He is a "people cat". Every night when I climb into bed, he comes running up purring and woofing, and crawls under the blanket and curls up next to me. If he can't get in, he taps me on the nose to get me to wake up and let him in.
He doesn't like other cats, but he immediately took to his little granddaughter. I am certain taht he could tell she was his, maybe from smell or instinct. She would lurk and then pounce and tackle him when he'd walk by, and he'd play right along. He'd fall on his side with a thump as if she'd knocked him over, and wrassle with her. He'd grab her and kick her with his back feet, and you could see how he was being so careful to be gentle. He would share his milk with her, they'd both drink together from the bowl. No other cat ever dared get near him, but he really loved her. He'd groom her and nap cuddle up with her.
It broke our hearts when he tested positve and had to be separated from her, but then several months later, she got down to skin and bones, and the vet tested her, and she tested positive too. She hadn't been spayed yet, because we wait until they're grown a bit -- if you spay or neuter them when they are tiny, their urethras will be stunted, adn they are susceptible to deadly urinary tract infections when they are older and nothing can be done for them.
I told the vet to spay her, because I had my fingers crossed that the reason she was skin and bones was becaue of enlarged ovaries. We had seen it before a couple of times. The vet thought I was nuts, and insisted she was wasting away from FeLV, and said if she operated on her she might not live the night. I knew there was nothing to lose at that point, an d said to do it. Within a week she was putting weight back n, and now she is downright chubby. The silver lining is that she is now with her grampa in the bedroom with us. The three of them are doing very well, and I know that cats with that disease can live for ten or more years if they have a low stress environment.
I've seen cats make remarkable recoveries, and I am hoping that Jessie will ride this out and hold on until she can get the upper hand and start putting on weight. We are giving her colloidal silver and acidophilous as well as the high nutrient food, and I have faith that she can recover if she can get past this crisis, but it is very grim right now and I don't kid myself. My wife spent a long time crying over her this evening, I tried to be the strong one for her, but now she's asleep and I'm nto doing so well. I am afraid for my little girl, she means an awful lot to us, and to her kitty friends.
My kids are grown and moved away, and don't have much time for their old dad, but my pets are truly friends. They follow me around so that they can sit by me, they reach out to tap me as I walk by, so that I'll stop and pet them and talk with them, and I can tell you that anyone who says that cats only act nice when they want to be fed doesn't know what they're taling about.
We have a huge 100+ pound rottweiler/lab (also a throw-away taht "came to us"), he is completely in love with his kitties. He is very protective of them, and loves licking them and nuzzling them.
What wonderful knowledge you have and such a kind heart. You must have a million stories.
We have a white cat who tested positive for Feline Lukemia several years ago and before beginning the foster home process had "Lilly" tested two times, both tests came back negative. She is still wandering around at 14 so I know miracles happen.
I have had two cats go into acute liver failure, managed to save one by force feeding with a large syring twice daily with the Science A/D food. We also had to give "Stripe" IV's w/drug cocktails twice daily for a month. She lived and is doing wonderful. She came to us as a stray, we fed here for a year outside trying to coax her to us, it finally worked. She had three babies and we kept two sons.
Anyway we will all pray for "Jessie:, let us know how she does. Take care.