Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site but I thought it would be a good place to come to advice from fellow cat lovers
This is my beautiful baby snowshoe, Freya. She's just a little over a year old and she has a 96% chance of having the fatal FIP disease.
.
When she was just a few months old, right after we brought her home with us--she was a present from a friend--we noticed that she had bloody stool on occasion and that she didn't like to poop inside the box. Peeing was no issue, but pooping was an activity she reserved for just outside. Now, having been a cat lover all my life I took her to the vet and they said it was some sort of bacteria count in her stomach, gave her some antibiotics and sent her home with us. A healthy, happy kitty. Now, about a month (maybe a month and a half) ago we started noticing that she began to go outside her box again, so we kept a good eye on her for any other signs that something might be wrong. That's when we noticed she was slowly getting bigger. My first thought was that she was pregnant, but that's impossible as she's an inside only cat and never exposed to unneutered males. She also started becoming obsessively clingy. If I, or my boyfriend, sat down she immediately would hop up on our lap. If we tried to put her down or relocate ourselves, she was start wailing and seek us out wherever we were, going so far as to even claw at us a little until she was picked up.
Then, over the next few days, she got even bigger. It looked like she literally swallowed a small nerf football. We took her to the vet immediately and drained her of a bright yellow, straw colored fluid that had filled her abdomen. We proceeded with several tests, ruling out FIV, Feline Leukemia, taking blood samples. The vet said it was something affecting the liver and that her tri count (I think that's what it was called) showed that she had a 96% of having FIP, but that certain diagnosis was almost completely impossible and that ultimately it was jut a process of ruling out absolutely everything else. A week after her visit the vet gave us some antibiotics for her liver in hopes of seeing if that would help, it didn't--she had what we call an "episode". She was a fine happy kitty, two hours later after returning from the store, she had done a 360. She hissed at us as if she had no idea who we were, was drooling so much that it soaked my arms when I held her, couldn't sit or stand on her own, refused food and water and was breathing extremely hard. This was over a weekend when we couldn't get her to a doctor. Luckily after 24 hours like this, she bounced back and became as close to normal as she's been since this ordeal originally started.
She's not 100% herself now, I'd say about 80%. She still loves to be held, enjoys being taken outside on her leash so she can stretch out in the sun, and was very chatty. The vet started her on a hepatic wet diet, but she's gotten so picky with food now. All she'll eat are those cups of wet Meow Mix. She spends most of her time napping, or needing to be held by us. Our vet wanted us to give her an ultra sound, but money is already so tight now because of all the money we've poured into her this last month. We had barely enough money to pay rent. Every now and then she'll have another episode, but never with that severity. She'll get extremely lethargic, drooly, and refuse to eat/drink. Freya's bloated up again. She's just as big, if not bigger than before. The vet said that the reaccumulation of fluid was another sure sign she was looking for to reconfirm our fears of fip, but still would like to do the ultra sound..
At this point, my boyfriend and I really think it's FIP. We've done so much research on the disease, spoke with our vet so much, that we're almost certain that's what she has. The vet said it wouldn't do any good to drain her of the fluid, but it would just reaccumulate quickly again and it would be like throwing our money down the drain. Freya's been wobbly, off balance, doesn't like to jump because of her weight, and spends all her time sleeping if I'm not holding her or taking her outside to play on the leash.
Where do I go from here? I made a promise to her that I'd do everything in my power to fight this with her, but I also promised that if Freya let me know she was "ready" then I'd do what was best for her. How do I know when it's time? Should I just go ahead and get the ultra sound, hope for the fluid to go back down? We've tried diuretics and it didn't help at all.. I want to hold onto her and love her, but I don't want to be selfish.. I've never had to make this sort of decision before. Every time I make myself think about the possibility of when it comes time to send her to rainbow bridge, my first thought is: "Well, if you do it then what if she would have gotten better? She trusts you to make her better and you're going to take her to a place to take a nap that'll she never wake up from."
My heart is breaking over this and I'm so confused about where to proceed. Do I continue to push through more tests? Is it time? How do I know if it is? What do I do?
I'm new to this site but I thought it would be a good place to come to advice from fellow cat lovers
This is my beautiful baby snowshoe, Freya. She's just a little over a year old and she has a 96% chance of having the fatal FIP disease.
.
When she was just a few months old, right after we brought her home with us--she was a present from a friend--we noticed that she had bloody stool on occasion and that she didn't like to poop inside the box. Peeing was no issue, but pooping was an activity she reserved for just outside. Now, having been a cat lover all my life I took her to the vet and they said it was some sort of bacteria count in her stomach, gave her some antibiotics and sent her home with us. A healthy, happy kitty. Now, about a month (maybe a month and a half) ago we started noticing that she began to go outside her box again, so we kept a good eye on her for any other signs that something might be wrong. That's when we noticed she was slowly getting bigger. My first thought was that she was pregnant, but that's impossible as she's an inside only cat and never exposed to unneutered males. She also started becoming obsessively clingy. If I, or my boyfriend, sat down she immediately would hop up on our lap. If we tried to put her down or relocate ourselves, she was start wailing and seek us out wherever we were, going so far as to even claw at us a little until she was picked up.
Then, over the next few days, she got even bigger. It looked like she literally swallowed a small nerf football. We took her to the vet immediately and drained her of a bright yellow, straw colored fluid that had filled her abdomen. We proceeded with several tests, ruling out FIV, Feline Leukemia, taking blood samples. The vet said it was something affecting the liver and that her tri count (I think that's what it was called) showed that she had a 96% of having FIP, but that certain diagnosis was almost completely impossible and that ultimately it was jut a process of ruling out absolutely everything else. A week after her visit the vet gave us some antibiotics for her liver in hopes of seeing if that would help, it didn't--she had what we call an "episode". She was a fine happy kitty, two hours later after returning from the store, she had done a 360. She hissed at us as if she had no idea who we were, was drooling so much that it soaked my arms when I held her, couldn't sit or stand on her own, refused food and water and was breathing extremely hard. This was over a weekend when we couldn't get her to a doctor. Luckily after 24 hours like this, she bounced back and became as close to normal as she's been since this ordeal originally started.
She's not 100% herself now, I'd say about 80%. She still loves to be held, enjoys being taken outside on her leash so she can stretch out in the sun, and was very chatty. The vet started her on a hepatic wet diet, but she's gotten so picky with food now. All she'll eat are those cups of wet Meow Mix. She spends most of her time napping, or needing to be held by us. Our vet wanted us to give her an ultra sound, but money is already so tight now because of all the money we've poured into her this last month. We had barely enough money to pay rent. Every now and then she'll have another episode, but never with that severity. She'll get extremely lethargic, drooly, and refuse to eat/drink. Freya's bloated up again. She's just as big, if not bigger than before. The vet said that the reaccumulation of fluid was another sure sign she was looking for to reconfirm our fears of fip, but still would like to do the ultra sound..
At this point, my boyfriend and I really think it's FIP. We've done so much research on the disease, spoke with our vet so much, that we're almost certain that's what she has. The vet said it wouldn't do any good to drain her of the fluid, but it would just reaccumulate quickly again and it would be like throwing our money down the drain. Freya's been wobbly, off balance, doesn't like to jump because of her weight, and spends all her time sleeping if I'm not holding her or taking her outside to play on the leash.
Where do I go from here? I made a promise to her that I'd do everything in my power to fight this with her, but I also promised that if Freya let me know she was "ready" then I'd do what was best for her. How do I know when it's time? Should I just go ahead and get the ultra sound, hope for the fluid to go back down? We've tried diuretics and it didn't help at all.. I want to hold onto her and love her, but I don't want to be selfish.. I've never had to make this sort of decision before. Every time I make myself think about the possibility of when it comes time to send her to rainbow bridge, my first thought is: "Well, if you do it then what if she would have gotten better? She trusts you to make her better and you're going to take her to a place to take a nap that'll she never wake up from."
My heart is breaking over this and I'm so confused about where to proceed. Do I continue to push through more tests? Is it time? How do I know if it is? What do I do?