Help Chicory fight FIP

Chicory is a 2-month old kitten who was born outside. He and his siblings lived beneath a concrete patio of a college dormitory in Brooklyn, NY and were dutifully looked after by students and staff until they were rescued by us.

75% of kittens born outdoors die before they turn 6 months old. But what most people don't realize is that some of the largest dangers they face are microscopic.

For the last 4 weeks, Chicory has struggled with the worse parasites I've ever seen in a kitten (coccidia, giardia, tapeworm, living maggots in his anal tissue). He had chronic diarrhea and has suffered from this for 4-weeks. This has led to secondary issues of extreme anal inflammation and fecal scald, despite his fosters heroic efforts to keep him clean.

Chicory has also exhibited UTI-like symptoms (in/out of the litter box, unproductive attempts) which his original vets chalked up to GI inflammation.

He shivers from time to time and his eyes aren't aligned, but we chalked this up to the incredible strain his body has been under.

All of this changed the weekend of August 1st. At his third vet visit, Chicory's vet realized his bladder was engorged and had to be manually expressed. It turns out that Chicory's urinary issues were because he could not contract his bladder - a neurological issue.

24 hours later Chicory lost the use of his hind limbs.

And 12 hours after that, he began to lose control of his front ones.

In all my years of rescue, I have NEVER seen such terrifyingly fast and serious symptom onset in a kitten.

Days prior, the wonderful supporters in our online community had mentioned the possibility of FIP. This was something his vet team had ruled out due to his lack of fever, high appetite, and lack of vomiting. But as his foster and I began researching FIP - specifically dry FIP - horror dawned on us.

After consulting with our rescue community and the incredible group of FIP Warriors, we decided to start Chicory on FIP treatment immediately to see if it would help. FIP Warriors does believe Chicory fits the symptomatic profile for dry FIP, with ocular and neurological symptoms.

FIP is a fatal virus that is the result of an uncommon mutation. It is almost always fatal if left untreated and it advances rapidly. However, there is a treatment for it. It is grueling - 1-2 injections every day for 84 days, with bloodwork panels done every 30 days. At this time, Chicory is not a candidate for the less intensive oral medications.

FIP treatment is not cheap (although I was amazed to see how much more affordable it's become in the last year!) The injections alone will cost us $600-$800 minimum, and the repeated bloodwork will cost $750-1500.

Thanks to what this community raised previously, Chicory's initial vet visits up until this point have been covered but the cost of his continued care will exceed what we've raised so far.

Below are the totals of the care you've helped us cover and estimations for continued care. We are so so grateful that you have helped us come this far, and we're desperately hopeful that Chicory will have years of a wonderful life ahead of him, if only he can beat this thing. We know he deserves this chance and his rescue team and his foster are fighting like hell to give him it. Thank you for joining us in saving him.

Vet History to date: