Tuxedo Junction Rescue-Colleen

Colleen is a people-kitty, who will greet you by
talking up a storm, and will climb into your lap every chance she gets!
She loves being petted, scratched, and combed.

When Colleen looks up at you,
there is a connection that tells you
she loves her people.

She also loves to climb up on your shoulders
and purr in your ear while getting a
person's-eye view of the world!

Colleen was surrendered by her owner due to problems in the owner's personal life.
It was not until she was tested at the
Town Lake Animal Shelter
that it was learned that she is FIV+.
Fortunately, more has become known
in recent years about FIV, and most
vets agree this is not a major health problem
for most cats, and FIV+ cats can live
a normal and healthy life span.

Because FIV is transmitted only by deep
bite wounds, it is possible for positive
and negative cats who are not aggressive
toward one another to live together.
For example, Josie, who lived in the
same home as Colleen,
tested negative for FIV and we found her
a permanent home.

If you would like to learn more about FIV, here
is some information:

TJR- HEALTH LINKS PAGE

Come and meet Colleen!

Colleen has been with us since April of 2003.
Although she is sweet and lovable, no one wanted to adopt her.
So, she stays with us, enjoys her life, and enriches our lives everyday.

Although she had a very bad start in her life, as shown below,
she'll stay here until the right person comes along,
or she will live out her normal life as part of our family.

Below are two pictures from the first few days Colleen was with us.
As many cats do, Colleen picked up a very virulent
virus while she was at the city shelter waiting to be rescued.

She has had numerous vet treatments including needing
a feeding tube surgically inserted into her throat
when she first arrived in order to eat, drink, and get medication.
Every hour or so, we would remove the cap and slowly inject, food, water and medication
directly into her stomach until she was well enough to begin eating on her own.
This condition had nothing to do with her FIV status. It is common in many cats
who pick up viruses in the city shelter. At the time she was operated on there
were three other unrelated and non FIV+ cats at the hospital getting the same treatment.

Colleen has bounced back from every procedure and as you can see today she is a wonderful happy girl. Colleen also had a relapse from the virus and developed pancreatitus as a result. During her recovery she had an X-ray to check her pancreas. All was well with that organ but we discovered that Colleen had been SHOT at some time in her past. She still carries at least 30 pieces of bird shot which have healed over in various parts of her body. She'll carry them for the rest of her life as surgery to remove them is far more dangerous than leaving them in place.	Due to the persistent nature of the virus which can create problems in all parts of the body, she also has had to have all of her teeth removed in three separate surgeries.
Even though we do not expose our foster cats to FIV+ cats we let Colleen and Sam mix freely with our own family cats since FIV is only transmitted by deep bite wounds and neither Sam nor Colleen care to bite anyone!	Today Colleen has the run of the Tuxedo Junction Rescue office and our house and enjoys her time with our own family cats. Even though she has no teeth now, that hasn't affected her appetite. Here she's having lunch with pals Sam & Samson. Sam is also FIV+ but is a vigorous and friendly fellow who started out his life as a street roaming feral tomcat. Big Samson was a two time loser at Town Lake Animal Shelter. He was adopted out twice and returned by his "adopters". He was scheduled to be euthanized and not to go back into their adoption program when we pulled him out. Today he is the sweetest gentlest and friendliest cat imaginable. So Colleen joins the lucky group of "rejects" and enjoys her life while adding immeasurably to ours.

COLLEEN

A special cat with a special story.....