Help Maverick fight FIP

Most of you know Maverick as Mowgli (Loki)'s awesome big brother. It breaks my heart to share that Maverick's emergency and critical care team at MedVet suspect he has FIP. We are devastated to see how quickly Maverick is fading.

Maverick has lost some weight recently but we just attributed it to him being more active and playing with his little brother, Mowgli. But last Thursday, July 6th, his breathing became labored and rapid. He was also very lethargic and seemed depressed. I took him to the vet first thing in the morning on Friday. She agreed he had increased respiratory effort. She said they would do scans and bloodwork after lightly sedating him. She called a couple hours later with alarming news. Maverick had free fluid in his chest cavity completely surrounding his heart. The fluid was not allowing his lungs to inflate to full capacity. This is called pleural effusion and becomes life-threatening quickly.

We transferred him to the ER at MedVet and they said he would be seen immediately because of the urgency of the situation. They did a thoracocentesis and placed a needle in his chest to remove the fluid. They removed 200ml of fluid (which is 7 oz and almost an entire cup). It was yellowish, viscous, and our ER vet said most consistent with fluid associated with FIP. She also found high levels of total protein and globulin, which are also markers of FIP. She reiterated how sick he truly is and how his long-term prognosis is not a good one. FIP is a chronic, wasting disease that is ultimately fatal. Seeing Maverick crash as quickly as he did was gut-wrenching.

But then I remembered that there is now life-saving FIP treatment, which I learned about from following Chadwick's journey with Jillian and FosterBabyCats. The more I read about it, the more optimistic I became. The success stories were miraculous. I knew this was something I needed to pursue to save Maverick's life. I was able to obtain five vials yesterday from trustworthy, supportive people. Maverick is still hospitalized in the ICU at MedVet, but we want to start him on treatment as soon as possible.

The group we're working with is very knowledgeable and after sending them photos of Maverick's eyes, they believe he has ocular FIP in addition to wet FIP. That means the virus has already crossed the blood barrier and entered his eyes. We'll need to start with two injections a day to give him the best chance of starting to recover before it's too late. Unfortunately, this life-saving medication is very expensive. I'm the last person to ever ask for help, but we're in over our heads and the medical bills continue to stack up.

Our initial visit with our vet was $328.82 when they found the fluid in his lungs on his first scan. After being transferred to MedVet on Friday, July 7th, Maverick has received intensive nursing care, oxygen therapy, IV fluids, GI support, antibiotics, bloodwork, multiple chest taps (thoracocentesis), a bicavity (chest and abdomen) ultrasound, SNAP BNP test, feline pancreatic lipase level testing, digital cytology, bacterial cultures, FIP PCR testing, a point of care ultrasound, in addition to all the medications we'll need upon discharge (which include Amoxicillin Trihydrate and Clavulanate Potassium, Pradofloxacin Suspension, Mirtazapine, Gabapentin, and Cerenia). Because so much intervention and testing was needed, we owe MedVet $5,912.99.

According to the medication chart sent to me by the FIP Warriors group I'm obtaining his medication from, 84 doses are needed to cure Maverick's FIP. He will need 56 vials at $80 per vial. There are 1.5 doses in each vial and the daily cost is $54 per day. The total cost will hopefully not exceed $4,516.

All in, we're looking at $10,757.81 at the moment. Anything, even $1, would mean the world to us to help save our boy. Mowgli has been noticeably sad without his big brother and favorite playmate. We just can't wait to get Maverick home and start saving his life with this remarkable FIP treatment. Thank you so much for taking the time to learn more about Maverick's fight against FIP. I know we can save him and he can live a much longer, healthier life. We appreciate you and your support more than you know ❤️