Save Cindy Lou Who: Help a Tiny Kitten Survive

Hey everyone. I have been rescuing cats and kittens for the last 13 years. I really love helping out and doing a small part to help the lives of these forgotten animals. I will trap, socialize, provide proper nutrition, vaccinations, and spay or neuter before finding kittens a new home. This year, unfortunately, things are very different.

Everyone, meet Cindy Lou Who. This tiny kitten was brought to me in early June 2025. She was about 8 weeks old but looked like a newborn. She was the tiniest, skinniest kitten I have ever seen in all the years I have been doing this. It really was a scary moment, and I knew we needed help. Cindy Lou Who was very ill, but in only a short time, we would become aware of just how critically ill she is.

She was admitted to the pet hospital immediately. Cindy Lou Who had a very low body temperature, she was dehydrated, could not keep food down or keep it from shooting out her back end. Her fur looked matted, and her eyes were weeping and crusty. Cindy Lou Who had no energy and just wanted to curl up in a tiny ball in my hand and sleep purring furiously . Cindy Lou Who spent the day in the kitten hospital where they gave her fluids and other supportive care. Cindy Lou Who was too tiny to receive medication for deworming, and medications for her intestines would need to be compounded by a specialty pharmacy because she is so small. Blood work that she desperately needed could not be done because she was so small and so weak. Cindy Lou Who’s first weigh-in weight was .85 ounces, and she was smaller than a soda can.

Cindy Lou Who grew very little in the coming week, staying tiny and sickly. The one part of Cindy Lou Who that grew was her belly, and it was getting bigger by the day. Her belly was growing at an alarming rate and was large and firm. Not just a baby overeating, it was like she had an orange in her belly. One night, I just knew. I knew that Cindy Lou Who had wet FIP and that without treatment, she would pass away. Feline Infectious Peritonitis. I cried all night long. The next day, off to the veterinarian we went, where after a tiny bit of fluid was extracted from her huge belly, she was diagnosed with Wet FIP. Without treatment, FIP is 100% fatal. Let that sink in.

Cindy Lou Who was on the painful injections for 8 days while we waited for the compounded oral solution that was made and delivered from a specialty pharmacy in Texas. Each bottle of compounded medication is $122.56 for 30ml. It’s a small bottle, and the dosage is weight-dependent. So as Cindy Lou Who gets larger, her dosage will go up. We hope to only need to buy 3 bottles of the medication to cover her 84-day medication course, but it could be more. The other part of this treatment is the labs that need to be done. Cindy Lou Who will need several complete CBC and chemistry panels. I anticipate that she will need at the minimum 4 of these labs at $450.00 a piece plus the vet check-up. I also have to buy a compounded anti-nausea medication for Cindy Lou Who because her medications make her nauseous and vomit.

I have high hopes for this little girl that she will live a long, full life with a family that adores her just as much as we do. Finding the right adopter will be very important as Cindy Lou Who will need constant monitoring for relapse throughout her life.