Help Gizmo Fight FIP

Hi!

My name is Heidi and my mother and I independently rescue stray/feral cats and kittens. Recently we took in a litter from a feral cat in our colony. 1 of them, Gizmo, a tortoiseshell calico, who is the absolute sweetest girl and does not live up to the infamous attitude (aka tortitude) that many tortoiseshell calicos are known for. Gizmo, from that start was noticeably different from her siblings, much smaller (most likely the runt) and always off by herself, usually sleeping, fell ill in mid to late September. We took her to our family vet for a physical exam and per the vet she was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. We gave her a course of antibiotics and antibiotic eye cream. Her symptoms appeared to be getting better, although, she continued to be the smallest, had no interest in playing and generally spent her days sleeping. Around the beginning of last week we noticed her symptoms started to return and much worse. On Thursday, 10/19/23, she started declining, she could barely hold her little head up and just had this gaze in her eyes. I immediately left work and we rushed her to an emergency vet nearby. Gizmo had a fever of 104, was dehydrated and showed no interest in food when prompted by the vet. She also still had her symptoms of the upper respiratory infection, coughing, sneezing, discharge from eyes and nose and fatigue. She was given subcutaneous fluids and prescribed another round of clavamox (this time with a higher dose). It was recommended that we do bloodwork as well. We asked for an estimate for the bloodwork and it was 740$ (this is in total with the exam fee, fluids and medication prescribed). Because we do this independently, we opted out from the bloodwork as it was already a stretch to cover the remaining balance. We were going to call around and get prices from a low-cost clinic. Because we’ve had several kittens from gizmos mama pass away from FIP, I immediately contacted FIP support groups to get her started on treatment as she was presenting with the same symptoms as one of our previous cats. I was able to get linked up with a wonderful woman who got us started on her FIP treatment. I was able to pay for half of the treatment upfront, that cost me $120 dollars for two vials of the GS antiviral medication needed to save gizmos life. The treatment is an injection everyday for 84 days and an 84 day observation period following the injections. There are many supplies needed to be able to take care of gizmos during this fight for her life. Some of those needs include, the second round of the GS treatment, syringes, needles, a scale because she has to be weighed weekly in order to give her an accurate dose of the GS treatment, a thermometer for animals to be able to track her treatment, she will have to get blood work done at least once a month (to monitor for treatment and signs of relapse) I’ve been given an estimate of 150-200$ for the blood work needed (x4 months), she will need to go to the vet in between as she will need supportive care throughout this process. We would like to make her as comfortable as possible during this very difficult time as she fights for her life and we are committed to fight along side of her. we have never asked for help before but if you could find it in your heart to spare anything, a dollar, a prayer or good vibes we would truly be grateful from the bottom of hearts. If all that is available is just a share of this post that would also mean the world to us. I vowed I would never let another kitty pass away from this awful disease. We are truly grateful for any support we receive.

To tell you the rest of the story, I have to include the back story.

My mother and I have been taking care of a colony that lives on a farm property that aligns with the back of my mothers house. We leave for and shelter for them on our property to fill their hungry bellies and shelter to protect them and their offspring from potential predators. We have been doing this since 2019. Over the past few years we have since welcomed some of them into our home and family (ones we were able to socialize into indoor house cats) and our family has continued to grow since then. We have been working with a nonprofit organization on TNR for the ones who prefer to stay outdoors so they do not reproduce and can live out their life happily. We have not been able to catch everyone yet, so, in the meantime once the mamas are done nursing their babies, we take the babies in and care for them, socialize them and then find them furever homes. There is one mama cat (who we haven’t been able to catch yet) she is a shorthair American tortoiseshell calico. Over the years we have taken in several of her litters and have come to notice a devastating pattern. In every one of her litters there seemed to be at least one who would come down with a terrible illness and rapidly decline and suddenly pass away. Being new to rescue and not having much funds, we did the best we could to care for all of them.

In August of 2022 we took in one of her litters, there were 9 babies total. One of them was a foster fail, Magnolia, my sweet girl, (and trust me if we could have we would have kept them all). She was the absolute sweetest girl. A tortoiseshell calico. In October, we noticed she was not feeling well, having symptoms of an upper respiratory infection, she had a bloated belly, she was not grooming and she spent most of her days sleeping. We took her to the vet, she was given a physical exam and she was started on a round of antibiotics and antibiotic eye drops and treated for worms. She did get a little better after that but not too long she started to get all of her symptoms back and then some. We took her back to the vet, and again, the vet stated she was fine, given another round of antibiotics and they sent us on our way. Well, flash forward to November of 2022, she was declining rapidly, we rushed her to another vet and after some tests our vet informed us she had wet FIP. He let us know that there was no treatment available and that likely she only had about two weeks left to live. She was prescribed supportive care medication and we took her home. Sadly, she declined very very rapidly and within a week we laid our sweet girl to rest. It was the absolute worst experience to date and it breaks my heart knowing I couldn’t save her. Since that time we’ve lost one more sweet baby to this awful disease, our sweet boy Charlie. It has been an emotional roller coaster ride through all this.

After Gizmo started to get sick I did as much research as possible to find resources in the event we needed them, which we did.

If you’ve made it this far into this post, I truly appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.

Please if you could find it in your heart to spare even a dollar for gizmos treatment we would be so grateful.

I will post all receipts and vet bills as they come up.

If you have any questions or need help or guidance in finding FIP support and treatment, please feel free to email me.

Thank you all and have a blessed day!