Giles - FIV / FeLV


		Giles FIV / FeLV A few photos of Giles over the years: Giles with Jordan - one of his friends after Foster Final photo, showing his decline - taken a couple of weeks before he died.

		Giles has been an interesting cat, in more than one way. He came to us in 2002 at the age of about 2 or 3, having tested positive for FeLV, and we lost him to kidney failure on 16 November 2009. We were of the impression when he arrived, that a cat that contracts FeLV in the first couple of years of life, is unlikely to live more than a year or two - Giles disproved that impression; all the more so because he also picked up FIV whilst with us! We keep our FeLV+ cats separate from the FIVs, with their own garden and cosy heated chalets. When Giles arrived, amongst the other FeLVs here at the time, we did also have Foster, who was both FeLV and FIV positive. Giles and Foster struck up an amazingly close friendship and, for the next couple of years they were inseparable, sharing beds much of the time. When Foster died in 2004, Giles was mortified, I have never known a cat howl with such anguish at the losing of a friend, it was distressing to hear him like this for several days. Giles' friend Foster had suffered for some time with mouth problems that caused an enormous mount of drooling saliva, more than we have ever seen before or since; he did not seem to be in pain and always eat well; but we never did manage to help the drooling. During 2004, we needed to check the virus status of all the cats in the sanctuary, so a marathon event saw bloods taken from thirty something cats. These were tested at Glasgow under a special arrangement that gave them a good size of sample to enable them to do their own other investigations. When the results came back, the only surprise was that Giles had picked up FIV, so was now a double positive (FeLV/FIV). As his only contact with FIV had been with Foster, and there is no way they fought, we had to assume that the excessive drooling from Foster, combined with the exceptional closeness with which they lived together, and Giles' FeLV status, must have enabled transmission. Giles remained healthy throughout his time here - he did need a dental in 2008 to remove some resorptive lesion affected teeth (FORL), but that went well, and bloods taken at the time showed him to be in good shape generally. This summer (2009) he had lost a little weight, but as many seem to get lighter in the summer and then put on weight again before the winter, we thought this was part of their natural control around the seasons. However, this autumn, instead of putting weight on again, Giles continued to lose weight. We also noticed a slight increase in water consumption, so tests were carried out, which showed badly depleted kidney function. When he then stopped eating, he was admitted to the hospital for an IV drip to try and flush out the impurities. He was on the drip for four days, and the levels fluctuated but did not really improve; so he came home to be in his familiar surroundings. He was surprisingly bright for several days, until, at the weekend, he became more withdrawn, and by Monday, we knew we had to take him in for some help to cross the final hurdle. We like to think that he is now reunited with his great friend Foster. We buried Giles in the garden in which they had both lived, very close to Foster's resting place. Giles was always a very sweet but timid cat, one who had a large impact on us, as well as being a shining example of a healthy FIV/FeLV for many years.