Lost my Oliver to FIP

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Cmp79
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Lost my Oliver to FIP

Post by Cmp79 »

I’m really struggling with it because I pray I made the right choice. He started having fast breathing and he was very lethargic. I knew something was wrong because he normally was very loving and always would lay next to me. Instead he was isolating and he couldn’t even eat or drink. I brought him to a emergency vet that evening. I had him since he was about 4 weeks of age. I rescued him out of a feral cat colony. He never was quite healthy, he had constant diarrhea and he tested positive for corona virus. He never seemed to gain weight. I tried everything including prescription food to help with the diarrhea. I had hoped he would improve as time went on. When the difficulty breathing started I knew something was really wrong. I brought him in and they said he had fluid on his lungs and she thought his heart was enlarged. She diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. I thought how can this be? He’s only 5 months old! I asked her about the FIP because I did some research back when he was diagnosed with the corona virus and knew it could mutate into it. She said the only way would be a necropsy to fully know. Either way she said he wouldn’t make it to his first birthday. It broke my heart infact I cry writing this. She gave him lasix and put him in a oxygen tank. She asked if I wanted to see him after I signed the papers to have him put to sleep. That’s the worst part he was acting much better. Which I still battle with because some how I question myself if I made the right choice. She explained that it was only temporary and he would only decline again. She believed he was born with a heart defect but I question FIP. He was my baby and I’m so sad he’s gone now. Has anyone else had experience with this?
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fjm
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Re: Lost my Oliver to FIP

Post by fjm »

I am so sorry. Whether it was a congenital problem or FIP, you did the right thing - he could not live the rest of his life in an oxygen tent, and in time even that would not have helped. You gave him months of comfort and love he would not have known without you, and helped him to slip away without pain when his body failed him. No one could do more.
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Kay
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Re: Lost my Oliver to FIP

Post by Kay »

I'm so sorry - I lost a kitten to FIP at 5 months, and he had all the symptoms you describe - he was treated at a major veterinary hospital, so their diagnosis was not in doubt

he got very anaemic as well as the other symptoms you describe, and rallied wonderfully when he was given a blood transfusion, but the effect lasted only a few days, so I understand how you felt when your boy had a brief improvement

but FIP is always fatal, and causes a lot of suffering, so your little man was doomed I'm afraid, and could only have got a whole lot worse
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Ruth B
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Re: Lost my Oliver to FIP

Post by Ruth B »

I am so sorry for you, but as has been said, you made the right decision. While i have never had a cat with FIP I have heard a lot about it and the one thing is certain, there is no cure. Even though he rallied a little with the oxygen tent, it wouldn't have lasted, the best thing you could do is what you did and let him go peacefully and painlessly. If it was due to the heart problem I doubt there would have been much they could do either. Try and remember the good times you had, they may have been short but I have no doubt there was a quality to his life that he would never have got if you hadn't taken him in.

RIP Oliver, run free over the bridge.
Cmp79
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Re: Lost my Oliver to FIP

Post by Cmp79 »

Thank you everyone you did make me feel better, I guess I’m doubting myself more than I should. I just wished he could have had a better outcome and lived a full life. But I felt that I couldn’t let him suffer he didn’t deserve that. My heart goes out to anyone who loses a pet because they are like a family member
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