are going to lose them too...
Anyway, my dad fell in love with a stray kitten about 2 years ago.. it was actually a really fun kitten when I was over there and enjoyed playing. Last October (my birthday actually) my old cat was put down because its back legs stopped working. The cat had a previous stroke that it recovered from.. so at the time everyone (vet included) thought it just had another one.. I mean, Ive had the cat for around 20 years, so it wasnt that odd.
Then about 3 weeks ago the kitten my dad brought in the house was put down because it had feline leukimia, and was probably born with it. Its incurable, and works similar to AIDS (destroys their immune system). Normally animals live about 2 years after they get it.. this cat seems to have lived a bit longer than normal..
in hindsight, losing function of the hindlegs can be a symptom of this disease, and now my other two cats are starting to lose weight, their eyes look glossy and their mouths are full of canker sore looking things.. all signs of the disease.
Im pretty bumbed/pissed right now because they will all probably be dead in the next month, and the cat that Ive had my entire life probably could have lived another 5 or so years had it not contracted the disease. I feel really bad that my dads kitten had to be put down because it was a really good cat and it didnt live very long, but at the same time we've had these other cats much longer and now we are going to lose them too...
