If there were a contest for World’s Friendliest Feline, two-year-old Snowman would surely be a contender. This poor guy was rescued as an abandoned stray after the person who meant the world to him moved away and left him outside to fend for himself. A kind lady got him off the street, but couldn’t keep him. Despite his betrayal by people he considered family, he has not lost his ability to trust or to love. Everyone in our vet’s office marveled at how friendly he was; even while getting vaccinated, he maintained his purr. Soon after he arrived in his foster home, he seemed to realize that he had arrived in a much better place. You can see from the video that he reveled in the petting they were giving him. We have not observed him with other cats, dogs, or kids. We think he’d do well with kids who know how to treat cats respectfully– most cats do. As friendly as he is, he should go to an interactive home where he will not be left unaccompanied for long periods of time. Whoever adopts this boy is going to get a true treasure. He seems like an easy cat who would be suitable for a first-time adopter.
He has been:
– neutered
– given rabies and distemper vaccinations
– tested negative for FeLV, but positive for FIV* (See note below).
– treated for worms and fleas
– examined and determined to be healthy by our vet
Take time to educate yourself about FIV and debunk common myths!
His adopter will receive his medical records. There is a simple adoption process and an adoption fee so we can continue to help cats in need. In Snowman’s case, that fee has been reduced by more than a third to a mere $125– a bargain for a new best friend who’ll love you for the rest of his life. He’s being fostered in Wellesley.
Cats can live up to 20 years, so give careful thought to the changes that are likely to occur in your life during that time. If you can and will commit to him and provide a safe, loving home for life, then respond to RoyCBarrows@gmail.com. Please include your phone number for a faster response and say a little about yourself and the home you would provide for him as we try to match people with the right cats.
*FIV stands for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus. It’s the cat version of HIV in humans, but cats’ immune systems handle it far more successfully than the human immune system handles HIV. There is no treatment necessary, nor does one exist. There is no difference in their day-to-day lives. FIV-positive cats have about the same life-expectancy as FIV-negative cats (confirmed by a Canadian veterinary study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2822370/) as long as they are kept inside because their greatest vulnerability is to infections that they are likely to encounter only outside. (Allowing ANY cat outside decreases life-expectancy by about 70%.) It is non-contagious to animals other than cats– even then, it can be transmitted under a very limited set of scenarios:
1) Sexual intercourse (which can’t happen in this case)
2) From mother to kitten (which also can’t happen in this case)
3) Ingestion of blood of an FIV-positive cat into an FIV-negative cat (highly unlikely!)
A shelter study of FIV-positive cats kept in free-roaming areas with FIV-negative cats showed a transmission rate of zero, to the surprise of absolutely no one in the rescue community. Thus, another cat would be only slightly more likely to get FIV from Snowman than to get struck by lightning.
To summarize, FIV is almost always a big nothing..
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“Courtesy Posts” are animals who are NOT in Kitty Connection’s possession, but we are helping to find their forever homes! If you can and will commit to providing a safe, loving home: please submit a pre-adoption application (unless otherwise noted in the description above).
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