Save Nutmeg from FIP

My name is Sara and my husband and I are cat parents to several very important fur kids. We have both had cats in our families since we were children and since we don’t have children, these cats are our babies. Recently, we lost our oldest, Bumpers, and it just destroyed our hearts. Just two weeks later, Nutmeg, our youngest, becomes lethargic, appears to have an infected eye, becomes severely constipated, won’t drink water, and has a decreased appetite. Our local vet did blood work and treated Nutmeg for an upper respiratory infection. We tested (negative) for FELV and FIV. My gut kept telling me this was way more than an URI. Two days later Nutmeg would barely move and her third eyelid was so far over her one good eye (she lost the other as a kitten to a botfly infection) you could barely see her eye. I rushed her to Blue Pearl in GR late Wednesday night. She had x-rays, a 24 hour hospital stay with an IV and two enemas. An internal medicine specialist did an ultrasound Thursday morning and told me she was sure it was lymphoma in Nutmeg’s kidneys and liver (which would be fatal within 3-6 mos with chemo) and referred me to their oncologist. The oncologist did a needle aspirate, sampling kidney and liver cells but those results weren’t coming up with the lymphoma cells we suspected. The oncologist told me Nutmeg likely had dry FIP. Nearly all cats carry the coronavirus (but not the human kind). This virus can mutate into feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and is fatal. Our good friend saw pictures of Nutmeg online and messaged me saying she suspected Nutmeg had FIP. Recently she had found a medication that is not available in the US that not only cured her own kitty, but was curing thousands of others. Since you do anything for your kids, Bryan and I both agreed we had to try.

The medication process is awfully stressful; 84 days of daily injections of a painful medication that causes sores. Then 84 days of observation. Blood work must be done every 30 days. If blood work levels normal out after the 84 day observation period, Nutmeg will be considered “cured”. We also are doing supportive care for her with daily appetite stimulants, steroids, sub-q IV fluids, and buying her every food on the planet to keep her interested in eating. We have already seen drastic, positive changes in Nutmeg after five injections.

We have already spent $5000 in treatment with an estimated $2000 to go. Many of you will think we are crazy for spending that much on a cat. Nutmeg is not a cat to us. She’s a child, a loving family member who provides us comfort, unconditional love, and joy. Being that she’s not even 4 years old, she has a lot of life left. If you want to help us cover the high costs of Nutmeg’s treatments, we’d be forever grateful.