Tiger would be thankful for a forever home this holiday weekend.

Tiger would be most thankful for a permanent home this Thanksgiving. He has been diagnosed with feline leukemia—and is currently being cared for by a couple that cannot bear to put this amazing cat down—but, cannot risk exposing his illness to their other non exposed, rescued cats. Tiger needs to find a one cat household willing to care for him and let him live out his remaining years with love and companionship.

It was with a wide open heart that Diane and Jeff Schumann used to take in the latest in the series of homeless cats crossing their doorstep late this summer. See, Diane and Jeff live in an area of southern Ohio impacted greatly by the economic downturn—and the closing of the Wilmington, Ohio DHL hub last year. Strays and feral cats already common to the area were suddenly competing with other cats made homeless by families unable to properly care for them after tragic job losses and financial woes. When the friendly, hungry striped kitty arrived, the two long time pet rescuers saw no other option but to take him into their family.

Within days of deciding to adopt the kitty, whom they named Tiger, they learned that he suffered from feline leukemia. Their vet immediately suggested that he be put to sleep. Diane and Jeff couldn’t bring themselves to do it. He was such a young cat, with such an amazing personality—the thought of taking him from the world for no fault of his own was unthinkable. They returned him to their home—and set up his own domain in their garage and set out to find him a forever home. He could no longer be outside because he posed a risk to other free roaming cats—and he could not have free reign of the Schumann home because they had three healthy, non FIV/non FLV positive kitties already.

They set out to find him a home. This proved to be far more difficult than anticipated. After numerous contacts, advertisements, internet pleas and attempts to re-home him through local shelters and humane groups, they quickly realized that Tiger’s illness was viewed as a death sentence—with no other recourse than euthanasia.

As an active member of the pet rescue community, I know that some families opt to adopt only FIV/FLV positive kitties—and that someone somewhere can find this amazing little cat a suitable forever home.

Can you give Tiger something to be thankful for this holiday season? If you or someone you know would be willing to take Tiger into your family, email Angela and she will help you set up an adoption meeting. Tiger has not been neutered—and will require updated vaccinations upon adoption as his adoptive family has not wished to put Tiger through potentially unnecessary veterinary proecedures.