Advertisement: Severe Combined Immunodeficient Cats Need Home.....

Calling All Cat Lovers!

The LSUHSC Department of Internal Medicine has just completed an exhaustive 6 month research project involving cats with SCIDS, or Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Scientists were able to use the cats as test subjects for a variety of experimental procedures not yet deemed safe for human subjects. And now that the testing is complete the men and women who have worked day in and day out with these frisky felines feel that they deserve a loving home.

Normally test subjects from projects such as this would be incinerated but these cats, though physically and emotionally challenged, would make a loving pet for anyone and are just too cute and cuddly to be autoclaved. However, as they were born without a working immune system, they have lived their lives encased in a metallic, germ free environment and do have certain special needs. But oh boy do they love to snuggle as long as the hull of their sterile containment unit is not breached. If this were to occur they would surely die within a matter of hours as their blood would quickly run rampant with a number of lethal opportunistic microbial predators.

Their complete lack of both T and B cells does not mean that they are deficient in fun. In fact, they love to run around and chase a vast array of toys held safely out of reach just outside of their 3 inch viewport. SCIDS may have cut down on their humoral and cell-mediated immunity, but not their appetite. These playful little furballs go nuts over their 15ml of vitamin rich nutrient and tuna solution injected intravenously twice daily. But the best part of owning one of these cute kitties would be the satisfaction of knowing you are making a difference in their lives. And that difference would be obvious with every purr if they had a larynx.