Help Lucy Beat Feline Infectious Peritonitis

In August I took in my first two foster kittens, two adorable siblings I named Jude and Lucy. I knew immediately both of these little Angels were special, and as fate would have it I adopted them (foster fail). Little did I know that less than 2 months after adopting them Lucy would begin a brutal fight for her life. 

The day before Thanksgiving she stopped eating, drinking, and running around and we knew something was wrong. We took her to the emergency vet where she had a 106 degree fever, and was given IV corticosteroids and fluids. She worsened that night and by morning not only had the fever not gone down at all, she was completely disoriented and restless, yet unable to walk and was completely incoherent. We took her to a 2nd emergency vet on Thanksgiving day, who thought that it could be a severe immune response to her 2nd round of vaccinations several days prior. She was given more fluids and a strong NSAID called metacam as well as prescribed amoxicillin for a possible bacterial infection. We managed to fight the fever with relative success throughout the weekend with only 2 more trips to the vet, but metacam can only be used for 3 consecutive days and a day after her last dose her fever spiked back to 106 and she stopped being her normal loving self again. Several more trips to the vet yielded little results, between a plethora of blood tests and physical examinations, it was clear we were dealing with a fever of unknown origin and eventually it was narrowed down to either a bad viral infection or a blood parasite from fleas. We were started on Doxycycline for the parasitic route, but a week on that antibiotic yielded no results and we still couldn't keep the fever down, which was still spiking all the way up to 105.7. She was still extremely anemic, and was not eating or drinking on her own so I have had to syringe feed her wet food mixed with pedialyte just to prevent her from losing even more weight. 

When her condition started to worsen, she wouldnt get up from her hiding places all day, and her eyes got very cloudy and started discharging, the Vet confirmed our worst fears and diagnosed her with Dry ocular Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Unable to accept this news we had all of her blood work and medical history sent to the Veterinarian trusted by the Cat Rescue I foster for, who unfortunately confirmed this diagnosis. Here are some facts about FIP:

- Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a viral disease that occurs worldwide in wild and domestic cats. It is caused by a type of virus called a coronavirus, which tends to attack the cells of the intestinal wall.

- FIP is fatal in more than 95 percent of cases. In mild cases of the dry form, it may be possible to prolong the survival period, but most cats with the wet form of the disease die within two months of the onset of signs

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME GOOD NEWS?

Abroad, a new drug called Mutian has been used to treat FIP with INCREDIBLE success rates. Here is a link to a medical study about the use of Mutian on cats with FIP and their mortality rates as well as general information about the mechanics of the drug from Dr. Julie Levy, UF Professor of Shelter Veterinary Medicine and Founder of Operation Catnip
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X19825701?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&fbclid=IwAR1RRNlcyW_mhRleVRaSbFJU73qchQUBOrj3Kd02RaMicJ-A-ZxdDEau-WE&

I ordered 10 day's worth of Mutian and started Lucy on it on December 15th at 930 pm (roughly 2 days ago). Although this drug is approved for use in cats in other countries, it is still waiting approval by the FDA in our country and therefore is EXTREMELY expensive to import. Her current dosage cost $50 per DAY, and will increase as she begins to put on weight. Per the study above, cats have to take this medication for 84 days consecutively to have the best chance at beating this virus. Lucy has only been on it for 2 days so far, but has already responded extremely well. She went from not eating or drinking on her own, and laying in the same spot all day, to perking up and eating and drinking on her own! And her fever is finally gone! For the first time in almost 3 weeks, she has been able to walk around, eat, open up her eyes all the way, and best of all give and receive love ❤
She is way too sweet of an angel to give up on, and so far this medication has absolutely given her life back to us. I am the last person to ask for help, but I could never turn my back on my furr babies and this is our last resort. So far I've spent over $1,500 on emergency vet visits, with many more to come in the future. And the cost of a full 84 day Mutian treatment will end up being upwards of $5,000 or more (depending on how her weight progresses, we will have to up her dosage eventually). 

If you're able to donate and help with the cost of her life saving medication it would mean more to me than words could ever begin to explain. Lucy is the sweetest, prettiest girl I have ever met and deserves a fighting chance. If you can't, it would mean just as much to me if you could share our story and spread the word about this treatment that could be a second chance at life for thousands of other cats who are served a death sentence. If you aren't comfortable donating, but would rather buy the medicine directly and donate it to us, let me know and I will give you contact information for the Mutian rep that we are working with! 

For some more information on FIP as well as the drug we are treating her with, check out Mutian's website -
https://www.mutian.us/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyJCMr6q-5gIVDfDACh0Rmw5MEAAYASAAEgJHjfD_BwE

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read our story and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with love and joy! 

Hopefully with this medication we can restore Lucy to her former glory ❤