Adopt a Cat

Black River Falls WI

Description

This is D’Artagnan (from The Three Musketeers). He is a neutered, vaccinated, FIV positive male cat, who is around 2 years old and loves all-over head scratches, pets, plopping down on your feet, playing with feather and tassel toys, and head butting more than anything! He also likes to roll on his back and have his belly rubbed though he sometimes decides that he wants to play with your hand when you do this. He is almost entirely all smoky gray in color except for a tiny patch of white on his upper chest under his chin. His coat is medium length and silky-textured. He has green eyes and a dark gray nose. We first started seeing him maybe late spring of 2020 around our house. He was very scared of people and wouldn’t let us come anywhere near him. It was clear he was a stray who had never had a loving home before. We started leaving food out for him, and by late summer he was getting upset if we stopped petting him. It got to the point where my husband and I would have to make sure when we went for our evening walk to bring out treats to distract D’Artagnan so he wouldn’t run after us down the street far too close to traffic. We brought him inside our house during the cold snap and put him in a guest room (as we have three indoor cats). He has not had any problems with using a litter box or clawing up furniture. He has not howled once since being brought inside and he rarely meows so we expect he will be a pretty quiet cat who does not get into trouble. We took him to the vet for a checkup, shots, and to schedule a time to be neutered. The vet said he is healthy, but he tested positive for FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus). Cats with FIV may never even show symptoms or may go many years without symptoms, but it means that they are less able to fight off infections and are more susceptible to them. Vets recommend some easy and basic tips for caring for an FIV cat such as biannual checkups instead of annual checkups, Lysine cat treats (which help support a healthy immune system in cats), and feeding a balanced diet that does not include any raw meat. Most importantly, FIV positive cats need to be indoor only cats so they are less likely to be exposed to immuno-compromising infections and there isn’t a chance for them to spread it to other cats. FIV only affects cats and cannot be passed to any other animal including people or dogs. It is also not easily passed between cats. Almost all transmission occurs from deep bite wounds, so this means that D’Artagnan was likely bit by another male cat when he was fending for himself outdoors. Because our other cats are not FIV positive, we heartbreakingly can’t adopt D’Artagnan ourselves since we don’t trust our other cats not to pick a fight with him which could result in bites (they have actually met through an enclosed catio before and D’Artagnan has just calmly sat and stared, while one of our cats tried to get through the screen to get at him). We will be incredibly sad to see him go, but we know it is for the best as he deserves free range of a whole house and not to be locked in a single bedroom. Our greatest wish is to find someone who can take him that will love him as much as we do. He will either need to go to a home where he will be the only cat or go to a home where the other cats are also FIV positive. Again, FIV can’t be passed to any other animal, so he could go to a home with pets other than cats (though he would probably need some time to adjust to a dog since he has definitely been chased by neighborhood dogs before). He has come so far from being a scared, stray cat being beat up outside to where he is today. He is ready for his forever home. Due to possible scams, we will require interested parties to give their name and a reference from a Vet office, animal shelter, or something similar. If you are not willing to give this information to verify this cat is going to a good home, do not contact me. If you are interested, please email, call, or text my husband or I. He was neutered on 2/23/21 and will be getting his final booster shots shortly. He will be ready to come home with you the second week of March. Please email, text, or call. Eric . Christine (text first, as I'm using this phone for work)