Several years ago my brother and his wife (cat lovers par excellence) began feeding a homeless kitty in their backyard. They took her to a vet for a checkup and discovered she had FIV, a virus that attacks the white blood cells supporting the immune system. It was because of her positive FIV result that they kept her outside, away from their two indoor cats. And that’s the way I figured things had to be, until I read an article in a recent copy of Best Friends magazine.

In this issue I learned:

•    FIV positive cats can lead healthy, active lives

•    FIV is hard to transmit since the virus can only live a few seconds in open air

•    A vaccinated cat will always test positive for FIV

Is it possible to house an FIV cat safely with uninfected cats?

Apparently it is! This really amazed me. But there are many instances of FIV positive kitties living with uninfected cats for years, with no resulting transmission of the virus. And this makes sense, since most transmissions are from mother to kitten, or through a serious bite.

What happens to infected cats in most shelters?

Well, unfortunately many of them are euthanized. But there is a shelter I read about called FIV Cat Sanctuary in Tennessee that houses FIV positive cats and kittens. The shelter is run by a woman named Jen Crews, who adopted an FIV positive cat in 1994, before she even knew what that meant! She mentioned in the Best Friends magazine article that she has had many long-lived cats that had FIV and never even had a sniffle.

Should you adopt an FIV positive cat?

After reading this article, I certainly would not hesitate. (That is, if I were not allergic to cats in general, a condition I hope is temporary.) But how about you? Would you take an FIV cat or kitten into your home, to live with your uninfected cats?

We recently took a trip to Denver, and had a rare free afternoon before the show began. We drove outside the big city for a few miles, up to a small mountain town. As we rounded a bend in the road, we were treated with the appearance of a large herd of elk casually grazing right by the road!

I love black cats; I’ve decided they bring me good luck. If one crosses my path, I look forward to a fantastic day.

Last night, at our friend Bob’s birthday party, Captain Rufus
the cat made an appearance with a large rodent dangling from his mouth. “Oh look,” his wife Nancy exclaimed, “Rufus has brought you a gift!” This is a family that loves their cats.

If only the ants would stay outside. Like this pair. I suppose I should be used to their yearly visit, usually in the middle of the rainy season, but it’s a bit upsetting every time.

It’s not too hard to imagine pythons slithering through the tropical Everglades in Florida, but they are certainly not meant to be there!

Just to keep the theme going, I thought I’d show you what my very own tuxedo cat necklace looks like! This could be a fun thing to wear if it matches your own little Felix.
I’ve always thought a black and white cat has an especially natty look—I feel the same way about penguins!

My backyard has always been an inspiration to the neighborhood cats, inclduing dapper-looking specimens like this tuxedo cat.

I love watching birds. Yesterday a motherly (or perhaps it was fatherly) dove tried for at least two minutes to grasp an over-sized bit of straw in its beak to take back to the nest. It seemed like a pretty light-weight load, but I suppose to a hollow-boned bird it might have been hefty.

One of the nicest things about living in Florida
is the profusion of winter guests. No, I don’t mean the “snowbirds,” though I
know they’re important to our economy.