Hari left suddenly today.
My wife took him to the vet to be treated for a sinus / upper respiratory infection, maybe a shot of antibiotics and/or liquid antibiotics for a couple of weeks. He didn't want to be dropped into the cat carrier so we lured him into the front of it with some tuna and stuffed him into it. He did not like being in there and broke most of his front claws trying to rip open the door or claw his way out through the sides. I talked to him to calm him down a few times and that worked, a little. I felt bad that he didn't understand and told him he would get better soon.
Then my wife took him and one of our other cats to the vet's office just a few blocks away. The vet offers a discount if you take two cats at once in for exams. An hour and a half later she was back, brought in the smaller cat carrier, set it on the kitchen table and went back out to get the other one. I went to the cat carrier and found that it was empty. Hari had stayed at the vet clinic.
When she came back in with the other cat carrier my wife was crying and choked up, but she managed to choke out that Hari had feline leukemia and immune disease - he was not going to be coming home. Blood tests had turned up positive and she had decided to put him down. She said feline leukemia is contagious and we couldn't put our other cats at risk
I quickly looked up and read about FLV and FIV online and tried to ask questions, but she was too upset to talk. By the time I tried to call the vet's office it was after 5pm and it didn't answer.
Hari had turned up last summer, a solid male dark chocolate tipped honey colored Burmese.
He was a great cat, quiet and reserved, not aggressive with the other cats, but not intimidated either. After he got used to me he would jump up to get petted a bit, and then later wanted his head scratched occasionally. He learned to stay off my keyboard and get down into the chair behind me when I had to work. I had no idea that she would quickly choose to put Hari down.
He clearly had grown up in a home and likely had been vaccinated when he was young, and that would explain why he tested positive for FIV antibodies. He might have encountered FLV during his life and become immune, but not contagious. I think we might have let him down, and I feel sick about it.
I'll call the vet tomorrow, and will have to ask my wife not to make such decisions by herself, once she recovers from the loss. Maybe it was necessary and the right decision, but it hurts.
My wife took him to the vet to be treated for a sinus / upper respiratory infection, maybe a shot of antibiotics and/or liquid antibiotics for a couple of weeks. He didn't want to be dropped into the cat carrier so we lured him into the front of it with some tuna and stuffed him into it. He did not like being in there and broke most of his front claws trying to rip open the door or claw his way out through the sides. I talked to him to calm him down a few times and that worked, a little. I felt bad that he didn't understand and told him he would get better soon.
Then my wife took him and one of our other cats to the vet's office just a few blocks away. The vet offers a discount if you take two cats at once in for exams. An hour and a half later she was back, brought in the smaller cat carrier, set it on the kitchen table and went back out to get the other one. I went to the cat carrier and found that it was empty. Hari had stayed at the vet clinic.
When she came back in with the other cat carrier my wife was crying and choked up, but she managed to choke out that Hari had feline leukemia and immune disease - he was not going to be coming home. Blood tests had turned up positive and she had decided to put him down. She said feline leukemia is contagious and we couldn't put our other cats at risk
I quickly looked up and read about FLV and FIV online and tried to ask questions, but she was too upset to talk. By the time I tried to call the vet's office it was after 5pm and it didn't answer.
Hari had turned up last summer, a solid male dark chocolate tipped honey colored Burmese.
He was a great cat, quiet and reserved, not aggressive with the other cats, but not intimidated either. After he got used to me he would jump up to get petted a bit, and then later wanted his head scratched occasionally. He learned to stay off my keyboard and get down into the chair behind me when I had to work. I had no idea that she would quickly choose to put Hari down.
He clearly had grown up in a home and likely had been vaccinated when he was young, and that would explain why he tested positive for FIV antibodies. He might have encountered FLV during his life and become immune, but not contagious. I think we might have let him down, and I feel sick about it.
I'll call the vet tomorrow, and will have to ask my wife not to make such decisions by herself, once she recovers from the loss. Maybe it was necessary and the right decision, but it hurts.
