ALFIE AND JEROME'S FIP STORY
Our story is a lengthy, and unusual one. We had two boys, Hank and Jerome, who were 5 year old biological brothers. In July of 2021 we decided to get another kitten. Alfie (gray) was the cutest little firecracker we'd ever seen. He had some minor health problems for a couple weeks after we got him, but then he got better. But then around the middle of September 2021, we noticed signs that he was really sick (high fever, no appetite, cloudy left eye, and complete lethargy). So we took him to our vet not knowing what was going on, and after a couple visits, our vet couldn't tell us what was wrong, and effectively suggested he was dying and should be put down. She did however mention FIP. So we went home devastated, but got in contact with the Warriors group. After only a short amount of time communicating with them, our attitude changed to one of hope! We never looked back. We put all our trust in these people we had never met, and we are grateful we did. We immediately started Alfie on injections, and noticed a change on day 3. Due to the stress injections brought us, we were able to switch to pills about 2/3 of the way through. We made it through the 84 days, and the 84 days of observation went well too, and we were overjoyed to hear Alfie was cured in April of 2022.
That was very short lived, as that same week, we noticed Jerome (our big white bruiser) was looking skinny, and not eating. After a vet visit, they said he had lost about 2kg in weight (he was just over 7kg, down to 5). Now what!? After many, MANY vet visits, to 2 different vets, we were told he was really sick, but they didn't know if it was kidney problems, FIP, or something else. After more tests, they told us he had cancer. We stared at walls...we were lost, and didn't know what to do. After the stress and cost of Alfie, we didn't think we could deal with cancer. So we had to take Jerome twice to the oncologist for tests over about a month's time. However, during this time, we reached out to our new FIP Warrior friends and they suggested that they had seen a couple cases where FIP had been diagnosed as cancer, and suggested we start Jerome on treatment while getting tested for cancer. WOW - we were thankfully able to do oral syringes for Jerome (we couldn't do needles on him, it was too stressful for us, and he is just too strong). After a very stressful month, the oncologist said he did not have cancer, and to continue with what we were doing. So we did Jerome, twice a day for the 84 days, and then the observation. Thankfully, he was also declared cured in October of 2022, and was actually heavier then when he got sick.
In the end, Alfie had dry FIP, Jerome had wet. It is unusual to deal with 2 FIP cats over the span of 1 year, but we did, and we got through it thanks to these amazing Warriors. They went out of their way to comfort us, re-assure us, help us with information, and get us the medicine we needed as quick as possible. We can't thank them enough for allowing our cats to live. Alfie is now a healthy 2.5 year old spitfire, and Jerome is now 7 years old, and weighing close to 8.5kg.
We love all the Warriors that we have talked to along the way (we still talk to them, asking questions, helping out other cat parents), and are glad we took that sliver and hope and ran with it. They're very knowledgeable, and have some good people looking out for your kitties.