So I've had my cat, Ziggy Stardust, for a while, now - I think he's about a year-and-a-half old - but a few months after getting him, he walked into the house covered in mud, dirt and scratches from getting in a fight. After I got him all cleaned up, I noticed some of his scratches were pretty severe and took him to the animal hospital just to be on the safe side. While he was there, he was tested for FeLV (feline leukemia), which, unfortunately, came back positive. I had the option of keeping him or having him put down. After doing some research, I learned that FeLV isn't always immediately life-threatening and symptoms may take years to develop, so I decided to keep him and decide what to do when his health began to deteriorate.

That was back in May. Forced to be an inside cat to keep from contaminating other cats in the neighbourhood, he hadn't gotten much exercise, but other than being a bit on the large side, he always seemed healthy. He would run, jump and play when in the mood, again, only hindered by his weight and nothing else, and was just as affectionate as ever, always waiting for me on the stairs when I got home, poking his head through the handrail for a pet when I walked by.

It's now the beginning of the new year, but Ziggy isn't with me as I type this. Instead, he's with old friends in a new home.

I knew it was possible for no symptoms to be present so early, but on a whim, I decided to have Ziggy checked, again, for FeLV. I really had no reason to and the vet, while not refusing, did warn me that the chances of a negative result were very low, but the test was only $45 and I figured that was at least worth the peace of mind.

The test is very quick. I brought Ziggy to the hospital, checked in, he was taken in to have blood drawn and was back with me in the waiting room in just a few minutes, but I still had to wait for the results. In the meantime, I grabbed a Cat Fancy magazine and began flipping through the pages, skimming. I reached the end of the magazine, closed it, then noticed on the cover that there was an article for a drug to help with, and possibly fight against, FeLV and FIV. Just about the time I flipped to the article, the vet came into the waiting room with the results.

It actually took me a second to process. I honestly had very little hope that the result would come back negative. The vet explained that when the last test was done, Ziggy was still young and that a false positive was most likely a result of the parents' anti-bodies still being present in his blood. (That's what I remember hearing, anyway - I'm not going to pretend to understand it). So after those many months of dealing with a cat that would constantly attempt to get outside (and occasionally succeed) by knocking out window screens and waiting for the front door to open and would not always use the litter box, instead opting to use the carpet or pool table, I now have one less fatally ill cat and one more healthy cat who is currently at my dad's house getting reacquainted with his two cats.

Though he's still just as fat.

Have some pics.