Lucky was rescued from the streets by a woman who intended to add her to her existing feline family.But, after taking her to the vet to be examined, she found out that Lucky is FIV+: not very lucky, after all.

The woman couldn’t add Lucky to her household, so she called Tabby’s Place and we added Lucky to the end of what was already a long waiting list.The woman confined Lucky to a room for over a year and finally we were able to accept Lucky into our FIV+ Suite.An FIV+ cat has been infected with the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV).This virus disables or destroys the white blood cells, and leaves the cat susceptible to infections. Once a cat is infected with FIV, the cat is infected for life and can transmit the virus if he or she bites another cat.

Our FIV+ cats have their own suite and we are extra-careful about disease control procedures in their suite.In addition, they are fed a higher-quality (and more expensive) diet than our other cats, in hopes of boosting their immune systems.Given what we knew of Lucky’s history, we were concerned that she might actually be feral (we avoid accepting ferals, as we have found that they are most often miserable living indoors and being around humans).

Lucky does, indeed, appear to be feral.She does not like people and is almost impossible to handle.She is also having a very difficult time adjusting to the other cats in the suite, as she appears to have become something of a pariah cat (a cat that appears to be unliked by other cats, in general).

No one knows why cats become pariahs, but the net result is that the other cats are often aggressive to her and Lucky spends a lot of time hiding from the cats in her suite.We are trying several different approaches to minimizing Lucky’s distress and hope that eventually she will be able to settle into a comfortable routine.

Meanwhile, Lucky is having a difficult time and we know that her chances of adoption are very slim, given her FIV+ status and her dislike of humans.If you have a place in your heart for Lucky, please sponsor her and help us to care for her.