Back in September I adopted a sweet 11 week old kitten, and a few days after adopting him he was exhibiting clear signs of illness. He was in a shelter that seemed underfunded and was in a pretty crowded kitten room. However, I should have done my research on the effects of overcrowding kittens in shelters. The shelter offered a 5 day policy of returning if the cat was ill, however I did not want to take him back to that place if I could make him feel better myself. We visited the vets numerous times for numerous symptoms but couldn't really figure anything out, all just vague symptoms that seemed to persist. Then, one day he seemed to get better and feel better and was healthy enough to get his vaccines. But after another month he was back to exhibiting signs of illness and vague symptoms that persisted again.
The vet warned us early on about the possibility of FIP given his status of being a shelter kitten, the overcrowding, his age, and his persistent symptoms/blood work despite being on antibiotics. Finally around November 15th he started developing a swollen abdomen that has progressively gotten worse across time. We took him back to the vet where they did an ultrasound and found lots of fluid and diagnosed him with wet FIP, a diagnosis we were expecting but one we did not want to hear. They did not advise euthanasia yet as he is still some what perky, he is still eating and getting up and moving around as well as still playing some and following me around begging for attention. Once he starts exhibiting signs of discomfort, which will come, we will euthanize him.
I will note that I know all about the new treatments on the black market but after putting thousands into him to get a diagnosis and treat his symptoms it just isn't feasible for us to go that route with there being no guarantee. We also couldn't get any of his bills covered through pet insurance because He was ill prior to coverage and they considered it a pre-existing condition as the vet wrote the possibility of FIP before we had coverage and continued to write In the notes once we did get coverage, so it came entirely out of our pockets. I am devastated to say the least but am happy knowing we provided him with a loving home with care that he would not have gotten otherwise, and I believe everything happens for a reason and it was meant for him to be with us for his short life. I will definitely never forget him and am enjoying every minute that he is still here with us and know it is going to be a horrible day when we decide to let him go.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/k89fv5/adopted_a_shelter_kitten_with_fip/
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