[Felvtalk] Zorro and " Brian"

[ROBERT CHAPEL]

Ken....
It is so terrible how quickly Felv can steal a cats life...but it's so 
great that you gave that little guy the love and attention I SO wish 
could/would be accorded every deserving animal ( read...ALL)... my cat 
Jelly was a strapping tiger stripe one month with perfect blood work and 
three weeks later he was dead.... I'm still wrestling ( and always will) 
with when is the right time to put a kitty down and I'm leaning now 
toward sooner rather than later.... We get so attached to our little 
guys and girls that parting from them seems overwhelming... but the fact 
that they are still eating and perhaps purring from time to time doesn't 
really tell us their level of discomfort...  I know that, for me at 
least, I'd rather be gone than be maintained on pain medication and bed 
ridden ( as is the case for most hospice people and animals)
I let my boy Gilbert linger too long, I think, in retrospect because he 
was eating well... but the rest of the time he literally slept and often 
hid out.... I'm thinking that the next time I have a cat that is hiding 
out more than laying out in the open i will use THAT as the sign that 
quality of life just simply is no longer there....  When a cat feels 
disabled enough that he feels vulnerable exposed ( and you KNOW that he 
has a serious disease that is not going to improve) it's probably time 
to let him go....  Yes... I wish he could have told me... but... that's 
OUR job at this point......  After three deaths I'm getting a little 
sharper about how much of keeping them alive is for me and how much for 
them.... Often FeLV takes the decision out of our hands and claims them 
so quickly that we don't have to pain over this..... a mixed blessing to 
be sure.
BTW...Amani...   I am fond of the name Brian but my parents named me Bob 
: )


Bob