My husband brought Lou home when he was 8 weeks old, along with his sister, Blinky, from a farm that was over run with barn cats. Both had pretty severe upper respiratory infections that likely wouldn’t have been treated if they had remained where they were. They improved with treatment and were doing well until shortly after they finished their kitten vaccinations. Within 2 weeks, we noticed that Lou was straining to have a bowel movement. Over the next month to 6 weeks we switched food, had him on motility medicine and stool softeners, started getting him acupuncture (under the impression that he had congenital megacolon), but his condition continued to worsen.
Then he started running a fever and had elevated protein levels and anemia showing up on his bloodwork. He could no longer pass stool even with enemas. At that point, we took Lou to the ER and were referred to a specialty veterinary hospital, thinking that he needed a subtotal colectomy. The specialty vets looked at his bloodwork and told us they suspected FIP based on his protein levels, but told us it would be difficult or impossible to confirm. They told us that it could be treated but the medications were expensive and only available on the black market. And they couldn’t help us with it.
I reached out to some of my contacts in cat rescue and was put in touch with somebody in the area that was working with FIP Warriors 5.0. We received emergency medication that night.
I was unable to do the injections myself, so our primary care vet thankfully agreed to do them after I signed a waiver. I even hired a veterinary technician to come to my house the one day a week that clinic were closed.
Within 48 hours of initiating treatment, Lou started playing and better yet, pooping without straining!
Our regular vet wasn’t really familiar with GS-441524, so they still wanted to do a fine-needle biopsy but referred us to see an internal medicine specialist. The internal medicine specialist was very knowledgeable about FIP and GS-441524 and told us to keep doing what we were doing. The fact that Lou was gaining weight and able to have bowel movements without straining indicated that the medicine was working. Our regular vet was happy with that and didn’t recommend any more invasive testing.
Lou completed his GS treatment on July 5th, 2023, and his post observation “cure” date was September 7th, 2023. He continues to thrive and is full of energy. Thankfully, his litter mate sister never developed FIP even though she does have some dental issues that we are watching.
The treatment process was emotionally and financially draining, but I’m glad we saw it through and that Lou had the chance to grow up and be a normal kitten. He’s certainly a handful now at almost 2 years old! -Jen Goldman
Jen Goldman lives in middle Tennessee with her husband and 8 (!) cats, ranging in age from two years to 16 years.