It seems like this has been a bad couple of weeks for many of us here. Today, I learned that our cat, Jamie, is very ill with Feline Infectious Peritonitis. FIP is a currently non curable disease. It generally strikes felines under the age of 2, and over the age of 10.
James came to us about 4 years ago from a shelter. He was one of 57 Maine Coon cats that was removed from some woman's home. Allegedly, James never saw the light of a crate until we got him.
He came to us ugly, attacking his tail after they cut it trying to eliminate the mats on him. He had to where an E Collar for nearly 6 months during the time that we helped him recover. The only other option was cutting off a section of his tail.
His playmate, a young kitten named Toby, harassed him and kept his mind off of his tail. LOL, it was aided by the fact that we had to add long sheets of paper so that Jamie could not actually see it and attack the tail. You folks don't see photos of Toby because he was our first to suffer from FIP. Toby died prematurely at the age of 7 months.
We were told that the chances that a second cat in the household would get the virus was minute as only about 1% of cats is susceptible (sp) to the Corona Virus that causes FIP. James started showing signs about a week ago when I was still in Jackson Hole. My wife called me to tell me that he was not looking good. She brought him into the Vet. They were stumped. He was 4 days in an isolation unit, has been x-rayed and had an ultrasound. Today, we were to examine the possibility of nasal cancer.
After a consult with the surgeon and the x-rays, it was determined that he did not have any sort of cancer. That good news brought us to the fact that his titer for FIP was way over the mark. In some respects, I would much have preferred to hear that he had cancer. At least there is an option that allows a potential fight with cancer (even though as far as I see, few people's pets actually survive it).
As James is about 8 years old, he is young to be getting this virus, but I am told that since he has had chronic upper resp. problems over the years, that his immune system may be compromised. In James case, it will cause blindness and paralysis and is not curable we are told. We are grappling with when we should euthanize James, and of course, hoping of some miracle cure that does not exist.
All in all, it has been an ugly day at home.
