An Article Of Interest...

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:22 pm

This story was written by Laura from Purrinlot Persians back in 2006. I just wanted to share it... If you wish to see photos of this little boy growing up click here

April 10th,2006

It has taken me over 3 months to be able to write in this blog entry about my baby kitten. As I write I am still in tears.

I entered this sweetheart kitten at the International November 2005 to be shown in kitten class. One week before the show, Oaranni laid in the living room floor, he looked sad. I picked up my baby, and he wet on me. I knew something was wrong. I hand fed my kitten until his strength returned. By January, he was going backwards again. His kidneys were failing.

I had to have my baby put to sleep in Mid January. I had the vet do all sorts of test- I was afraid my kitten had been poisoned by the diamond food scare- for that is what we were feeding all of the Persians in the cattery and my kitten. The lab said they could see signs of the poison but that wasn't what took him from me in their opinion. Oaranni meant the world to me... what happened to him- why did I lose him??? The final test pointed to PKD. I had recently DNA tested mom and knew she was negative. We had leased his father and were told he too was negative- so I argued and ask for more test to be checked and run.

A little less than a month ago- I was emailed sad news- Oaranni's father had been found positive for PKD. The puzzle finally made since. In my eyes and heart- My kitten had everything- he was my perfect baby- he had everything. . . but his health. . . and to be honest- that health is and will always be more important than the perfect head- large eyes, beautiful coat. Oaranni was everything I waited for- everything I wanted in my little boy- except on the inside- the parts I could not see...he was sick.

Some History- In 1998- Purrinlot founded the the first PKD clinic in the state of Virginia- back then it was very hard to know if a cat was positive or negative for the gene. Today, we have the DNA test- but even with this test- some Persians are missed and hearts are broken- trust me...I lost my beloved boy.

As a note: Purrinlot has used PKD positive cats in the past and over time has worked out the positives. We did not jump into the negatives at once- we saved our Persian gene pool. The reason we didn't jump was we found many positive Persian cats were actually DNA 'ed negative- so we are thankful we waited for the proper testing. Today our policy is we only place negative kittens into breeding programs.

I miss you Oaranni! My beautiful Kitten- My Love!

Princess Joined: 30 Jul 2008 Posts: 5878

This hits a little too close to home for me and my Buddy and for you and your Josh.......Buddy was a Champion and that meant nothing. What a price to pay. Same for your sweet Josh. Bred for perfection and he is. The only thing our babies did not have is their good health. Very sad. Thank you for sharing this article Celeste.

Duchess Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 3497

Thank you Celeste.

This dreadful disease causes so much heartache and suffering. I hope and pray someday PKD ceases to exsist

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:41 am

Oh my!

That is a heartbreaking story. I mentioned my sister's Persian, Davy, on another thread today. He had this horrible disease too, although he was 10 when he became an angel. Still too short of an earth life, especially when we know all these cases can be prevented!

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:35 pm

I just have to believe when a situation like this hits so close to home that a breeder has been given reason to reflect.

The stereo type answer that I have heard over and over again is that PKD positive persians can live a long life.

This factor is never known according to medical experts and in this case this persian kitten was only a few months old. :cry

Duchess Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 2878

So very sad. I don't know what I would do if something like that happened to Dakota. I still know nothing about his breeder.

What a terrible thing to happen for those, like so many of you, who have to go through something like this that could be prevented. I worry about it all of the time.