Our brave Leon kitty came into our lives on June the 26th, 2016. He was 14 weeks old. My partner and I had moved in the month before and were SO excited to adopt a precious furbaby. Leon picked US at the shelter, mewing and purring away at us. He was a perfect, naughty, high-energy kitten. He never had any accidents in his litter box and ate and drank well. He was the absolute light of our lives.

A month after getting Leon, he started really scratching his ears. Concerned about the possibility of fleas, we took him to the vet. They simply said that he had food allergies, gave him a steroid shot and prescription food. This never helped and he continued to scratch.

The next month, suddenly, Leon had an accident on the floor. My partner and I were shocked, but just put it down to one of "those things". Within a week, the accidents happened everyday. Leon wouldn't even notice he had had an accident. His head trembled and tilted while he slept and he started leaking urine and refusing to use the litter box. We knew things were bad when he started losing control of his back legs. Our baby who used to tear around the house and climb his cat tower couldn't even jump on the chair now.

We took him to the emergency vet, where they had to physically express his bladder. They took a blood test for possible Toxoplasmosis and sent us home. We tried to keep him comfortable and encouraged him to use his litter box. We had to try emptying his bladder ourselves. The way he cried and looked at us was too sad. We took him back to the vet the next day. They said he probably had Dry FIP and said that they could test to confirm. My partner and I did not want Leon to suffer through invasive tests, only to confirm what he likely already had. He had changed, declined SO much in just a week. He wasn't our Leon.

We made the incredibly heart-breaking decision to say good-bye to him on the 25th of September 2016. We only had him for 3 short months. He died in our arms, the vet had tears in her eyes too. Not a day goes by that I don't think about our baby.

We have another beautiful kitty called Mochi. He is 3 months old. I worry everyday that he might get sick like Leon. I couldn't stand to see another baby suffer. So I love him and hold him and spoil him, you never know what tomorrow brings.

TO LEON's forever humans,

Thank you for sharing such a difficult story. Please believe me that a cure will be found and your story is helping in that effort.