My little Larry wasn’t eating as much as he usually does about 3 weeks ago, so after about a week we went to the vet to see what was going on. They found that he had a fever, high white blood cell count, spots on his lungs, and was dehydrated, and put him on an IV and some antibiotics. He stayed overnight and in the morning was doing better. His fever was down so that evening, after observing a normal temperature all day, they sent him home with antibiotics. The next day we brought him back in to have his temperature and bloodwork checked again.

Larry’s temperature was alright, but his white blood cell count had gone up. He also had elevated protein levels. Our vet referred him to a 24-hour emergency clinic for the weekend where he was on an IV and antibiotics. They fixed his clinical dehydration, and noticed that he had an enlarged lymph node in his chest. At this point we were dealing with one of three things, FIP lymphoma or a fungal infection. By Monday morning everything looked fine other than the enlarged lymph node and the high protein level. He had been acting like a healthy cat all weekend, eating, playing and very alert.

On Monday morning, we brought him to his vet for an ultrasound, but were referred to Cornell where he could have round the clock care and testing to figure out what was wrong. After running a bunch of tests and them all coming back inconclusive or negetive, we were told he most likely has noneffusive FIP (though we are still waiting on the toxoplasmosis and corona virus results to come back). I am trying to figure out how best to care for him and I wonder how long my 2 year old kitty has to be with us. This is his third week of showing symptoms and he has been acting like a healthy cat since the symptoms began and I hope he can stay feeling well for a while.

We are praying for a miracle and at the very least, hoping to have another good weekend with him. We will be learing how to give him hydration injections and he will be sent home with antibiotics to help with the symptoms that the poor little guy has. I am hoping that maybe someone can tell me about an experimental medications that are out there. Also, if anyone has any advice on how to make him more comfortable I would very much appreciate it. This is a horrible disease, treatment and a cure must be found.