Coping With Feline Infectious Peritonitis

Pinky was my first animal ever. We got her back in June/July 1992. Pinky was an indoor only cat for the majority of her life. Pinky was a very healthy cat and showed no signs of FIP At about the age of 14 1/2 (human yrs), she started to show signs of the virus. She would obsessively scratch at her face until she bled. Her ears, the sides of her eyes, and her lips were so raw and pink looking. We didn’t think anything of it because my Aunts dog, who has a nervous condition, did the same thing. We figured that the older she got the more nervous she became which led her to scratch at her face. As it got worse, we tried everything to prevent her from literately scratching her face off. We went to the vet and they gave us a cream to put on her. We even went as far as putting a cone around her neck so that she couldn’t get to it which didn’t work because she would always find a way out of it. Then another sign showed up not too long after that. We didn’t know at the time but we used to “scratch her booty” and she would make this weird meowing noise. She would throw her head back and meow and lick the air it seemed like. We thought it was because she liked the way it felt but little did we know that within eight months we wouldn’t even be able to touch her back without her hissing and biting at us. We figured this was because she was getting old and was becoming sensitive to our everyday touch. At about 15 yrs of age, we came home one day and it looked like she had one of her bad scratching days at the face but not only was her face raw but it looked like she scratched her left eye ball. It was so bad that the puss would temporarily keep her eye closed until we cleaned it off. We really started to worry about her then. Not even dogs with a nervous condition would scratch themselves blind in one eye. Eventually her eye stopped oozing and cleared up. But we knew that she was now partially if not fully blind in her left eye.
My Mom was really worried now and did some research online. What she found out was not good. She found out about FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis). At first she was reluctant that that was what Pinky had but the symptoms were definitely there. After consulting her good friend from school who was a vet, it was certain that our Pinky had this fatal disease. We knew then that there was nothing else that we could do to help Pinky. After reading more on FIP we concluded that she had the “dry” form. Even though she had the bloated appearance of the “wet” form she had most the symptoms of the “dry” form.
Pinky’s last days were hard to watch. On July 2nd going into the 3rd, Pinky started to vomit non stop. All through out the night and into the day, about every five to ten minutes we would hear her hacking from somewhere within the house. Not just any vomit but vomit with little specks of blood in it. About two weeks prior, my Mom said that she also noticed blood in her stool but felt that it was just a stage and it would pass.
I was at work when my Mom called me and told me that it was inhumane to continue to let her suffer the way she has been for about a year. At first I was furious! I never believed in putting anything down before their time. But when I came home and saw how tired and dehydrated she was my heart collapsed. My Mom said Pinky would drink ounces upon ounces of water and couldn’t even keep it down for longer than ten minutes. I knew then that we had to do what had to be done. I always knew Pinky would let us know when she has had enough and that it was her time to go. She didn’t even act the same. I would call her name and she would just turn her back and shun me. I cried as I nodded to my Mom that I could not let my Pinky suffer any longer.
Pinky passed peacefully on July 3, 2008 at around 6:30pm. We loved our cat dearly to the point that we did not want to put her down at all. But we showed that we loved her even more by putting her out of her misery. I hope this story reaches out to other cat owners who might be going through the same thing. Love your cat and enjoy and appreciate every moment you have with them because you never know when their last day will be.
Love,
Melissa