Current Events > Sad news about a local stray cat :(

(+) Yeah! (+)

RIP

Feline AIDS is horrible, it's the number one killer of domestic cats.

They couldn't put him a shelter in his own area? I don't see why he had to die

Vets tried to find a home for him that would take cats with cat aids but they were all full.

Yes but surely somewhere he could live. The earth is big they could have found a solution. They just didn't try hard enough

They couldn't put him a shelter in his own area? I don't see why he had to die

For the last point, he could have taken the cat back and put it back to his environment. Or he could have done indepth research and plan, in order to have the cat put in some "Shelter"

instead of putting it back to its environment

Putting an animal with a deadly contagious disease back out where it can spread it to other cats is a really bad idea.

The vet wouldn't release the cat back to us without a plan and we couldn't house him and risk him infecting our cats. He also had injuries as mentioned in the OP that would have needed hands on care to recover from. Several abscesses on his body to be precise. Releasing him into the wild would have been a death sentence. The charity wouldn't sign off on keeping the cat at the vet in perpetuity nor is a vet really the appropriate place to provide that sort of service.

If you think more should be done to care for these sorts of cases please consider donating to the charity I mentioned above.

If you hadn't selfishness trapped the cat and had it put down, the cat would have still been alive. But you decided to give it the go ahead to have it put down, instead of putting it back to its environment and possibly looking for more solutions or potential shelters.

Yes you're right it's far less selfish to let the cat return to the neighborhood where it could give every other cat in the area Feline AIDS, which for the record is a very horrible way for a cat to die, far worse than being peacefully euthanized.

If you actually read the post and try to apply a bit of comprehension, the OP didn't bring the cat there to be put down, it was because they were concerned that it was eating less and acting lethargic. They were acting out of genuine care for the cat.

Stop trying to be edgy and start trying to be smart.

Why didnt you call the Vet place and ask if there was a possibility that they wouldn't release the cat to you guys if they found something bad?

So your brilliant, kind idea would be to just let the cat continue to starve itself and suffer if it was sick, potentially spreading its illness to other cats in the neighborhood, rather than find it veterinary care that would have been able to treat it if possible?

Especially if they "found something bad" that would have resulted in a much worse, more painful death for the cat? You wouldn't want the vet to make it any easier or more peaceful and just let the cat suffer in the wild?

You truly are a cat lover

If there was no possibility to save the cat, the idea of a Cat Shelter for cats with Cat aids wouldn't have been entertained in the first place, and they would have put the cat down immediately if there wasn't even the chance of an alternative.

• OP took the cat to the vet because it wasn't eating anymore and had visible injuries.
• It was discovered at the vet that the cat has Feline AIDS; OP wasn't aware of this beforehand.
• The vet made the very sensible call that releasing the cat back into the neighborhood would be a risk to the other cats in the area.
• All the homes (the word "shelter" was never used by the OP) that were equipped to take on a cat with Feline AIDS were full, and OP was unable to take the cat due to their own cats.

A Stray Cat shouldn't be near OP's cats in the first place and we have no idea how much cats(if at all) frequent the area

These basically sound like excuses. Why didnt you call the Vet place and ask if there was a possibility that they wouldn't release the cat to you guys if they found something bad? Why didn't you ask what the proper protocols are when it comes to stray cats and what they are/aren't allowed to do? The Cat lived in the wild in the first place.

A Proper plan could have been set to where the cat could have found a home.

-OP didn't even fight or try to fight to get the Cat to a home. He led the responsibility on the Vet place. Guess what? Most vet places aren't going to put priority on random strays over home owned animal. This is why research is paramount if you care about animals
-OP absolutely could have found someone or some organization that would take the cat.

As outlined in the single-paragraph post,

1. The OP could have done proper research like actually calling Vet offices and co to know what the policies are when it concerns stray cats. If there is a possibility that they wouldn't give the cat back, if it has some sort of disease that could be contagious(this is a broad spectrum).
2. No one knows how frequent or infrequent cats are in the area. This makes no sense unless you actually have data to know how many (feral) cats live by him. Or how many people let their cats outside
3. The cat was originally living in the area in the first place.
4. Any homes or shelters could have been found for the cat. It was never a matter of if. Mostly a matter of "when". The OP could have found a vet that didn't keep the cat, and the OP could have found someone who could take the cat himself via proper research, being transparent about what the cat has, and more

What? No
1. The OP could have done proper research like actually calling Vet offices and co to know what the policies are when it concerns stray cats. If there is a possibility that they wouldn't give the cat back, if it has some sort of disease that could be contagious(this is a broad spectrum).
2. No one knows how frequent or infrequent cats are in the area. This makes no sense unless you actually have data to know how many (feral) cats live by him. Or how many people let their cats outside
3. The cat was originally living in the area in the first place.
4. Any homes or shelters could have been found for the cat. It was never a matter of if. Mostly a matter of "when". The OP could have found a vet that didn't keep the cat, and the OP could have found someone who could take the cat himself via proper research, being transparent about what the cat has, and more

the word "shelter" was never used by the OP

The OP could have found a vet that didn't keep the cat,

The vet wouldn't (and couldn't) release the cat back to the OP due to its illness and OP's inability to safely house the cat with their other cats. How exactly do you propose they "fight the vet" on this?

Also, if the vet -- who had more and better connections than the OP did -- couldn't find a home for the cat, what the fuck makes you think they could?

Thank you for noticing this. The charity we use have a number of housing options. A mixture of traditional "shelters" which were all full as well as an army of volunteers who will act as foster homes for cats until their forever home could be found. Unfortunately in this case neither were an opportunity. If the user feels that strongly I do suggest he looks into the charity I linked above and donate if he is able to to help increase the resources of the charity and try and avoid this unfortunate outcome for other cats moving forwards.

For every bad outcome likes ours they take on lots of cats on a weekly basis from different backgrounds and help them find their forever home. They are definitely worth supporting if you are able to.

Our current good bois came from a drug den and were malnourished and abused. We lost our previous cat suddenly not too long before they became available due to an underlying heart condition. I think I even posted about it on here at the time. We were heartbroken but wanted to make sure the next cats were got came from rescue.

The charity helped to get them back on their feet and even paid for surgery on one of them who had three of his front 4 canines broken due to the abuse. We fell in love with them immediately. It's been a long journey but two years on they are finally starting to come out of their shells and I have one of them sitting on the sofa next to me so I can attest first hand to the great work they do.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/9/AAfPfjAAE2JD.jpg

And then what? Release the cat with Feline AIDS back into the neighborhood to infect the other cats in the area (and, yes, there are other cats in the area, if you see one stray there are at least ten more you don't see -- they're fucking cats, my man) or take the cat with Feline AIDS into their own home to give their own cats the disease as well?

Put down the outrage and don't post again until you've actually put some thought into the situation.

1. Not everyone keeps their cat outside
2. Predators like Coyotes, Racoons, and others exist.
3. Cats and most animals are always in danger when it comes to Human tech(like cars)

Just release the infectious cat back into the wild to starve and die a slow painful death.

Seriously dude, no one likes when an animal has to be euthanized, but its quite obvious that that was the humane response in this situation. TC took the cat to the vet because it was sick and injured. To knowingly let it live out the rest of its days in pain and agony would just be cruel.

You did the right thing TC, and its sad that you had to experience this pain of loss.

The OP could have called several vets prior to going to one, to ask what the specific policies were when it comes to stray cats and what they typically do in worst case scenarios(if a cat is moderately sick, or extremely sick, or if it has something contagious). Had the OP done this from the start.

Yet the myths and misconceptions around FIVsuch as the mistaken assumption that it is a death sentencemight actually be more damaging than the disease itself. Thats because these beliefs can make it harder for FIV-positive cats to find homes or even lead to unnecessary euthanasia based on outdated veterinary advice. Here, five veterinarians answer common questionsand bust mythsabout FIV cats.

Cats with FIV often have similar life spans to cats without it: Studies conducted in 2010 and 2022 found that an FIV diagnosis wasnt associated with decreased lifespans. In fact, cats can remain asymptomatic for years or even their entire lives.

Dr. Zarah Hedge, chief medical officer of the San Diego Humane Society, says some people believe that FIV-positive cats should always live separate from other cats. Not true, she says: FIV-positive and -negative cats can live together as long as all cats are spayed or neutered, remain indoors and interact peacefully. Jefferson says that the virus doesnt survive long in an open environment and needs direct contact with a cats blood to infect them.

Thank you. In general most of my interactions with cats, especially rescue cats have been positive and the cats have benefited. I'm sad this happened but he would have died to the wounds anyway had we not bought him in. I'm sure there are things we could have done differently but despite the sad outcome I think he would have suffered more had we done nothing. I'm sure some people will disagree and they have the right to but it's only when you're faced with the situation at hand and YOU have to make a decision do you really have to weigh up the pros and cons. Life isn't black and white and sometimes things don't work out the way we'd like them to but as mentioned previously many cats in this situation go on to live much better and happier lives and to me that's the main reason we did what we did and would do so again if a similar situation ever came up.

The charity decide what vets we take the vet to. We used the one they recommended. Ironically also the one we use for our bois. It's just an unfortunate situation really.

ChickenAndJuice, go fuck off and be miserable at the world somewhere else and stop trying to drag the TC through the mud for completely reasonable actions that most people wouldn't have even done to try to care for this stray cat.

Edit: I guess they did just that. Thanks lol.

Lost two cats to it, both very young. One was only 1 1/2 and the other wasn't even a year.