Hi everybody. This week has been a whirlwind. Our little buddy Banjo had lost a little bit of weight this month so we took him in for his first routine checkup (he’s only a year and a half old). We found out the devastating news that he has a rare, fatal, and generally considered untreatable condition called FIP, caused by a mutation of a common virus he must have had as a newborn kitten.

There is an experimental (and expensive) drug called GS-441524 that is available that has been shown to cure the illness, but is not yet FDA approved and thus cannot be prescribed by a veterinarian. Cats don’t often get new medications approved because the minimal pet drug research and development that is done is allocated mostly for dogs. While experimental, it appears to have a very high success rate and there are support groups for this treatment.

Banjo would require a shot a day for 84 days(12 weeks), and the cost of 4 weeks worth is over $700 for a total of over $2100 not including shipping, needles, syringes, etc or other bloodwork he may need.

While I am very much ready to start thinking about selling a kidney, and will find a way to get my little guy the medication he needs no matter the cost, any little bit will help. There’s not much on this planet that I need or care about, but I would take a bullet for my furry son. I love him and want him to have the best, long life that he can possibly have. Thank you for reading.