I was hoping someone might be able to help me.
I have 2 beautiful birman cats, Ollie and Murray. Ollie has had an irritated bowel the last 3 months and has been on a diet of cod, kibbles and a tablet (peridale) to bulk up his number 2's! On Wednesday 4 June I noticed his tummy looked swollen and on Thursday I took him to the vet. The vet was concerned as Ollie is only 2 years of age and too young to have a swollen tummy. I brought him back to the vet the next day (Friday) for blood tests and an xray. His bloods came back ok - liver and kidneys were fine although the vet said his red blood cell count was a bit low and mentioned that he was a bit anemic and had a depressed immune system. When they took the xray they could only really see fluid. He took a sample of the fluid and said it was a nasty colour (dark straw colour) which indicated something serious was wrong. They sent it off for further tests which came back last Friday which indicates FIP (titer and his antibodies were up). I was told that everything indicates FIP and that it will be a matter of days to weeks before I will more than likely lose him to this illness. I had noticed Ollie was less playful but I thought that was because he had got lazy and not that he was so sick!
On top of this Murray will have also picked it up - they are very close, sharing everything, grooming each other etc. They are indoor cats and have been since they were kittens, never apart for more than 1/2 an hour. There is a good chance that it may not affect him as he is a stronger cat and has always been more confident . Ollie was always a worrier and a bit weaker physically. Looks like he probably always had this and the irritated bowl would have stressed him, acting as a trigger for this to develop.
I'm completely in shock as to how quickly something can happen. These have been my wee babies and I'm horrified at the thoughts of losing him and also what it this will do to Murray.
I contacted the breeder to let them know about Ollie and also to see if they had any advice or had seen this before. They said that they hadn't experience it, no one else has come back to them on this over the years about this nor have they heard anything of the rest of the litter Ollie was from.
I've been researching away and found on some occasions that homeopathy can help and in a few cases they cat had got better. From what I gather the homeopathy doesn't actually cure the disease, the difference comes from helping build up the cat. When I spoke to the Vet about it he was very positive about trying other things and gave me the name of a homeopathic vet. He said he has treated cats with the same diagnosis as Ollie (wet FIP) and there is a possibility that treatment of this kind could help turn it around. He said there is also the possibility that it won't turn it around (have to stay realistic too), although at least it will help some of the symptoms. I have since sent in all Ollie's details and he is reviewing his case this week.
I want to make sure I have tried everything I possibly can. He was playing for the first time the way he used to before he got sick yesterday on the bed (with my necklace though!!) and he was jumping about and hitting it with his 2 paws. Something tells me he's might have the fight in him to get through this (fingers and paws crossed). He's on a small dose of prednisone and a good bit of the swelling in his tummy has been down the last 8 days ( he didn't have it drained it has gone away itself) although he has lose skin now!
I suppose my question is if anyone else has had experience of this or does anyone have any ideas if there could be something else wrong that is not FIP?
Has anyone used homeopathic remedies for cats before - will they help?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This has hit me like a tonne of bricks, my partner is away with work for the next month and it seems the only solace I have is being online researching everything I can about this illness. The helplessness of not knowing what this is or what to do is so frustrating.
I have 2 beautiful birman cats, Ollie and Murray. Ollie has had an irritated bowel the last 3 months and has been on a diet of cod, kibbles and a tablet (peridale) to bulk up his number 2's! On Wednesday 4 June I noticed his tummy looked swollen and on Thursday I took him to the vet. The vet was concerned as Ollie is only 2 years of age and too young to have a swollen tummy. I brought him back to the vet the next day (Friday) for blood tests and an xray. His bloods came back ok - liver and kidneys were fine although the vet said his red blood cell count was a bit low and mentioned that he was a bit anemic and had a depressed immune system. When they took the xray they could only really see fluid. He took a sample of the fluid and said it was a nasty colour (dark straw colour) which indicated something serious was wrong. They sent it off for further tests which came back last Friday which indicates FIP (titer and his antibodies were up). I was told that everything indicates FIP and that it will be a matter of days to weeks before I will more than likely lose him to this illness. I had noticed Ollie was less playful but I thought that was because he had got lazy and not that he was so sick!
On top of this Murray will have also picked it up - they are very close, sharing everything, grooming each other etc. They are indoor cats and have been since they were kittens, never apart for more than 1/2 an hour. There is a good chance that it may not affect him as he is a stronger cat and has always been more confident . Ollie was always a worrier and a bit weaker physically. Looks like he probably always had this and the irritated bowl would have stressed him, acting as a trigger for this to develop.
I'm completely in shock as to how quickly something can happen. These have been my wee babies and I'm horrified at the thoughts of losing him and also what it this will do to Murray.
I contacted the breeder to let them know about Ollie and also to see if they had any advice or had seen this before. They said that they hadn't experience it, no one else has come back to them on this over the years about this nor have they heard anything of the rest of the litter Ollie was from.
I've been researching away and found on some occasions that homeopathy can help and in a few cases they cat had got better. From what I gather the homeopathy doesn't actually cure the disease, the difference comes from helping build up the cat. When I spoke to the Vet about it he was very positive about trying other things and gave me the name of a homeopathic vet. He said he has treated cats with the same diagnosis as Ollie (wet FIP) and there is a possibility that treatment of this kind could help turn it around. He said there is also the possibility that it won't turn it around (have to stay realistic too), although at least it will help some of the symptoms. I have since sent in all Ollie's details and he is reviewing his case this week.
I want to make sure I have tried everything I possibly can. He was playing for the first time the way he used to before he got sick yesterday on the bed (with my necklace though!!) and he was jumping about and hitting it with his 2 paws. Something tells me he's might have the fight in him to get through this (fingers and paws crossed). He's on a small dose of prednisone and a good bit of the swelling in his tummy has been down the last 8 days ( he didn't have it drained it has gone away itself) although he has lose skin now!
I suppose my question is if anyone else has had experience of this or does anyone have any ideas if there could be something else wrong that is not FIP?
Has anyone used homeopathic remedies for cats before - will they help?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This has hit me like a tonne of bricks, my partner is away with work for the next month and it seems the only solace I have is being online researching everything I can about this illness. The helplessness of not knowing what this is or what to do is so frustrating.
