Newbie with a problem

carolle

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Sep 2, 2001
Messages
2
Purraise
0
Location
near Dallas, Texas
Hello to everyone. I'm a new person here, because someone suggested i come check out the information pages. (Thanks, Anne). So a quick intro: There are five of us in our household in Texas. Two cats, Emily and Rusty, and their three servants, Carolle (me), David, and Lisa. Emily is two, we brought her with us when we moved home from Romania. She's a mostly white cat, with tabby splotches. Rusty is about a year and a half, and was adopted from a fostering group here in Flower Mound last December. he's a beautiful tabby with apricot overtones. Both neutered. Neither declawed. Both totally indoor cats due to our concerns for their health and wellbeing in F-150-ville. We've served cats for over 20 years, but are still learning!

Anyway, Em got sick last week. Exhaustive blood work showed FIP. We immediatly isolated her from Rusty (isn't this shutting the barn after the horse is gone?)and put her on Amoxil at the Vet's instructions. At this point, we're grasping at straws. Her FIP appears to be of the 'dry' variety. At this point, she's still eating, drinking, and . . . erm. . . . using her box normally. What, please, is the experience of others with this? We've lost two to FIP already - one 19 years ago, the other 13 years ago. Nothing at all was known then, and we just had them put to sleep. We want to fight with Em as long as she wants to live. How best to do that?
Thanks!
 

anne moeller

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 2, 2001
Messages
22
Purraise
0
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
You are welcome, Carolle. I did read the notes about FIP on the Health page and I have to wonder how old this info is. I know that FIP is bad but you do remember the lady on the other list who said her cat lived with it for years. Of course, hercat may just be a carrier. Your Emily is so young I hope she is strong enough to overcome this. I just lost Sulu (about 2 months ago) to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and renal failure. He was only 7. My thoughts are with you, Anne
 

debra myers

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 3, 2001
Messages
3,177
Purraise
15
Location
Upstate NY
Carolle - I have no answers for you but read all you can on the subject. My thougths are with you - Please let us know how things are going with your fur baby(s).
 

sandie

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Nov 29, 2000
Messages
5,464
Purraise
7
Location
CT
I know a little about FIP but I don't think I know enough to give you good solid advice with this one. If you can find a post from Rene, then e mail her, she has gone through this before and has done a lot of research. I will also point her in this direction.
 

rene

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 10, 2001
Messages
331
Purraise
3
Location
Connecticut
I lost my two beautiful Spynx to FIP - one last year, one this year - the dry FIP and it was so hard on me. We kept Phoebe alive with immunoglobulin shots - and she almost made it - we thought we were going to be as lucky as we were six years ago. We had two kittens that became very sick - our vet titered them and said they were positive for FIP - but titers are not 100 percent correct - a titer means the cat Has been exposed to a Corona virus and there are a whole lot of Corona viruses existing, and only one, FIP, is fatal. So our vet suggested we put them down and we declined. They recovered with symptomatic treatment and became healthy, fat, happy cats - we lost Dakota last week, but Milo, our big blue eyed boy is actually on the show circuit and a therapy cat. So we hoped it would be the same with Phoebe and Chloe. Chloe crashed very quickly and we had no time to fight for her - but with Phoebe we gave her the shots on a system - it started twice a week, went to once a week, once every two weeks and then once a month. We kept her alive in good healthy condition for almost a year - we actually thought she was going to make it as she was slowly gaining weight. We did lose her but it was worth having her for that extra time because I loved her so much. We made the decision to euthanize when they were no longer enjoying life - I wanted them both to have their dignity when they left us - Good luck and I wish you a miracle.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

carolle

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Sep 2, 2001
Messages
2
Purraise
0
Location
near Dallas, Texas
Thanks everyone for the information, urls and support. Rusty started vomiting last night. It looks like we may lose them both, but we're not going down without the Battle Royal. Please keep our babies in your thoughts, to give them strength to fight, and clarity of communication when they're ready to give up. I hate the thought of them suffering.
 

anne moeller

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 2, 2001
Messages
22
Purraise
0
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
I just read your last post. My thoughts are with you. I know how hard this is (lost one to liver cancer awhile back). Just spend as much time as possible with them and keep up the good thoughts. Miracles do happen.
In the meantime, your new patterns should help distract (I got mine today)
Take care and keep us posted. Anne
 

anne moeller

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 2, 2001
Messages
22
Purraise
0
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
Please tell the list for me. Today, at 3:15 p.m. Emily passed quietly into the Summerlands. We noticed that she was struggling, so went to school and brought Lisa home. Em died the way she's done everything else in her life - her own way, in her 'mommy's' arms. She left the three of us and Rusty feeling incredibly bereft. But we know she had to go. She was weak, not eating much, obviously preparing herself these last few days. I had meant to sit Lisa down to plan for the end today after school. Em must have figured it out, and come up with her own solution. Little monkey!


Thanks for all your prayers and support in this miserable time.

Carolle
 
Top