Does anyone know what the stages of FIP are, once it's determined that the cat likely is infected?
My little Pix... sweet little thing.... my heart just aches for her. I've posted about her battles with chronic constipation and colitis issues. She's 7 months old. She went in for an enema on the 27th, after not having passed any stool in 2 weeks. The vet found no stool inside her. Only mucous. So we decided to have surgery on the 28th to get biopsies of her colon and intestines, as well as a complete blood workup. Initially I did not want to do this, but the vet initially thought she could have FIP or cancer. What she found was that he colon was EXTREMELY enflamed, and her lymph nodes were very swollen.
Among the initial findings -- her white blood cell count is normal, but her liver enzimes are very high. (The vet also sent a biopsy of her liver, since it had red spots all over). I can't quite recall the rest of the blood work results.
The report from the biopsy came back and said it was 'strongly suggestive of FIP'. However, we are waiting for a second test to 'confirm'.
Meanwhile, she's home and doing relatively better. There is no vomiting, no diarrhea. Except, she's lost weight (she's about 5 pounds, down from 6 a month ago), and she'd developed a sneeze, and what I think is a cough (she swallows hard too) and sometimes has watery eyes. Her eyes are not runny though, and she has no discharge from her nose. She is eating more each day, and drinking more than before the surgery, so her urination output seems normal. She is still quite depressed, although, her eyes are bright and she's alert. She will play a little if I engage her.
Ironically, since I've been giving her Nature's Variety Instinct (Venison), her stool has been perfect -- almost like she never had any stool issues. Go figure.
So of course, I wonder each day if today's the day she's going to start to show signs of extreme weakening, leading to the inevitable. I wonder if there is some sign that will help me know when it's time to let her go. I dread when that moment comes, but I am preparing myself. At the end of the day, I guess it doesn't really matter what the stages of FIP are -- what matters is that I just enjoy every minute with her that I can.
Sorry for the long post. But thanks for reading.
My little Pix... sweet little thing.... my heart just aches for her. I've posted about her battles with chronic constipation and colitis issues. She's 7 months old. She went in for an enema on the 27th, after not having passed any stool in 2 weeks. The vet found no stool inside her. Only mucous. So we decided to have surgery on the 28th to get biopsies of her colon and intestines, as well as a complete blood workup. Initially I did not want to do this, but the vet initially thought she could have FIP or cancer. What she found was that he colon was EXTREMELY enflamed, and her lymph nodes were very swollen.
Among the initial findings -- her white blood cell count is normal, but her liver enzimes are very high. (The vet also sent a biopsy of her liver, since it had red spots all over). I can't quite recall the rest of the blood work results.
The report from the biopsy came back and said it was 'strongly suggestive of FIP'. However, we are waiting for a second test to 'confirm'.
Meanwhile, she's home and doing relatively better. There is no vomiting, no diarrhea. Except, she's lost weight (she's about 5 pounds, down from 6 a month ago), and she'd developed a sneeze, and what I think is a cough (she swallows hard too) and sometimes has watery eyes. Her eyes are not runny though, and she has no discharge from her nose. She is eating more each day, and drinking more than before the surgery, so her urination output seems normal. She is still quite depressed, although, her eyes are bright and she's alert. She will play a little if I engage her.
Ironically, since I've been giving her Nature's Variety Instinct (Venison), her stool has been perfect -- almost like she never had any stool issues. Go figure.
So of course, I wonder each day if today's the day she's going to start to show signs of extreme weakening, leading to the inevitable. I wonder if there is some sign that will help me know when it's time to let her go. I dread when that moment comes, but I am preparing myself. At the end of the day, I guess it doesn't really matter what the stages of FIP are -- what matters is that I just enjoy every minute with her that I can.
Sorry for the long post. But thanks for reading.