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FIP Warrior:

Hex

We adopted Hex in September of 2020 from a no kill shelter. He was a little over a year old, underweight, and needing TLC. He settled in well with our four other cats. He had a chill personality, not super affectionate, but enjoyed our company. He decided that our daughter was his favorite and she became his person. Around January I noticed he just seemed more distant. He seemed unhappy but I couldn't figure out why. He was eating and drinking normally, and not acting sick such as hiding away. He was gaining weight and seemed healthy. By February he was no longer wanting to spend time with my daughter. Again he never hid away, he continued eating. In fact I thought to myself he's really starting to put on weight. At the end of February in the course of about 3 days his tummy started to swell up. Feb. 26th, we took him to the vet and got the diagnosis of wet fip. The vet explained that there was a treatment but it was very costly, not always guaranteed, and it was not fda approved, so getting the medicine could be tricky. She felt we were catching it early and he had a good chance. We decided to try and the vet showed us how to give the injections and we watched videos as well. We were fortunate enough to get a vial of medicine that evening. The first week the injections went pretty well. Hex didn't seem to have the energy to mind what we were doing. After a week the fluid in his belly started to go down. We were nervously hopeful, always seeming to hold our breath for fear of him taking a turn for the worse. I thought to myself, at least he's not in a shelter, he has a family that loves him, and if he could live to see the spring that would be a goal. As the weeks went on it became increasingly difficult to give the shots. He would tense up, We started giving him gabapentin before injections in the hope that it would help alleviate his stress. It also took a lot of trial and error in figuring out how far ahead of time to give the gabapentin. In mid March we started to see signs that Hex was feeling better. He wanted to play and chase the laser pointer, he liked to go out onto our catio/cat yard. His bloodwork at this time came back looking great.. We felt encouraged to keep going. We also added buprenorphine to help with the pain during the shots. It also took some trial and error figuring out how far ahead of time to give it. We hated putting him through these shots, questioned if we were doing the right thing. By April giving the injections were somewhat of a nightmare. What's so crazy is that he might do pretty good one night, but then we'd have difficulties the next 2 nights. He started getting injection sores, which is a common side effect. We started giving trazadone along with the gabapentin because he had become so difficult to manage during the injections. Our routine was 6 p.m gabapentin, 7:30 trazadone, 8:00 buprenorphine 9:00 injection. We also told ourselves it was one minute out of his day and that the rest of the 23 hours 59 minutes of his day were good. At this point he was back to spending time with our daughter. He did not have a big appetite but had started to gain a little weight. We pretty much gave him whatever treats he wanted and loved seeing his playfulness with our other cats. I started thinking, "he's lived to see the spring, I want him to see his 2nd birthday." His birthday in July became the next goal. By early May we had discussed switching to pills but were not sure if this was a good idea and we couldn't find many studies done with the pill form of the medicine. we decided to stay with the injections, counting down the days to our last one. The last weeks of treatment were up and down. He had developed many lesions at this point and it was difficult to find a good spot that wasn't near a lesion. Hex also hated having injections done anywhere on his left side, so that made it challenging. Hex's last injection was on May 20th. We took him for bloodwork and all looked good. Then came the observation period. It seemed like once we were done with his shots he became even more energetic and onery! Tearing through the house after the other cats, playing in the cat yard, being king of the mountain on their jungle gym. July came and he had his 2nd birthday! Hex went back August 12th and his bloodwork came back clear. He has now been officially cured of fip. Was it easy? Absolutely not! It was one of the hardest things we've ever done. Yes we would do it again but it's a long haul. Traumatizing but ultimately rewarding at the same time if that makes sense. Hex is a funny, playful, energetic, sweet boy! During Hex's treatment I would come on this website and read the success stories for encouragement. I wanted to give an honest account of what it was like for us. I hope Hex's story helps whomever reads it inspiration.. Just know you are not alone.