Baby's story

Baby and his siblings were found under a pallet at my husband's job. They were very sickly and hungry. There were three of them: Baby, Molly, and a third girl. After some treatment, food, and love they started to thrive. We gave one of the girls away .

We figured they were all a month old at the time. Baby was the most loving and laid back kitty I've ever had. His fur was like velvet and was so beautiful. He would follow me around the house like a puppy and would love to go outside with me while I was gardening.

 

In May 2003 he started having eye problems. One pupil would get large and stay dilated until the next day. My vet could find nothing wrong with him, so we were referred to an eye specialist. After going to the eye specialist, we still didn't know what was wrong with him, but I knew it bothered him when it was like this. Through most of his life he also had recurrent urinary infections and we were constantly going to the vet for this. Most of the times that we were at the doctors, I was always asked if he was FeLV positive and my answer was no because he had tested negative and I never thought he could develop it. No one ever questioned this.

 

 

I noticed him starting to refuse food the first week of September 2003. This was so unlike him as he was quite a roly-poly and loved to eat. The vet found nothing wrong with him. On September 14th, something was terribly wrong. I thought he was having seizures as he would flop on the floor and meow this horrible sound, but later it was explained to me that he was passing out and coming to. After taking him to an emergency vet, we found out he had fluid in his chest cavity and when it was aspirated, there was enough fluid that could have filled a coke can. When the fluid was removed, there were two large masses that were so big they were pushing his heart out of the way. We took him to another specialist on September 16th so we could see if we could help him. It was then that I found out he had Feline Leukemia. He and his sister were tested when they were small and came out negative. I was told that they were probably too young and that the virus was still incubating when they were negative. My heart just broke and on September 16th, 2003 at 2:00pm I helped my Baby to the bridge. I was glad I was able to help him through his short life and show him what love was all about. I wish I could have done more for him.

 

Feline Leukemia is a terrible disease. I urge everyone to double check your babies to make sure that they are negative. This is a contagious disease and there is no cure.