Tuffy is bleeding!!

[tom w]

I called the vets office yesturday morning to check on how he was doing and the vet said his fever was gone in about 2 hrs after they injected him with some kind of anti inflamitory, This was on Friday, they gave him the shot right after I brought him in, and they said he was still doing good Saturday morning. We were gone camping this weekend so I couldn't go see him, but I told them to call me at anytime day or night if anything bad happend and I never heard from them so I can only hope he is still doing ok. The animal hospital faxed them some info on what they have done and when I called on Saturday morning I was told they are leaning towards FIP but didn't know for sure yet. I have tried to do some reading on FIP and it looks like FIP is very hard to detect for sure till they have died.

I still wonder when I was told about the thick mass in his colon if the problem is a infection in the colon they are overlooking. If it was a bad infection in the colon would it show up in the blood tests as a high white count? Friday and Saturday I cried allot thinking about Tuffy and the thought that his is not going to be with us much longer, but today I didn't have that gut feeling like he is going to die soon, I don't know why I feel like that now. I can only hope that my gut feelings are right and he will come out of this or maybe I deep down don't want to eccept the fact that he is going to be gone soon? Its just weird that I had such a turn around in my feelings about all this. I will be calling there first thing in the morning to see how he is and if I can go see him right away and find out what the latest is. I hate the thought that they are sold on FIP and maybe missing something else that he can be treated for, or worse yet they figure this out after he is gone. I am going to ask his vet if there is any possiblity that it could be a infection in that mass in his colon and maybe try some kind of IV antibiotics. I am thinking that if they can't tell for sure it FIP till its to late why not try some antibiotics and see what happens? I am getting ahead of myself on all this I guess because I don't know yet what they are going to tell me Monday after they get the biopsy tests back.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for Tuffy and I am still praying he will come through this, but if not all I can do is love him with all my heart till he is gone.

Hi gizmocat, Thanks very much for the offer to make a illustration of Tuffy for me. When I know more in the next few days and see how things are going for Tuffy I will be getting in touch with you about this.

 

[kluchetta]

Originally Posted by Tom W

I called the vets office yesturday morning to check on how he was doing and the vet said his fever was gone in about 2 hrs after they injected him with some kind of anti inflamitory, This was on Friday, they gave him the shot right after I brought him in, and they said he was still doing good Saturday morning. We were gone camping this weekend so I couldn't go see him, but I told them to call me at anytime day or night if anything bad happend and I never heard from them so I can only hope he is still doing ok. The animal hospital faxed them some info on what they have done and when I called on Saturday morning I was told they are leaning towards FIP but didn't know for sure yet. I have tried to do some reading on FIP and it looks like FIP is very hard to detect for sure till they have died.

I still wonder when I was told about the thick mass in his colon if the problem is a infection in the colon they are overlooking. If it was a bad infection in the colon would it show up in the blood tests as a high white count? Friday and Saturday I cried allot thinking about Tuffy and the thought that his is not going to be with us much longer, but today I didn't have that gut feeling like he is going to die soon, I don't know why I feel like that now. I can only hope that my gut feelings are right and he will come out of this or maybe I deep down don't want to eccept the fact that he is going to be gone soon? Its just weird that I had such a turn around in my feelings about all this. I will be calling there first thing in the morning to see how he is and if I can go see him right away and find out what the latest is. I hate the thought that they are sold on FIP and maybe missing something else that he can be treated for, or worse yet they figure this out after he is gone. I am going to ask his vet if there is any possiblity that it could be a infection in that mass in his colon and maybe try some kind of IV antibiotics. I am thinking that if they can't tell for sure it FIP till its to late why not try some antibiotics and see what happens? I am getting ahead of myself on all this I guess because I don't know yet what they are going to tell me Monday after they get the biopsy tests back.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for Tuffy and I am still praying he will come through this, but if not all I can do is love him with all my heart till he is gone.

Hi gizmocat, Thanks very much for the offer to make a illustration of Tuffy for me. When I know more in the next few days and see how things are going for Tuffy I will be getting in touch with you about this.

Hi Tom, my kitten died of FIP last year, and while I don't want to give you false hope, I will tell you that they couldn't get my kitty's temperature down no matter what they tried. The problem with FIP is that it's the "Great Pretender". It looks like lots of other things, and sometimes when a vet is stumped and there's a fever, they think of that. Have they done a blood panel? With the dry form of FIP they will have wacky liver readings.

 

[tom w]

Hi, yes he has several blood panels in the last year. They are always the same, everything looks good except for his anemia, his globulin count is high and his red blood cells are very small. His liver and kidney tests have all been fine. As far as I know his heart is fine, I have never been told he has fluid where there isn't supost to be, his breathing is fine. He still eats and drinks good. I hope in a few hours I will know allot more on whats going on with him.

On Friday his vet called up to the animal hospital to try and find out what they were doing for him while he was there, but the Dr who was working with him was not in on Friday so she didn't learn much from them. she told them at the hospital to make sure his Dr from there calls her first thing Monday and fill her in on what is all going on. If they gave him the shot on friday afternoon and he was still fine Saturday morning he lasted longer than when he came back from the hospital as far as not having a fever, unless they gave him more than one shot while he was there.

I will let you all know as soon as I know more, I am hoping he can come home today. My wife is a long time RN and can give him the shots of what ever they gave him if that what it takes to control his fever. But I don't know if they can let her do that legaly though.

 

[gizmocat]

I hope I don't have to do a memorial for Tuffy any time soon but the offer stands. Please contact me when you have time. I hope that they are able to keep him comfortable and that you have good news about your friend today.

 

[tom w]

I just got home with Tuffy, Right now you would never know he is so sick, he is talking and playing with his toys just like his old self. They told me his temp would go up and then come back down all weekend. They gave him some steroid stuff to see if that helped him and it did. His vet is waiting for the dr at the hospital to call her back to figure out what to do next. She also gave me some stuff called FortiFlora, it is sprinkled on his food to help boost his immune system and replace the stuff in his digestive tract like yogert does for people.

We are going to vacinate or rther cats against FIP just in case he does have it.

I was so happy to hear him talk again this morning, I have not heard him make a sound for almost 2 weeks now, and they gave him a nem mouse toy and he has been playing with that also. when I pick him up he purrs and kneads his paws on my arm just like he used to. I know it probably won't last but at least for right now he feels good again.

So for the moment it is real good news for Tuffy, The vet tech told me that when she came in this morning Tuffy told her off big time that she didn't go pet him right away. That is the old Tuffy. He just jumped up be me on the computer table with his new toy and he is playing with it as I type this.

I need to go in the camper and get the camera and take some pictures of him right now. I need to enjoy him as much as I can just in case the worst has to happen. He is having all kinds of fun playing with his new mouse right now. He seems a little weak in his back legs today, probably because he has been in a cage or just laying around most of the time for the last week and I would think maybe a little sore from all the needle pokes from the biopsy's in his sides and belly.

I am so happy right now I am starting to cry to see him his old self again after so long.

 

[bella713]

Oh yay...Keep getting better Tuffy~~~

 

[tom w]

Here is a couple of pictures I just took of Tuffy and Panther. You can get a idea of how much of his fur was shaved off at the hospital. He is like that on both sides and parts of both front legs are shaved for the IV he had. That night last week when Tuffy was at the hospital so sick Panther must have known something was wrong because he was looking all over for him checking all the places he sleeps. Panther had such a sad look in his eyes that night, and he was so happy to see Tuffy come home today. Tuffy is Panthers buddy and Panther looks after him real close. Like when Tuffy had ear mite trouble Panther would try and lick out the insides of Tuffy's ears to clean them.

 

[pat]

Tom, you have done so much to give Tuffy the kind of life any cat deserves. He's a happy looking kitty, even if he is dealing with health issues right now.

 

[booktigger]

Aww, bless him. I am really really praying for a positive outcome for him, he really does deserve it. But I am not sure that vaccinating your others against FIP is a good idea - it is a mutation of a virus, so cats dont catch it from others.

 

[sarahp]

But if Tuffy got it from somewhere, surely there's a chance the others could get it as well?

I'm so pleased to hear he's doing better today. I hope it lasts and they figure out what's causing it very soon!

 

[hell603]

Bless you and Tuffy - please give him hugs and kisses for me.

 

[tom w]

Hi sarahp, Tuffy was a sick stray when I got him about a year ago so he could have got it anywhere. We have no history on him at all from before I found him. All the rest of our cats have been indoor cats since we have had them. Missy used to go outside allot when she was younger but she is over 18 years old now and still doing good so I would think she would have got it by now if one of the others has the FIP virus. Other than Tuffy I mean.

I should say we don't know for sure Tuffy has it or not yet, it still could be something completely different making him sick. I don't know why the animal hospital didn't call his vet back to fill her in on whats going on. We still don't really know any more than we did last Friday. At least I don't.

He has made it all day so far without his fever coming back

which is the first time that has happened in a long time. So I am happy for one good day for him at least.

On top of all this my wife is in the hospital tonight because she didn't feel good yesturday and she left for work this morning she got bad chest pains and went to the hospital and they are watching her close tonight and in the morning she has to do a stress test on a treadmill to see whats going with her, so I was happy for Tuffy this morning then I find out Yvonne is in the hospital so today has been a real up and down day around here.

 

[sarahp]

I'm really sorry to hear that Tom, you're going through a very rough time

I guess the one thing that you can be thankful for is that Yvonne's problems might be a little easier to diagnose than Tuffy's!

Please keep us updated on both of them.

 

[gizmocat]

I certainly hope that your wife is better.

 

[tom w]

I talked to Yvonne this morning and she is going to do a treadmill stress test today and depending on how that goes she might have to stay another day for a cardiac cath. And on top of everything else I came down with a real bad sore throat and a bad head cold or maybe a sinus infection late last night, so I don't want to go to the hospital and walk around being so sick. I don't know what else can go wrong today. I sometimes wonder why god puts me through so much sometimes.

I just talked with Tuffy's vet, She got a call late last night from the Dr at the hospital and its looking more and more like he has FIP. To be sure they would have to open him up and do a biopsy on his liver. If it is FIP I don't want to put him through anymore pain and also if it is FIP there is nothing that can be done anyway. His vet is going to mix up the steroid they were giving him into a liquid form so I can give it to him at home. It works good at controling his fever and it makes him feel allot better. I asked her if there is anything she can think of besides FIP that could make him this sick and she couldn't think of anything. The dr from the hospital is going to call me today when she gets some time and talk to me about what to do next. It sounds like all we can do is try to make him he most comfortable we can and see what happens. His high fever has not come back since Sunday night which suprized the vet because she said the steroid shot should have worn off long ago.

Has anyone reading this lost a cat to FIP? How long does it take before they are gone and do they suffer real bad near the end?

 

[kluchetta]

Yes, I lost a cat to FIP about a year ago. It was the "dry" form, or more accurately, it involved several organ functions rather than the wet form, which usually shows in an increased amount of fluid in their abdomen.

My first hint that something was wrong, was elevated liver readings when I took him in to get neutered. The tech said that usually accompanied a long-term viral infection. I was thinking it was possible he had herpes, so I thought that was it.

Then he had 1 good day after his neuter, and the next day he was hunched up with fever and showing his third eyelid. That was about October 7. We put him to sleep on the 25th, but we really didn't know that's what he probably had until about the 20th. Until the very last day, he seemed to want to stay with us, but we did have to force him to eat and he really hated that. He didn't suffer all that much, but it did feel like the right thing to do at the end.

 

[tom w]

I keep hearing about the liver in FIP but his blood work from last Thursday shows liver is fine yet?

 

[kluchetta]

Originally Posted by Tom W

I keep hearing about the liver in FIP but his blood work from last Thursday shows liver is fine yet?

That's why I'm really thinking and hoping that FIP is just not the right diagnosis.

 

[kluchetta]

Oh, and I wouldn't get your cats vaccinated against FIP. Because what it really is, is that they get the Coronavirus, and a SMALL PERCENTAGE later have the Coronavirus mutate into the lethal FIP. FIP itself is not contagious. I liken it to when someone gets the chicken pox, and SOMETIMES later gets shingles.

 

[booktigger]

I Really really hate those three letters, it is such a nasty disease, and sadly I haven't heard of any cats surviving it. I lost a cat to suspected FIP just over 3 years ago, hers was very sudden though, we just got up one morning and she cried in pain when I picked her up, so off to the vet we went. She must have had wet FIP as they did take some fluid off, and they did try and control it with antibiotics and something else, but I made that awful decision 2 weeks after the initial diagnosis - they did take blood from her, but it came back inconclusive.