Gibby’s Fight~ Liver Shunt Surgery & Post Recovery Expenses

This is Gibbys story…

He was a normal happy playful kitten we adopted for my 16 year old daughter to help her with her anxiety and depression. Suddenly Gibby became lethargic we took him to the ER vet sent him home with prescription food and fluids, two days later he didnt improve, he started having seizures and suddenly lost his sight and was drooling proufusuly, wouldnt eat or drink, could barely walk, took him back they ran blood panels and tests everything looked normal. They suggested is he didnt improve it was best to euthanize him as they couldnt confirm what he may have. We followed up with his primary they suggested the same.

We were distraught . I had to do something, I researched and came accross a baby kitten rescue with a cat with similar symtoms being treated for FIP, I asked around and was referred to reach out for help. My admins helped me find a new vet, she ran more tests and toxoplasmosis which came back negative, blood work still looked normal. She suspected nuero FIP amd had us start treatment. There was a lot of ups and downs, ER visits, xrays, monthly blood panels, he was on medications to control his seizures (phenobarbital, gabapentin) suppliments along with 2x a day double dosing GS injections for 112 days. He improved started eating on his own, his neurological signs and blindness never improved though and he was still twitching and having breakthrough seuizres. His admins suggested taking his to a neurologist. We did and she wanted to run an MRI but first rule out liver shunt since symtoms can mimic FIP, we did bile acids testing and it came back extremely high. He immediately was put on meds for his liver (keppra, metronidazole, laculose and prescription food)

The next step was ultrasound to check for the shunt. The radiologist said nothing showed but only about 70% of shunts show on ultrasound. They referred us to a internal medicine specialist to help us through the liver issues. She ran more testing, urine samples ect said he is a very complicated case so wanted to rule out anything else. All came back negative/ normal.

Next step is a CT scan to find is he has a shunt and possible surgey.

When we started all of this I had no idea how we could afford it but knew we needed to fight for sweet Gibby. We started his go fund me and thanks to so many wonderful and generous donars help Gibby has made it this far through his journey. My credit cards are maxed out and we are at a loss on how to continue all of this. We have about half of what is needed for the CT scan (the total is $2119 just for it)

8/24 : Gibby had his CT scan and does have a liver shunt! A very large one! Surgery is possible but will be very expensive as he needs to be hospitalized up to three days after.

Gibbys surgery using a cellophane banding to reduce his liver shunt slowly is scheduled for December 21st, 2023 at Dove Lewis (this surgery estimate is between $6559-8896) Please if you have it in your heart to help Gibby finally see a true cure and be able to live his best life it would be so appreciated.

12/21/23 Surgery Day~ during pre-op blood work found that his calcium levels were high off the charts. Couldn’t move forward with surgery until finding the cause. Performed $2,600 in tests and imaging, no cause determined, idiopathic hypercalcemia.

Jan-April 2024, more internal medicine specialists appointments/ check ups attempting to lower calcium with psyllium husk and aldrenoate.

May 22, 2024 Rescheduled Surgery Date!

With all of Gibbys expenses so far we have spent over $26,000 which is so much and there’s no way we could possibly do this without all of the kind hearted individuals that have helped him along the way! My credit cards are all maxed out as we continue his journey but it’s all worth it to save his precious life.

We have quite of chunk of debt to pay off and more expenses to come soon with spendy medications, follow up testing, specialist appointments. If able to help at all with any amount of donation it’s extremely appreciated.

Thank you to all of Gibbys angels out there!