Breaking the Ice

"So why did you decide to get a third cat?"

I should have known this question was going to come, but somehow I hadn't prepared for it. It just hadn't occurred to me that someone might question our third cat decision.

"Um, well..."

Then Bits disrupts proceedings by rubbing his head against the adoption coordinators hand.

"He loves attention doesn't he?"

Not really a question, more of a statement. Not sure if she's sourly judging me and my attention whore of a cat. Now I'm starting to think that she is trying to find reasons not to give us our potential third cat, Bilton. Barb and Janice from the Washington Humane Society left him in the car for the duration of the "home visit". They're here to ask Brad and I a few questions and make sure that we're a good fit for Bilton. I start to panic, thinking maybe that my charismatic ease with middle-aged women isn't what I thought it was.

She turns her attention back to me. I smile real big.

"Um, well we just want to expand our family. We thought, you know...well we really love cats." Then a light bulb goes off. FIV! Yes, that's what this is all about! We want to help sick kitties find a good home! "Yeah, well, as you know, our cats are FIV+ and we thought if we can fit a third FIV+ cat into our home, then that would be the right thing to do. We just really want to do right by them."

They like this answer. So begins our journey. We now have 3 FIV+ cats.

Feline Immunodeficiency virus (FIV), is relatively new to us, as our O.G. cat Bits was just diagnosed with FIV in March. The same day that Bits was diagnosed, we went to the Oregon Humane Society and got The Bot (his Christian name is Nimbostratus). Now, 2 months later we have 3 cats who are immunodeficient.

This blog is meant to be a journal for us and also a touchstone for other caretakers with FIV+ kiddos. We're planning to start them on some sort of holistic protocol and also we need to start administering dental care as these cats are prone to gingivitis. We'll include recipes, routines, pictures and any helpful hints we learn along the way.

FIV is not a death sentence. We're going to prove it.