tl;dr my 10-month-old tuxedo gentleman, Preacher, was acting a little standoffish last week, but NOTHING I would have been suspicious of. But, he still has some of his kitten teeth, his gums are red and irritated, and his breath is HORRID. So, I booked an appointment on Saturday the 12th with a feline dental specialist. Again, he was only going in because of his teeth...not because I thought he was sick... I never suspected or saw any symptoms or really negative/worrisome behavior.
Long story short, the dental specialist gave him a general looking-over exam before she checked his teeth, and when she took his temperature, it was 106F. Absolute panic ensued on my part. She suspected an infection, and she put him on doxycycline and tobramycin drops for his eyes (since he tends to produce a lot of eye boogers). She did a quick blood panel while we waited, and said that his white blood cell count was 28,000... it was supposed to be around 13,000. So, she still suspected a bacterial infection.
We took him home and I monitored him like the obsessive cat mom I am XD He quickly developed other symptoms. He was very lethargic, had inappetence (didn't want to eat), and would often go in the "meatloaf" position. This is different from the normal "loaf" position of a healthy cat, and sadly I'm familiar with the difference since one of my kitties was a CRF/CKD cat. (She lived 6 years after her diagnosis, but at the end, she would meatloaf often.)
His fever fluctuated - it was sometimes 102F and then a few hours later would be a "normal" 100F. Then a few hours after that, it would go up to 103F. Then he started to have trouble breathing - he's always breathed faster than "normal" cats, but he started to have labored breathing.
On the morning of the 15th, his temp was 104.7F. I said to myself NOPE I'm not ignoring this, and I took him to his normal vet clinic as an emergency case. They did a chest x-ray, and the vet said she couldn't even see his heart because there was so much fluid around his left lung. She sedated him and drained the fluid - we all crossed our fingers it would just be pus, or blood at the worst... but no. It was the translucent yellowish-straw color that is the hallmark sign of Feline Infectious Peritonitis, or FIP. She drew out 113mL of fluid, which is a terrifyingly large amount, especially since Preacher is a tiny lil man (8 lbs)
So, FIP is extremely fatal. It's almost always invariably fatal. My bouncy fluffy domestic longhair gentleman is probably going to die. I am not handling this well. My ex tried to comfort me by saying that, if Preach died, at least I'd had a good 6 months with him. No, sorry, 6 months ain't enough, no matter how "good" it is
(He's not a total jerk, just not a pet person... he never had cat/dog pets as a kid so he kind of doesn't "get it". He had fish... and birds.)
My vet sent out a sample for testing, but FIP testing is unreliable. It's not always accurate. Sometimes it'll show a negative when a cat clearly does have FIP.
My vet then sent me to the local 24-hour emergency vet, since she felt Preacher needed overnight monitoring/subQ fluids/etc. Fortunately Preacher was pretty stable after the thoracentesis, and after giving Preacher a little more subQ fluids, the emergency vet said that he didn't need to stay overnight. He told me to book an appointment with the hospital's Internal Medicine department, as they would have more knowledge of FIP and be able to tell me what to do/what the future would look like.
We went to book an appointment. Their soonest was the 28th. Kittens with FIP can crash and die within days or weeks... I'm not sure he's going to make it until the 28th, but that's the reality right now. I can't force them to give me a sooner appointment, but I am on a cancellation list.
Meanwhile he's hardly eating... he'll eat Churu treats and meat baby food, but he's not getting enough taurine from that. The e-vet prescribed an appetite stimulant today, so we'll see how that goes.
I just can't believe I might lose my little man.
I've joined the FIP Warriors facebook group and I'm in touch with other FIP kitty support groups. Preacher is now on... a medication I won't name since it's not FDA approved yet. Anecdotal evidence from owners who have had FIP cats claim it has an 80% cure rate... but the course of meds is 84 days.
I'm in it for the long haul. I have nothing to lose by using an "unapproved" medication. I'd do anything for Preacher. I will not accept his death sentence.
I've also had to separate him from my older girl, Kohl (she's almost 6 years old). She almost certainly has the feline coronavirus, which is the precursor to the FIP virus, but feline corona only mutates in like 5-10% of cats. Vets and other owners have told me I don't HAVE to separate them as Kohl can't "catch" FIP from Preacher, but I'm still scared.
Has anyone else had a FIP kitty? Anyone have a success story that their FIP kitty didn't die? Is there anything else I should be doing for Preacher? Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance
Cat tax:
Long story short, the dental specialist gave him a general looking-over exam before she checked his teeth, and when she took his temperature, it was 106F. Absolute panic ensued on my part. She suspected an infection, and she put him on doxycycline and tobramycin drops for his eyes (since he tends to produce a lot of eye boogers). She did a quick blood panel while we waited, and said that his white blood cell count was 28,000... it was supposed to be around 13,000. So, she still suspected a bacterial infection.
We took him home and I monitored him like the obsessive cat mom I am XD He quickly developed other symptoms. He was very lethargic, had inappetence (didn't want to eat), and would often go in the "meatloaf" position. This is different from the normal "loaf" position of a healthy cat, and sadly I'm familiar with the difference since one of my kitties was a CRF/CKD cat. (She lived 6 years after her diagnosis, but at the end, she would meatloaf often.)
His fever fluctuated - it was sometimes 102F and then a few hours later would be a "normal" 100F. Then a few hours after that, it would go up to 103F. Then he started to have trouble breathing - he's always breathed faster than "normal" cats, but he started to have labored breathing.
On the morning of the 15th, his temp was 104.7F. I said to myself NOPE I'm not ignoring this, and I took him to his normal vet clinic as an emergency case. They did a chest x-ray, and the vet said she couldn't even see his heart because there was so much fluid around his left lung. She sedated him and drained the fluid - we all crossed our fingers it would just be pus, or blood at the worst... but no. It was the translucent yellowish-straw color that is the hallmark sign of Feline Infectious Peritonitis, or FIP. She drew out 113mL of fluid, which is a terrifyingly large amount, especially since Preacher is a tiny lil man (8 lbs)
So, FIP is extremely fatal. It's almost always invariably fatal. My bouncy fluffy domestic longhair gentleman is probably going to die. I am not handling this well. My ex tried to comfort me by saying that, if Preach died, at least I'd had a good 6 months with him. No, sorry, 6 months ain't enough, no matter how "good" it is
(He's not a total jerk, just not a pet person... he never had cat/dog pets as a kid so he kind of doesn't "get it". He had fish... and birds.)My vet sent out a sample for testing, but FIP testing is unreliable. It's not always accurate. Sometimes it'll show a negative when a cat clearly does have FIP.
My vet then sent me to the local 24-hour emergency vet, since she felt Preacher needed overnight monitoring/subQ fluids/etc. Fortunately Preacher was pretty stable after the thoracentesis, and after giving Preacher a little more subQ fluids, the emergency vet said that he didn't need to stay overnight. He told me to book an appointment with the hospital's Internal Medicine department, as they would have more knowledge of FIP and be able to tell me what to do/what the future would look like.
We went to book an appointment. Their soonest was the 28th. Kittens with FIP can crash and die within days or weeks... I'm not sure he's going to make it until the 28th, but that's the reality right now. I can't force them to give me a sooner appointment, but I am on a cancellation list.
Meanwhile he's hardly eating... he'll eat Churu treats and meat baby food, but he's not getting enough taurine from that. The e-vet prescribed an appetite stimulant today, so we'll see how that goes.
I just can't believe I might lose my little man.
I've joined the FIP Warriors facebook group and I'm in touch with other FIP kitty support groups. Preacher is now on... a medication I won't name since it's not FDA approved yet. Anecdotal evidence from owners who have had FIP cats claim it has an 80% cure rate... but the course of meds is 84 days.
I'm in it for the long haul. I have nothing to lose by using an "unapproved" medication. I'd do anything for Preacher. I will not accept his death sentence.
I've also had to separate him from my older girl, Kohl (she's almost 6 years old). She almost certainly has the feline coronavirus, which is the precursor to the FIP virus, but feline corona only mutates in like 5-10% of cats. Vets and other owners have told me I don't HAVE to separate them as Kohl can't "catch" FIP from Preacher, but I'm still scared.
Has anyone else had a FIP kitty? Anyone have a success story that their FIP kitty didn't die? Is there anything else I should be doing for Preacher? Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance
Cat tax:
