His name was Taffy, my little stray

Posted: Jan 8, 2015

I am sad today. I had a stray cat coming to my house every day and I fed him. He had some eye issues, my vet said conjunctivitis. I built him some homes out of Styrofoam, a tote box with soft padding inside, watched for him day and night to be sure he was fed. Some nights I would look out to see him sitting right outside my door. I knew he had belonged to someone because he welcomed affection, petting and the like. I could not let him in not knowing his background because I have 4 inside only cats and did not want to risk any infections/diseases to them. I tried to find him a home, I wanted to instill his medication in his eyes but that was supposed to be 2x a day and some days he would show up at night, sometimes not. I was trying to find some place for him. Yesterday an animal rescue group I had worked for in the past combo tested him and called to let me know he was FEV (HIV in human) as well as feline leukemic positive, 2 strikes. The owner of the group had told me if FEV positive knew of 2 groups that would take; however she called stating with the 2 strikes no one would take him and if out in the neighborhood then he could infect other animals. It was bitter cold here last night, I knew he could not survive, I have worried so much about him and now my heart is broken because he had to be euthanized and I am sitting here crying, having no one to talk to about him. When I visited him before he was put down he was sitting in the cage warm and looked so peaceful at me and tears are now streaming. My head tells me I have done the right thing and yet my heart aches. ;