- Joined
- Nov 3, 2016
- Messages
- 36
- Purraise
- 5
Hello everyone,
For the past month I have read so many beautiful stories posted on here and I think I'm finally ready to share mine. Where do I start? Okay, I adopted the 2 most beautiful all black kittens about 3-4 months ago, Stella and Armani. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted 2 all black cats, a boy and a girl, so imagine my surprise when I walked into the SPCA and saw exactly that. It was fate. As soon as I brought them home that July morning I was in love. Stella was a curious, innocent, spunky little thing while Armani was more cautious, thoughtful and cuddly. I knew their personalities so well, they were and still are my best friends. Fast forward to October. We brought Armani in for a vet visit because he wasn't eating, had diarrhea for a week or two, and lost a lot of weight in the process. The vet thought it might have been something called insusseption which is where the intestines telescope back into itself. She said surgery was the best option but she wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure that insusseption was what we were dealing with. After doing an ultrasound she realized that his colon was 5x the normal size and diagnosed him with dry FIP. When she explained briefly what it was I broke down. But I, being the person that I am, only let that happen for a few hours before I hopped on the internet and read everything I could about FIP. I had delved so deep into articles and forums that I even came across a clinical trial being done at UC Davis and emailed the group to see if my little Armani was eligible. Unfortunately the trial had closed. The vet prescribed anti nausea medication as well as metronidazole and pancur and within a week Armani had gained more than a pound and was back to his normal happy self. When we had taken him back to the vet she was pleasantly surprised, so surprised that I had mustered up the courage to ask if she still thought it was FIP. Her response was that she was fairly certain. To this day I still think it's a misdiagnosis but only time will tell. For now he's eating, playing, pooping normally lol and he's on prednisone for his inflammation. But, while Armani is the reason I've found all of these great forums he is not the reason I'm posting today. Yesterday, almost a month after Armani's diagnosis, I noticed that Stella's abdomen was a little bloated. I thought to myself "no, it can't be FIP. All of the articles and the vet said that it's highly unlikely for two cats to get this incredibly rare disease." But in my gut I felt like I needed to call the vet. I called and they had me bring her in immediately. The vet ran blood tests and drew a good amount of fluid from her stomach and concluded that Stella has wet FIP. I keep replaying her words in my head "very very unlucky." I had went from feeling like the luckiest person on the planet to "very very unlucky." I feel like I'm living my worst nightmare. I can hardly bare looking into Stella's innocent big eyes knowing that this disease is taking a piece of her away from me every day. This is my first experience as a pet owner and I feel like I've failed. Even though there's nothing I could've done to prevent this I still feel like I've failed both of my babies. So here I am, writing this on my couch, the two loves of my life next to me in their favorite spots. I'd love to hear anyone's advice or stories or just anything to help me get through this. Right now I feel like I could never get another cat again even though I love them. I just feel scared and sad and hurt. I'm not ready to live in a world without Armani and Stella.
Stella loves looking out the window and Armani loves looking at Stella [emoji]10084[/emoji]️️
For the past month I have read so many beautiful stories posted on here and I think I'm finally ready to share mine. Where do I start? Okay, I adopted the 2 most beautiful all black kittens about 3-4 months ago, Stella and Armani. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted 2 all black cats, a boy and a girl, so imagine my surprise when I walked into the SPCA and saw exactly that. It was fate. As soon as I brought them home that July morning I was in love. Stella was a curious, innocent, spunky little thing while Armani was more cautious, thoughtful and cuddly. I knew their personalities so well, they were and still are my best friends. Fast forward to October. We brought Armani in for a vet visit because he wasn't eating, had diarrhea for a week or two, and lost a lot of weight in the process. The vet thought it might have been something called insusseption which is where the intestines telescope back into itself. She said surgery was the best option but she wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure that insusseption was what we were dealing with. After doing an ultrasound she realized that his colon was 5x the normal size and diagnosed him with dry FIP. When she explained briefly what it was I broke down. But I, being the person that I am, only let that happen for a few hours before I hopped on the internet and read everything I could about FIP. I had delved so deep into articles and forums that I even came across a clinical trial being done at UC Davis and emailed the group to see if my little Armani was eligible. Unfortunately the trial had closed. The vet prescribed anti nausea medication as well as metronidazole and pancur and within a week Armani had gained more than a pound and was back to his normal happy self. When we had taken him back to the vet she was pleasantly surprised, so surprised that I had mustered up the courage to ask if she still thought it was FIP. Her response was that she was fairly certain. To this day I still think it's a misdiagnosis but only time will tell. For now he's eating, playing, pooping normally lol and he's on prednisone for his inflammation. But, while Armani is the reason I've found all of these great forums he is not the reason I'm posting today. Yesterday, almost a month after Armani's diagnosis, I noticed that Stella's abdomen was a little bloated. I thought to myself "no, it can't be FIP. All of the articles and the vet said that it's highly unlikely for two cats to get this incredibly rare disease." But in my gut I felt like I needed to call the vet. I called and they had me bring her in immediately. The vet ran blood tests and drew a good amount of fluid from her stomach and concluded that Stella has wet FIP. I keep replaying her words in my head "very very unlucky." I had went from feeling like the luckiest person on the planet to "very very unlucky." I feel like I'm living my worst nightmare. I can hardly bare looking into Stella's innocent big eyes knowing that this disease is taking a piece of her away from me every day. This is my first experience as a pet owner and I feel like I've failed. Even though there's nothing I could've done to prevent this I still feel like I've failed both of my babies. So here I am, writing this on my couch, the two loves of my life next to me in their favorite spots. I'd love to hear anyone's advice or stories or just anything to help me get through this. Right now I feel like I could never get another cat again even though I love them. I just feel scared and sad and hurt. I'm not ready to live in a world without Armani and Stella.
