Nudge Kittens

I have a kitten who is appropriately named Nudge. She's a doll...except only to me. I found out a few weeks ago she had tapeworms and I was horrified. But I wasn't prepared for what I would hear at the veterinarian's office this evening. Curled up and shaken on the metal examining table, she looked up at me as the vet told me her tests came out positive for the feline version of HIV: FIV (also appropriately named). She's the healthiest looking cat I've ever seen. Beautiful coat, and at a hardy weight of 8.7 pounds, she eternally looks like a kitten. And in my eyes, she is. But maybe not for long? Unlike Feline Leukemia, which shortens the cat's life as it acts on the body rapidly, FIV is a slow acting, long term disease that wreaks its havoc over time. I cried...I cried more than I have at some family members' funerals.

She looks to me for everything, but now....I'm helpless.