Mr. Robot has Histoplasmosis
Donation protected
UPDATED INFORMATION:
Mr. Robot does not have FIP. After three vets, an entire FIP community, and $5,141.00 later ($3,298.00 in donations total - including Venmo; $1,843.00 out of my own pocket with return of FIP medicine calculated), Nashville Vet Specialist (NVS) internist Dr. Stegeman diagnosed & confirmed histoplasmosis. After 23 days of FIP treatment, meal support from mom and dad, and a lot of help from friend and best neighbor ever, Kelly, Mr. Robot was not responding to treatment and getting worse. Wes Vet (her 3rd vet) put her on antifungal medicine and she started to respond. Dr. Stegeman (her 4th vet at NVS) did all of the testing and confirmed - it was never FIP and has been histoplasmosis all along.
Mr. Robot is 2 weeks into her antifungal treatment and her respiratory symptoms are nearly gone, her behavior almost back to normal (including appetite, drinking water, play, and general interest), and her bloodwork (count and chemistry) improving. However, it will still be a long road - her skin lesions and joint inflammation are still present and we have got to get this out of her system. Dr. Stegemam believes she could very well make a full recovery but we are looking at around, if not at least, 8 months of treatment and a lot of follow-up vet appointments. Good news is that she is responding to treatment and that it is not in her blood!
I am sooo grateful that she is getting better and none of this would have happened without your support and donations - THANK YOU!! This cat is alive because you decided to help - truly, your donations have saved her life.
All of the donations go to Mr. Robot’s medical bills. I am $1,843 over in my cost alone and I estimate that I have got around $2,000 more to go ($80 treatment per month for at least 8 months + check up appointments and bloodwork). Any and everything will help. I almost put her down two weeks ago and am sooo grateful that I did not - she can and likely will get better, it was just the wrong diagnoses. If I could do it all over again, I would start at NVS but in all honesty, histoplasmosis is super rare and very hard to diagnose until the progression becomes this bad... so we might not have known anyways. Thank you for your donations and support and for being part of this journey - we would not be here without you.
Sincerely,
Anna
Dear friends and family,
One month ago I tentatively adopted a 4 month old female kitten, ironically named Mr. Robot, from Nashville Cat Rescue (NCR). Mr. Robot has been adorable and great, but immediately got very sick. She has secondary symptoms of hepatitis and liver failure and two vets (plus an entire online cat community) suspect a condition called Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). FIP is 100% fatal; however, there is an experimental treatment that has a 80-90% success rate. As you know, I am a scientist and have done the research, talked to the vets and the FIP outreach community, and I believe this treatment may very well work. Plus, treatment can show results in a matter of days and after one dose of this treatment, Mr. Robot is already back up and running, playing, eating, etc. However, this treatment is incredibly expensive (~$70 a vial, she will need 2-3 vials a week for ~3 months, 84 days to be exact).
I am not ready to put Mr. Robot down and I need some help: financially, physically, and emotionally. I am already an unexpected $1,000.00 into vet bills and this treatment will add ~$2,230-$3,000 at least (including treatment and follow-up vet appointments).
If you are able and willing to donate any money and/or know of a nurse, doctor, or vet tech around the Belmont/Hillsboro area who can volunteer their time to help me (at least this week) to administer the medicine (subcutaneous shot once daily), that would be incredibly helpful. I admit that I am in over my head and I honestly could use any and all the help I can get <3
Links to information about the experimental treatment:
https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/cat-health-news/fip-treatment-might-soon-be-reality
https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2020-01-15/fip-drugs-continue-show-promise-while-being-sold-black-market
Mr. Robot does not have FIP. After three vets, an entire FIP community, and $5,141.00 later ($3,298.00 in donations total - including Venmo; $1,843.00 out of my own pocket with return of FIP medicine calculated), Nashville Vet Specialist (NVS) internist Dr. Stegeman diagnosed & confirmed histoplasmosis. After 23 days of FIP treatment, meal support from mom and dad, and a lot of help from friend and best neighbor ever, Kelly, Mr. Robot was not responding to treatment and getting worse. Wes Vet (her 3rd vet) put her on antifungal medicine and she started to respond. Dr. Stegeman (her 4th vet at NVS) did all of the testing and confirmed - it was never FIP and has been histoplasmosis all along.
Mr. Robot is 2 weeks into her antifungal treatment and her respiratory symptoms are nearly gone, her behavior almost back to normal (including appetite, drinking water, play, and general interest), and her bloodwork (count and chemistry) improving. However, it will still be a long road - her skin lesions and joint inflammation are still present and we have got to get this out of her system. Dr. Stegemam believes she could very well make a full recovery but we are looking at around, if not at least, 8 months of treatment and a lot of follow-up vet appointments. Good news is that she is responding to treatment and that it is not in her blood!
I am sooo grateful that she is getting better and none of this would have happened without your support and donations - THANK YOU!! This cat is alive because you decided to help - truly, your donations have saved her life.
All of the donations go to Mr. Robot’s medical bills. I am $1,843 over in my cost alone and I estimate that I have got around $2,000 more to go ($80 treatment per month for at least 8 months + check up appointments and bloodwork). Any and everything will help. I almost put her down two weeks ago and am sooo grateful that I did not - she can and likely will get better, it was just the wrong diagnoses. If I could do it all over again, I would start at NVS but in all honesty, histoplasmosis is super rare and very hard to diagnose until the progression becomes this bad... so we might not have known anyways. Thank you for your donations and support and for being part of this journey - we would not be here without you.
Sincerely,
Anna
Dear friends and family,
One month ago I tentatively adopted a 4 month old female kitten, ironically named Mr. Robot, from Nashville Cat Rescue (NCR). Mr. Robot has been adorable and great, but immediately got very sick. She has secondary symptoms of hepatitis and liver failure and two vets (plus an entire online cat community) suspect a condition called Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). FIP is 100% fatal; however, there is an experimental treatment that has a 80-90% success rate. As you know, I am a scientist and have done the research, talked to the vets and the FIP outreach community, and I believe this treatment may very well work. Plus, treatment can show results in a matter of days and after one dose of this treatment, Mr. Robot is already back up and running, playing, eating, etc. However, this treatment is incredibly expensive (~$70 a vial, she will need 2-3 vials a week for ~3 months, 84 days to be exact).
I am not ready to put Mr. Robot down and I need some help: financially, physically, and emotionally. I am already an unexpected $1,000.00 into vet bills and this treatment will add ~$2,230-$3,000 at least (including treatment and follow-up vet appointments).
If you are able and willing to donate any money and/or know of a nurse, doctor, or vet tech around the Belmont/Hillsboro area who can volunteer their time to help me (at least this week) to administer the medicine (subcutaneous shot once daily), that would be incredibly helpful. I admit that I am in over my head and I honestly could use any and all the help I can get <3
Links to information about the experimental treatment:
https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/cat-health-news/fip-treatment-might-soon-be-reality
https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2020-01-15/fip-drugs-continue-show-promise-while-being-sold-black-market
Organiser
Anna Garr
Organiser
Nashville, TN
