Second Chance Cats of West Michigan

Help us save Pretzel's life!

Pretzel has the dry form of FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis.) FIP (wet and dry) used to be a 100% deadly disease. Now there is a treatment that has been proven to be 99% effective in CURING this disease. These studies were performed at UC Davis.

This is wonderful! However, the treatment cost will be between $4,000-$6,000. This does not include the costs of his previous dental procedure and initial Vet visits.

Our sweet Pretzel has had a rough go at life so far. He was abandoned and subsequently rescued when found quite thin and declining. He then went through a dental procedure, where 18 teeth were removed! He remained very loving towards all, cats and humans alike, and quickly became a volunteer favorite. We were so excited when he was adopted by one of our volunteers.

Pretzel started to decline shortly after he was adopted. He was taken to the Vet where the best diagnosis was a blood parasite, (as there is no test for FIP) and he was started on antibiotics. He did not seem to be responding after a few days of treatment and he continued to be lethargic. His appetite was greatly decreased and he was extremely dehydrated. We were giving him fluids and an appetite stimulant daily.

He then started having neurological symptoms, such as reaching out one of his front paws and then falling over and becoming very wobbly when walking. We also noticed he had some visual disturbance. Since the treatment was not helping him we feared the next step was euthanasia.

Our Director shared Pretzel's symptoms and labs with a friend who is a vet tech. The tech then forwarded the results to someone who has helped her cure cats of FIP. It was highly suspected that he had the dry form of FIP, given the bloodwork and new neurological symptoms.

He was started on the 84-day treatment right away. You read that right, 84 days of treatment followed by 84 days of observation for relapse.

Within 2 days he started to show improvement. Within 3 days, he was jumping up on tables and getting into catnip. Within one week, he is now running around, playing like a kitten.

As much as this is a miracle for us and Pretzel, it is a substantial financial setback for the rescue. We believe that Pretzel is worth every dime of this. He deserves this second chance to live a happy, healthy life, but the reality is, this is a consequential amount to spend and our small rescue could use any help we can get.

Please help us save Pretzel's life and continue to rescue cats at risk of euthanasia and cats who have been abandoned with no resources to survive.