Ivy's FIP Treatment

Sarah Wisseman is organizing this fundraiser.

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This past week has turned our world upside down. It began with the devastating news that a fatal viral infection called FIP would mean that we were going to say goodbye to our beloved 3-year-old cat, Ivy. But then the week ended with a glimmer of hope and the slim possibility that we had a shot at saving her life. We're reaching out to our friends and family seeking contributions to what we expect to be a long and expensive treatment to give Ivy a chance for a full and healthy life. We would be so grateful for any amount you can provide. Full story below...

Ivy's Full FIP Story

On Sunday April 11th, we returned from a trip expecting our little 3-year-old cat, Ivy, to greet us at the door. Instead we found her curled up in the back of her carrier, uninterested in our arrival or even treats. When she finally emerged, she was emaciated and lethargic. Our poor Ivy was really sick.

Seeing no improvement overnight, we took her to the vet first thing the following morning, hoping there would be a simple fix. But the call back from the vet was heartbreaking. Ivy was down to just 5 pounds, she had a high fever, and her blood work showed many concerning signs. Most ominously, the vet had to drain 80ml of liquid that was filling her abdomen. These symptoms pointed to an aggressive viral infection which our vet suspected was FIP — Feline Infectious Peritonitis. This rare disease is a severe mutation of a fairly innocuous feline coronavirus (not COVID-19). It is almost always fatal. After visiting a second animal hospital on Tuesday, and having another painful phone call with a different vet who confirmed the strong likelihood of FIP, Sarah and I began to face the reality that we would need to say to goodbye to Ivy.

The thought of losing Ivy crushed us — especially after adopting her just one year ago, days into the first COVID-19 lockdown. This little grey cat had made our pandemic experience so much better than it had any right to be, and brought us closer together than we could have imagined (in case you missed it, we're engaged now). And just over a month ago, when a knife-wielding man came into our apartment in the middle of the night, Ivy helped alert us to the danger before he found us sleeping — a crucial act that allowed us to escape the intruder physically unscathed. We like to say that Ivy has saved us twice. We felt totally crushed at the thought that the we couldn't save her.

But the second vet did mention there was an experimental treatment for FIP that had shown some promise in helping cats with the fatal prognosis. She warned us that it would be a long and expensive fight though, likely costing over $6,000 and involving 84 days of daily injections followed by an intense observation period to keep Ivy on track. We were torn. The treatment sounded difficult and we worried about prolonging Ivy's suffering. But after tapping into an incredible network of cat lovers around the country who have successfully saved their cats from FIP, we decided that we would take on the challenge. We are now on day 5 of Ivy's treatment and we are beginning to see some little signs of improvement. Ivy is eating again and starting to get some of her old energy back. Each extra day with Ivy feels like a miracle. We were extremely lucky to have some savings that allowed us to get Ivy the immediate care she needed and to start the treatment, but we're hoping we can call on a little bit of generosity from our community to make sure we can finish it. We'll need to buy more medication, supplies, and pay for additional vet visits over the coming months. So if you have any amount to spare for our little Ivy and her fight against FIP, it would mean so much to her and to us. Thank you!

—Riley & Sarah