Help Fern beat FIP

Hi everyone. My name is Josh, and I’m fundraising for my cat Fern.

First of all, thank you for taking time to hear Fern’s story.

For some context, I adopted baby Fern with her sister Sage as a bonded pair back in July. I had been planning to give a home to some cats for a while, but when I saw these two on the shelter website, I could not wait any longer. To keep things brief, these two have changed my life. Fern and Sage are now just about 1 year old, celebrating their first birthdays later this month.

This past Tuesday I noticed that Fern was not acting like herself. She wasn’t eating, playing, or cuddling with me like she has for the past few months. Her condition has rapidly declined this week and she’s spent a few days in and out of the vet clinic to figure out what is making her so ill.

According to her doctor, Fern is suffering from a disease called FIP, or Feline Infectious Peritonitis. FIP is a cruel disease that kills thousands of innocent kittens a year. With an outlook of 4-5 weeks without treatment, a diagnosis of FIP feels like a death sentence. Discovering that my Fernie is suffering this disease has been devastating to say the least.

This week has been riddled with tests, treatments, and attempts to stabilize and diagnose Fern’s condition, which has included x-rays, ultrasound, and fluid drainage from her abdomen and chest, where her lungs have been severely compressed from the amount of fluid accumulating. Every breath Fern takes has been labored and exhausted. It’s easy to feel helpless as I watch her decline.

The good news is, FIP is no longer an untreatable disease. GS is an experimental treatment that has shown great success in treated cats in a study at UC Davis. A majority of cats who are afforded the treatment can spring back from what was once considered entirely fatal. I want to get Fern started on GS immediately.

Unfortunately, beating FIP isn’t free and I can’t put together the resources to treat her by myself. Her vet bills from this past few months alone are in the thousands of dollars, and FIP GS injections will likely cost even more than Fern’s past treatments and examinations. Worse yet, Fern’s GS treatment is not covered by pet insurance.

If you are able to help support Fern’s fight against FIP in any way, whether that is a donation or a share, I would be beyond grateful. Beating FIP is going to be a long journey for baby Fern and for myself, but I will never forgive myself if there’s a treatment available and I don’t give her the best fighting chance that I can.

Thank you for reading. If you could, please keep my kitty Fern in your thoughts and prayers.