Help Little Joey Fight FIP

This is not what I thought I'd be doing right now. I truly hate making GoFundMes for myself and my babies. Who wants to ask for money? Definitely not us.

But here we are with another devastating diagnosis for one of our Kitty Krew. Our little seven-month-old ginger man Joey has FIP. This boy who has a deformed paw yet is such a fighter! He came to us last year all the way from Egypt, surviving great odds as a disabled kitten on the streets. From the moment he arrived he stole our hearts beyond measure (and he loves his mommy so, so much)!!

We need to act fast to get him well!

If you follow us, you know this has come on the heels of us nearly draining our life savings with our Sammy who made it through the same diagnosis of FIP with the very costly and laborious treatments (but we saved him!). And then the three- to four-times costlier treatments for Chandler and her bout with near-fatal panleuk (but we saved her too!). We are shaking our heads with how we've ended up with these major medical problems! FIP is not contagious. And we were able to fully contain the panleuk so that none of our other babies would get it from Chandler.

FIP is treatable! I repeat, FIP is treatable! It just takes money (time, energy, and love, too)! Third time is a charm. From Sammy to Chandler...we have to now save Joey!

As a little back story, Joey came to us in November with no major red flags. He was a small boy, but he was fully vetted, tested, vaccinated, and seemed medically sound. He did have a mouth infection and of course the deformed paw; the former we treated, the latter just makes him the cute boy he is. But in the more recent weeks, the mouth issues acted up again, so last week when he was neutered, the doc extracted eight teeth. We thought we were in the clear with him.

We were wrong.

In the first few days, he seemed better. Less obvious mouth pain than when he had the infected teeth, getting better as his gums healed. But that changed, and fast. In the last few days, his mouth seemed problematic again, looking like it hurt to eat. He was losing weight. He was peeing everywhere and it seemed to just come out wherever he sat. Likely triggered by the stress of the surgeries, his health was declining--FIP was the beast waiting to rear its ugly head.

Yesterday we called the vet and went in for a visit. The doc kept him for several hours to evaluate him fully. We went back at the end of the day thinking we'd get some meds for the mouth and/or a UTI and be on our way. But it was a different story. Everything was pointing to FIP (insert expletives here)! We were immediately sent to emergency so he could be stabilized, because he needs to start FIP treatment ASAP and it can only be done at home.

Right now, we are working with the specialists to get his blood sugar and infections (mouth and UTI) under control so he can get the life-saving FIP meds. If you don't know about FIP, there is a non-FDA approved treatment that WORKS but doctors can't recommend it nor prescribe it, and they won't even administer it if you ask them (we did).

So, where we are now is over $5000 between his surgeries last week, the regular vet, and the emergency vet hospital. That is a LOW estimate right now as he's still not home. This is WITHOUT the FIP treatment which is $5000-6000. We know because we've been down this road before. That includes injections, vet follow ups, total blood chem panels, and more. BUT WE HAVE TO SAVE HIM!!

My husband and I started this journey after losing our son to Duchenne muscular dystrophy three years ago. We believe firmly that "All life has value" and that includes our fur kids as well. How do you put a dollar amount on a life? But we need to be sure we can not only save each life for whom we are responsible and help them to thrive, but at the same time not neglect the needs of our others while we address these serious and totally unexpected medical issues and expenses. We hope you understand our plight and can help if possible. Every dollar adds up. Every share helps. And every time we talk about FIP and the successful treatment that IS available, we are one step closer to help them get FDA approval so that this can be more easily obtained and save more kitties. Many doctors know about it, but because their hands are tied, it's often difficult to get them on board. We've had some hard conversations over the past 24 hours (not with our regular vet whom we love)--but we must do anything possible to save Joey, help all our other resident babies, and ultimately help as many other needy kitties as we can.

Thank you so very much for your love and support. We truly appreciate each and every one of you and honestly, we know we couldn't do what we do without you. It does take a village.

[FYI: The amount of the fundraiser only covers our most current expenses. Depending on how much support we receive, we may need to increase that, but we truly appreciate every penny.]