Piquillo (grey/white boy) and Aleppo (tiger/white girl) are a brother and sister pair of kittens. They are adorable as you can see. They are affectionate and silly. They love to chase each other around. They gallop and tumble. They love wand toys, and jingle balls and playing in the water that they are supposed to be drinking. If kittens could giggle, they would.
And they love one another. After they are done wreaking kitten havoc, they will curl into each other, sleeping. Piquillo and Aleppo are mischievous angels and very easy to love.
They also probably have Feline Leukemia. We say probably because tests on kittens under six months old tend not to be reliable. But their mother has tested positive, and this means that they were likely born with it. And this means that they will almost certainly have shorter lives. How short? There’s really no way of knowing. It could be months. It could be years.
As if that weren’t enough, Piquillo is vision impaired. We are not certain exactly how much vision he has, but it is definitely quite limited. Despite this he gets around just fine, once he knows where everything is. In fact, his foster mom did not initially realize he had difficulty seeing. But his vision impairment means that he depends on his sister and we would like them to go home together.
Feline leukemia can be spread to other cats, but not to dogs or people. This means that these kittens can only go to a home with no other cats or with other cats with feline leukemia. Cats and kittens with this illness are usually fine… until they are not. Right now these two have no symptoms of any illness. They play and wrestle and cuddle just like any other kittens. And we would like them to have a home just like any other kittens. For as long or as short of a time that they have.
We know that this is not something that most people are going to be willing to take on. We understand that it is hard to walk into a situation like this, eyes wide open, knowing that there is no promise of years together. But we know that there are angels that walk among us. And it isn’t necessary that we find dozens of people. We just need one.
If you think you might be that one, please fill out the application on our website. Please mention Piquillo and Aleppo by name. Our placement team will talk to you about the kittens and about feline leukemia so that you know what to expect. And if this is not something you are able to take on right now, please consider spreading the word so that the right person can see this post.
Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is a retrovirus belonging to the coronavirus subfamily, which means it is a cancer-causing virus. FeLV can cause severe anemia and suppress the immune system, leaving the cat vulnerable to a variety of opportunistic diseases. FeLV is not transmissible to humans.
FeLV cats generally have a shortened lifespan. Cats with FeLV require routine vet care, a good diet, low stress, and lots of love. Please keep them indoors to protect them from picking up any infection from outdoors. Cats with FeLV are usually pretty healthy, until they aren’t. If you are interested in providing a loving home to one of our FeLV+ cats, please submit an application. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
