Pennies for Pippin: Fight Against FIP
Donation protected
This is Pippin.
(Caption: Baby Pippin sleeping on his back)
We fell in love with him at a cat cafe when he was running around, playing with everyone, and when we picked him up he gave us a little squeak and fell asleep in our arms. We knew immediately that he was the one.
We adopted him one year ago, and since then he has been the most amazing addition to our family. We’re not really sure if he is a cat... he can sit and give high fives on command and goes on walks. He cuddles with us every morning when our alarm goes off and greets us every day when we come home from work. He loves having people over and when he visits other cats houses, tries to make friends with them and explored their house even if they hiss at him. We partially got him to help me with mental health issues and I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I’m so much better.
(Caption: Pippin hugging his momma’s wrist)
A couple weeks ago, we took Pippin to the vet and he was concerned about how small Pippin is. He thought it might be a disease, but wasn’t sure and was going to see if things get better. Two weeks later, the vet confirmed that Pippin has Feline Infectious Peritonitis, or FIP. It is worse than feline leukemia, AIDS, cancer, etc. because it is inborn, and is fatal between weeks to months. It only happens to 2% of domestic cats and generally comes up when they are kittens. His health has been rapidly deteriorating, he’s had a fever and a hard time eating, and has uveitis in his right eye.
What This is Going Toward
There IS a treatment that exists called GS441524 that is a drug that has cured cats with FIP. (Check out Dr. Neils Pedersen and his team’s study here: https:/journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/ 10.1177/1098612X19825701). It is extremely expensive, but it lasts for 12 weeks and there have been many cats who have and continue to survive from this otherwise fatal disease.
We need help to not only pay for treatment, but also for all the vet visits, blood work, supplements, and other materials we need. In the diagnostic testing alone to check and confirm the disease (which has no single test to determine, they just have to rule out other possibilities), we spent over $800 in vet visits and anti-biotics.
After this, we will have to pay about $60 every few weeks for blood work to make sure the efficacy of the treatment and that he is truly getting better (also to track for the advancement of awareness of the treatment), which will add up to almost $500 for the weeks during the treatment as well as his remission period post-treatment.
And this is just his vet visits. We are doing the pill treatment and that is $16/pill and 1.5 pill/kg (he is starting out at 2.3kg or 4.9lbs), which is higher than the normal dose because he has neurological/ocular FIP. If he were to stay the same weight that would be nearly $4700 for the entire treatment, but of course he will get bigger as he goes. All of this excludes any supplements we have to buy, tools to help us administer treatment, and frankly mental health costs for ourselves. Help just to offset the vet costs would be fantastic.
It’s a lot to ask, and some of you might be thinking “all this for a pet?” He is so much more than a pet, so much more than family. He is a light in our home and we can’t imagine a life without him. He is only 14 months old—we were expecting to have him around a lot longer. We love him so much and want to fight for him, and would love your support to get this baby back to health!
(Caption: Pippin with mucous in his eyes the night we found out about his disease)
(Caption: Baby Pippin sleeping on his back)We fell in love with him at a cat cafe when he was running around, playing with everyone, and when we picked him up he gave us a little squeak and fell asleep in our arms. We knew immediately that he was the one.
We adopted him one year ago, and since then he has been the most amazing addition to our family. We’re not really sure if he is a cat... he can sit and give high fives on command and goes on walks. He cuddles with us every morning when our alarm goes off and greets us every day when we come home from work. He loves having people over and when he visits other cats houses, tries to make friends with them and explored their house even if they hiss at him. We partially got him to help me with mental health issues and I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I’m so much better.
(Caption: Pippin hugging his momma’s wrist)A couple weeks ago, we took Pippin to the vet and he was concerned about how small Pippin is. He thought it might be a disease, but wasn’t sure and was going to see if things get better. Two weeks later, the vet confirmed that Pippin has Feline Infectious Peritonitis, or FIP. It is worse than feline leukemia, AIDS, cancer, etc. because it is inborn, and is fatal between weeks to months. It only happens to 2% of domestic cats and generally comes up when they are kittens. His health has been rapidly deteriorating, he’s had a fever and a hard time eating, and has uveitis in his right eye.
What This is Going Toward
There IS a treatment that exists called GS441524 that is a drug that has cured cats with FIP. (Check out Dr. Neils Pedersen and his team’s study here: https:/journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/ 10.1177/1098612X19825701). It is extremely expensive, but it lasts for 12 weeks and there have been many cats who have and continue to survive from this otherwise fatal disease.
We need help to not only pay for treatment, but also for all the vet visits, blood work, supplements, and other materials we need. In the diagnostic testing alone to check and confirm the disease (which has no single test to determine, they just have to rule out other possibilities), we spent over $800 in vet visits and anti-biotics.
After this, we will have to pay about $60 every few weeks for blood work to make sure the efficacy of the treatment and that he is truly getting better (also to track for the advancement of awareness of the treatment), which will add up to almost $500 for the weeks during the treatment as well as his remission period post-treatment.And this is just his vet visits. We are doing the pill treatment and that is $16/pill and 1.5 pill/kg (he is starting out at 2.3kg or 4.9lbs), which is higher than the normal dose because he has neurological/ocular FIP. If he were to stay the same weight that would be nearly $4700 for the entire treatment, but of course he will get bigger as he goes. All of this excludes any supplements we have to buy, tools to help us administer treatment, and frankly mental health costs for ourselves. Help just to offset the vet costs would be fantastic.
It’s a lot to ask, and some of you might be thinking “all this for a pet?” He is so much more than a pet, so much more than family. He is a light in our home and we can’t imagine a life without him. He is only 14 months old—we were expecting to have him around a lot longer. We love him so much and want to fight for him, and would love your support to get this baby back to health!
(Caption: Pippin with mucous in his eyes the night we found out about his disease)Organizer
Kathy Nguyen
Organizer
Cincinnati, OH
