Pouring

A couple weeks ago, I started a post about twoK's new kitty, but I never got it finished because of all the other craziness in our house. twoK's little kitty came to our house at the end of January. He's the sweetest cat. However, since the very beginning he's had some kitty health issues. First, from day one, he had kind of "soft" poo. It started getting softer and messier at the beginning of this month and then it turned full fledged "runny". (Sorry, TMI.) Second, he had major gingivitis (gum disease). Considering he was such a young cat, I was SHOCKED. Third, he had slightly "gooky" eyes for a few days when we first got him and his third eyelids were showing. Fourth, his fur was kind of dry and thin--not full and shiny. I figured he needed some good loving and lots of food.

We took him to the vet when we first got him. She wasn't worried about the soft poo, and neither was I, but as it continued and then worsened, getting really bad around the first of April, we took him back to the vet. Finding the root cause of gastrointestinal problems in kitties can be difficult. We started by trying to rule out things like worms, a bacterial infection, and food issues. We brought a couple of samples in and they looked at it under the microscope and saw nothing unusual, but we de-wormed, switched to a less stressful (on the tummy) food, and tried antibiotics. He'd get a little better, but then he'd get worse again.

If you're noting, it had been almost a month of treatment but no real improvement. I figured we were still in for a few more weeks of trying to figure it out, and get him better. We had a vet appointment, last night. My plan was to ask for more tests so we could start getting him better. I wanted more aggressive investigation. I was getting tired of having him sick. He was starting to get sicker, and I wanted him well--poor little guy!

He'd been not feeling well all day, yesterday, and when I took him he had a fever and really looked sick. I felt like a horrible kitty mom. The vet was going to admit him to the hospital, and I was a little relieved. Then she decided she wanted to do one more test, an ultrasound. She saw fluid in his abdominal cavity. She decided to needle aspirate it to look at it. She was worried. I was worried as well. She got some fluid and then went and did something with it and looked at it under the microscope. She came back with the worst diagnosis possible. He has FIP. You can go read about it or I can just tell you there's no treatment and it's fatal. There are some "potential" experimental treatments, but they don't seem to work.

I am so sad. I haven't told twoK yet because I want to make sure of the diagnosis and hear from the vet. I'm also sad because he's so young and we've barely gotten to know him. He is such a sweet boy.