Categories: cat-comments
Date: 09 September 2009 14:14:43
NiceVet has confirmed that our dear little Pumpkin has a virus. I don't know what it's called, but she's likely had it since birth, as she was born in a SPA centre and this virus is very common in street cats/strays/ferals and is passed from mother to kitten. It is incurable, causes respiratory and heart weaknesses and will cause death in anything between a couple of months to a couple of years once the symptoms start to develop. What's worse is that it's contagious - passed on by scratches/bites etc, so Pomme (Cat No 2) may have caught it, either when she was in the same SPA centre or through contact with Pumpkin over the years.
So, having come home from the NiceVet's we have to keep the two of them separated. Pomme is booked in for a test tomorrow morning to see if she's got the same virus. Pumpkin is now being kept in the spare room with the door closed, but Pomme wants to get in to see her - or, more likely, to snaffle the delicious food that we're trying to tempt Pumpkin with! She is scratching at the door. I don't think Pumpkin is too bothered about being shut up as she doesn't go far.
The Big Question is: if Pomme is clear, what do we do? It will be very difficult to keep them separated on a long term basis - and is it fair to keep Pumpkin shut up all the time? They're both indoor cats so they aren't used to going outside, but they are used to having 5 floors of house to run around in. Not that Pumpkin is doing much running. So, do we have Pumpkin put down? She'll die sooner rather than later, but at the same time, she's not in much apparent discomfort. But she's not apparently happy, finds it uncomfortable to lie down & stretch out and she's not Pumpkin-as-we-know-her. It seems so wrong to put her down when she's still not in pain.
If Pomme has got it, then we don't have to keep them separated, but then we have a black cloud of when will Pomme succumb in the same way?We have to hope she's OK. She seems very perky, but then so did Pumpkin before she succumbed - although she was always a bit of a heavy breather!!!
It's not good. Mr D and I are both leaking tears on a more or less continual basis. And I think we might come to blows over who sleeps in the spare room with Pumpkin tonight!