Category: Lady Felix

Lady Felix is such a joy. She’s super affectionate, and also very playful and athletic. She’s cute and loves attention. Just about a year old, she is spayed, utd on vaccinations, she’s had dewormer, and is microchipped. She will be listed for adoption as soon as her FeLV test results come back, but if you’re interested in adopting her, let me know and we can arrange a visit. And put in an application quick through 9 Lives Rescue!

Update, October 4: Lady Felix is FeLV NEGATIVE! Woohoo! We are so pleased that this very lovely kitty does not have Feline Leukemia. Such a relief to know for sure.

Lady Felix came from a farm not too long ago, but she is down with the whole domestic thing. She never had a toy until she came here, but she knows just what to do with the fancy kicky toy.

Lady Felix is not listed yet, but she will soon be ready for adoption. She is quite the adorable kitty. She’s full of playful energy, very social, and loves attention.

Felix is in an unusual situation. She might have Feline Leukemia – or she might not. FeLV is not a fun diagnosis, and she has had two positive SNAP tests – but the more dependable test came back negative. So which is it? It’s an upsetting position to be in, not knowing for sure – but we’re waiting to hear the results of a third type of test.

UPDATE: Lady Felix is definitely negative for FeLV. Yay! We were pretty sure, but we’re ecstatic to have the final tests come back negative. Whew!

In the meantime, Felix goes on being super healthy and energetic. She is becoming more and more content with her new life off the farm. She is so affectionate, so playful, and just a love to be around.

If you’re interested in possibly adding Felix to your family, contact me about a virtual or in-person meeting.

On July 31 we brought one more young cat from the farm that Nalia and Foxfire came from – very likely a sister or half-sister – and they seem to be the same age. “He” was named Felix and then discovered to be a girl. For 9 Lives, we settled on Lady Felix.

We’ve had her now for three weeks, and she’s a real sweetheart. We didn’t have room for her in the big room, so she is a guest in George’s study. It turned out to be a good thing we did that, because she tested positive for Feline Leukemia Virus, which can be transmitted to other cats. More on that here. We are hoping it was a false positive.

Felix is probably a bit under a year old – and it shows in the way she plays! She is still wary and a bit jumpy, but at the same time she loves pets, and will get in my lap. She has gotten gradually more comfortable, and she loves to play more than she likes food! She loves the Cat Dancer especially, and plays like a kitten – rolling on the floor, jumping after it, zooming around.

We brought in a yoga mat for our own comfort when joining her on the floor, but Felix has no doubt it’s for her. She rolls on it, balls up part of it and kicks it – and it gives her a better grip when playing.

She certainly has come a long way.

Transitions. Highs and lows. Felix, one of our current foster kitties, has been a case study in the challenges of this rescue work. I, and I think most rescuers, question all the time whether they are doing the right thing. Sometimes it’s obvious – if someone is threatening to shoot the cats, and you can get permission to go in, taking them away is clearly the best thing for them, even if it’s a huge change and a huge transition for them. Taking in an abandoned and injured cat is a no-brainer. But when you take in a cat and she pushes a screen out and jumps from a second-story window to get away – as Felix did – you wonder if you did the right thing “rescuing” her.

The answer is “yes” in her case – but it is for sure a time when you wish you could explain to the cat: “Remember the coyotes who came to the farm and tore apart your relatives? There are no coyotes here. Remember the farm owner you were very fond of? She’s feeding cats because it’s the right thing to do – even though she’s stretched thin doing it. She didn’t ask that cats be dumped at her farm, pregnant ones, but she takes responsibility because she is an honorable person, unlike the people who dump their problems on someone else to deal with. She was fond of you and wanted you to be safe and have a better life. Adjusting is hard, but there are good things ahead.”

She was recovered from her adventure, thanks to the farm owner dropping everything and driving into town to walk through back yards and call her. Felix came running. Such a relief to have her safely back! But from her point of view, she was just brought back to the room she had gone to great lengths to escape from. Transitions. So hard.

On top of that, there was good news and bad news when she went to be spayed. She was declared healthy, and the procedure went well – but she tested positive for Feline Leukemia Virus. The first thing that means is that she has to be isolated from other cats. For a friendly, sociable cat this is hard. So she lives in George’s study by herself, and has company when he’s working, and listens to him practice the flute in the evenings. It could also mean – if it’s true – that she will not live a normal lifespan. FeLV compromises your immune system, and cats who have it don’t often live more than a few years; most die as kittens. And it’s contagious to other cats. But false positives are not uncommon – so we can hope for her.

And in the meantime, in three weeks she has come a long way, settling in and starting to think things might be ok.