It Doesn't Have To Be a Death Sentence

After making the long drive from Kansas to Arizona in pursuit of a warmer climate, more activities for our son, and no daylight savings time I wasted no time in pestering my husband about the cats he had promised me as soon as we had "a place of our own". I spent the first 2 weeks setting up my office for work, getting the kiddo settled in school, and completely avoiding unpacking by looking up cats on petfinder.com, local craigslist ads, and any other means I could find. When I tell you that I wanted these cats badly, it's an understatement.

We finally found a kitten who stood out to us and wasn't that far away at the local humane society. I set the appointment and off we went that following weekend praying she was still available. Spoiler alert: she was! I was so excited and we all immediately knew she was the cat for us. I reminded my husband of the benefits of having two kittens grow up together and let him pick out the other kitten we would bring home with us. We fell in love with her immediately as well. The woman who had been assisting us came back with the paperwork and began reading their medical histories to us, which is when we all (the worker, included) found out that the first kitten we chose was a tripod! Following a resounding "yes, we absolutely still want her", we paid for the kittens, signed the paperwork, and were on our way. Our son named each of them and he came up with Shadow, who is a gorgeous black/smoke color, and Tails, (our tripod) who is a beautiful mix of splashes of orange mixed with the usual brown/black tabby colors (he's obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog).

Fast forward, we are living what I would consider my perfect existence when I notice that our black kitten, Shadow was losing fur on her ears. I'll save you the long-winded description of what happened next.. we all got ringworm. I removed our carpet in the entire house to reduce the fungal spores and after a month, we were all on the up and up until.. we all got COVID from my son being exposed at school. After those two weeks of hell, I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, we were done, free from the sickness, and ready to truly start living the life we had traveled 1200 miles for!

That next week seemed like pure bliss. Our son was back in school, I could breathe again, and nature was healing.. or so I thought. Shadow stopped eating, using the litter box, and drinking water almost abruptly. I did what any worried mother does and consulted google. After going through the various terrifying websites I scheduled a vet appointment. A blood test was done and the next day I received a phone call from the vet himself telling me that I need to start treating her for FIP. I was able to obtain the life-saving (expensive) medication from a local group and administered it that same night.

The next morning Shadow was in my bed nudging my face and demanding food like she did so many times before she became sick. I have never been so happy to get out of bed at 5am! Over the next month, we saw nothing but improvements. Her appetite, thirst, and playfulness all returned. We had our baby back.

Fast forward to this morning: I take Shadow in for her 4-week follow-up and Tails in for her first round of vaccinations post-adoption. The vet was delighted at the progress Shadow had made! But then came Tails' turn to be seen and my fear was brought back. He suspected FIP in her as well.

My stomach dropped and I stifled back the tears I knew were just begging to be released. A blood panel was ordered for both and we checked out at the front desk.

And here we are at the present, with me typing this as Tails is curled in my lap. I'm not normally the type to ask for help when it is needed and prefer to struggle in silence. However, this is literally a matter of life or death. Because I cannot get the needed medicine from the vet, I am seeking assistance for the treatment and the numerous vet visits that will accompany it. (Blood panels are needed every 4 weeks with the treatment spanning 84 days, and then 84 days of making sure there is no relapse.)

If you are able to spare anything at all, we truly appreciate it. Thank you for reading our story so far and here's to the story moving forward to that happy ending.