Help Willy fight FIP
Donation protected
As some of you may know, my girlfriend Katie and I recently adopted a sweet kitten that was rescued along with his mama and two siblings. Katie was volunteering at a shelter, which is how we came to know about Willy (formerly “Kung Lao”). Katie bonded with him immediately and *literally* would not shut up about him until I agreed to go & meet him. Fast forward, our family of two quickly became a family of 3. We are so in love with our sweet boy. We decided to name him Willy Wonky because he has Cerebellar Hypoplasia, which causes him to wobble like a little drunkard when he walks - and we fell in love with his “wonky” walk. When we brought Willy home about a month ago, he was incredibly playful, goofy and affectionate.
He would gobble his food up and then immediately come give you tuna breath kisses to say 'thank you' for the grub.
He would come wobbling excitedly around the corner to report for duty (cuddles) any time either of us sang “Willyboy” in a very silly tone.
He loved his toys so much that we had to put them away at night because he would keep our downstairs neighbors up while he partied all night.
A short time passed and he became very lethargic and less interested in food so we knew something was going on. We suspected an intestinal parasite called coccidia because he was having diarrhea and vomiting at the time; however, a Feline Gastrointestinal PCR panel results came back negative. The diarrhea/vomiting cleared up on it’s own (in hindsight - they were likely from feeling stressed) but his lethargy and lack of appetite remained. At one point, he developed a life threatening fever; we could feel the heat radiating from his little body. We took him to the vet immediately and upon confirming his temperature, our vet wrapped him in ice packs and put alcohol on his paws to bring the fever down as fast as possible. He also began accumulating fluid in his abdomen. While all of this was going on, COVID19 sent the world into a very scary frenzy, and Kate had to return back to Canada suddenly for the time being after Prime Minister Trudeau declared our shared border would soon be closing. It was so hard for her to leave when we had very little idea what was going on with our sweet Willy. The past week was scary as Willy (already tiny) continued to lose weight, so Elena had to start feeding him his food and water via syringe.
As his condition worsened, we contacted a trusted vet we knew from the shelter to take a look at him and after running a few tests- they were able to diagnose him with FIP- which is caused by a type of feline enteric coronavirus. His TBIL and GLOB levels were elevated - both are strong indicators of FIP (from what we understand), especially when all other possibilities have been ruled out. We were certain that this was a death sentence but our amazing vet made us aware of a treatment that, although gives no guarantee, has given us glimmer of hope that Willy can survive this diagnosis.
However, treatment for FIP is incredibly expensive. We know it’s a crazy time for so many right now, and we completely understand if donating to help cover his treatment is not possible for you. However, we would never forgive ourselves if we didn’t try to give him a fighting chance to save his life. Even if it’s one dollar, you will be helping us to get our buddy the best treatment possible. The money we are hoping to raise will go towards covering the rest of medication itself- not including the monthly bloodwork and routine checkups in our future.
We promise that when we are in the position to do so, we will pay it forward.
If you have any questions (or insight on this journey!) please don't hesitate to reach out to one of us directly. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kate, Elena & Willy Boy
He would gobble his food up and then immediately come give you tuna breath kisses to say 'thank you' for the grub.
He would come wobbling excitedly around the corner to report for duty (cuddles) any time either of us sang “Willyboy” in a very silly tone.
He loved his toys so much that we had to put them away at night because he would keep our downstairs neighbors up while he partied all night.
A short time passed and he became very lethargic and less interested in food so we knew something was going on. We suspected an intestinal parasite called coccidia because he was having diarrhea and vomiting at the time; however, a Feline Gastrointestinal PCR panel results came back negative. The diarrhea/vomiting cleared up on it’s own (in hindsight - they were likely from feeling stressed) but his lethargy and lack of appetite remained. At one point, he developed a life threatening fever; we could feel the heat radiating from his little body. We took him to the vet immediately and upon confirming his temperature, our vet wrapped him in ice packs and put alcohol on his paws to bring the fever down as fast as possible. He also began accumulating fluid in his abdomen. While all of this was going on, COVID19 sent the world into a very scary frenzy, and Kate had to return back to Canada suddenly for the time being after Prime Minister Trudeau declared our shared border would soon be closing. It was so hard for her to leave when we had very little idea what was going on with our sweet Willy. The past week was scary as Willy (already tiny) continued to lose weight, so Elena had to start feeding him his food and water via syringe.
As his condition worsened, we contacted a trusted vet we knew from the shelter to take a look at him and after running a few tests- they were able to diagnose him with FIP- which is caused by a type of feline enteric coronavirus. His TBIL and GLOB levels were elevated - both are strong indicators of FIP (from what we understand), especially when all other possibilities have been ruled out. We were certain that this was a death sentence but our amazing vet made us aware of a treatment that, although gives no guarantee, has given us glimmer of hope that Willy can survive this diagnosis.
However, treatment for FIP is incredibly expensive. We know it’s a crazy time for so many right now, and we completely understand if donating to help cover his treatment is not possible for you. However, we would never forgive ourselves if we didn’t try to give him a fighting chance to save his life. Even if it’s one dollar, you will be helping us to get our buddy the best treatment possible. The money we are hoping to raise will go towards covering the rest of medication itself- not including the monthly bloodwork and routine checkups in our future.
We promise that when we are in the position to do so, we will pay it forward.
If you have any questions (or insight on this journey!) please don't hesitate to reach out to one of us directly. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kate, Elena & Willy Boy
Co-organizers (2)
Elena Volden
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Katie Ippolito
Co-organizer