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Sorry, no vacancies! Please note that we are unable to take in any more cats! We have now reached saturation point! We simply do not have room for any more. If we took any more, it could be to the detriment of those already here, so we have had to stop taking more in. The sanctuary continues, and those cats that are here will, of course, continue to receive our full attention. As they can live good long lives, we suspect that many will be with us for several years to come. To stop taking more in was easier said than done, as there seem to be very few places which accept FIV cats, but please don't give up on any cat, it may not be easy, but homes can be found for FIVs. We need other people and groups to take up the cause and to encourage others to find spaces for FIVs - even just a few cats, multiplied by many areas and people, can help far more than we can ourselves, so our next mission is to provide what information, help and encouragement we can to increase the number of places FIVs can go. We continue to give advice and any help we can to those who come across FIV, which is still, unfortunately, a misunderstood virus. If you want to contact us to discuss how best to help FIVs, either in general, or one specific cat, then we will be happy to share our experience and offer any moral support we can give - we just can't take any more cats! |
Catwork The sanctuary What we are up against Sadly, we are always encountering lack of knowledge from those who ought to know better, and an over-dependence on veterinary advice about FIV, which is not always what it should be! There are still, tragically, many vets who are not aware of the true implications of FIV, and are all too ready to suggest putting people’s pets down, let alone the unfortunate strays who may end up in their practice. Even if there is one ‘informed’ vet within a practice, different individual vets can have different attitudes to FIV Even for the enlightened vets there is the problem of where FIV / FeLV stray cats can go, since most rescue organisations shun them. Those who contact Catwork directly, often through the website, are those who are not happy with the ‘professional’ advice they have been given, and wish to find out more, both about FIV and FeLV. With the benefit of 12+ years experience (10 of which have been devoted to the care and study of FIV and FeLV cats) we feel we are in a position to share with others our observations and experiences with these misunderstood viruses. The stray FIVs, as always, are on a hiding to nowhere when very few rescue centres will take them on. This is so sad, as the cats with FIV are often young, unneutered male cats, with potentially a long life ahead of them. Once neutered and given a territory and food source, the need to fight is removed, which is the only real way in which the FIV virus is passed on. We have been reminded, on several occasions, that the major organisations are not as aware as they should be of the realities of FIV and FeLV. Battersea Dogs and Cats Home were all set to put down little Batman even though we were offering him sanctuary: Barbara had literally to plead for his life! Likewise with O’Mally, from RSPCA, Wales. The collection officer who had picked him up was of the opinion he should be put down, but the centre manager was happy for him to come to Catwork. O’Mally was well and truly tied up in red tape – this sort of thing should not be happening. The public imagine that when they take a stray to a rescue centre, they are “saving it”. However, if the cat turns out to be FIV or FeLV, it can so often turn out to be a death sentence. We have FIV cats at Catwork from RSPCA, Cats Protection, Blue Cross and Battersea, all of whom purport to rescue cats, but having these viruses seems to be used as a convenient excuse for them to be put down. Every life is worth saving, and we would be failing in our duty to animals if we do not start to challenge the big organisations about their policies. So many animals are being put down these days – the old, the frightened, the FIVs and FeLVs – “Not enough space” is the mantra used as their excuse, but with all the funding the large organisations receive, surely they should be spending some of it on creating more spaces - rather than prestige premises? They should stop pretending they are saving lives and only putting cats down that are too ill to help, when their unpublicised policies allow them to ‘select’ many categories for the death sentence, more through convenience than any other reason. These organisations are also letting down many of the dedicated people who work for them and have to fight from the inside to help rescue animals from the rescue organisations! These organisations are also letting down their supporters, in our view, many of whom have no idea that so many animals are being put down without good cause. (See below for Barbara’s poem on the subject). As you may sense, we have become very disillusioned with the way animal ‘rescue’ is going. Thank goodness that a few people (Animal Affairs, NASSL, Wessex Animal Trust) are recognising that it is often the smaller ‘rescues’ who end up dealing with the most difficult animals. It has been extremely wearing and frustrating to have to work so hard to save a life – just looking after them is hard enough without the added hassle of pleading for their lives with the “powers that be” as has happened far too often. We do know that, on a personal level, through the website and talking on the phone, we have made a difference to a few, so we must cling on to that thought. To quote the motto of “Animal Affairs Charity” with which we wholeheartedly agree: “A life saved, a difference made”. "Death Row cats" These cats were all destined to be killed by larger, so-called, rescue organisations if they had not come to Catwork  Another example  BeauWe had a call from a vet asking us to take a cat that had tested positive for FeLV on a first in-house test. Although we agreed, the vet was still ‘instructed’ by the Cats Protection group involved, to put the cat down - RULES! The in-house FeLV test has been shown to be unreliable in a survey test by the University of Glasgow Companion Animal Diagnostics Laboratory - a veterinary diagnostic laboratory specialising in feline and canine virus infections - in their sample, admittedly limited in number, more than 50% of tests proving incorrect! For this reason it is vital to have a more accurate laboratory confirmatory test done. Even if this test comes back positive, it is still possible that the cat has only recently been infected and its immune system is in the process of dealing with the virus - most adult cats can beat the FeLV virus - so a second confirmatory test should be done three months later before you can be sure whether the cat really is permanently FeLV positive or not. Fortunately for Beau, the vet sought higher authority and won a reprieve for him, and Beau came to Catwork. |
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