Rafiki's Neurological FIP vet treatment bills

This is Rafiki, our Norwegian Forest Cat kitten.

He has undergone 9 months of tests, invasive procedures, severe stress and legal UK veterinary treatment for Neurological Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP.)

His local vet failed to promptly diagnose and treat him despite being asked to order life saving legal veterinary medication during the first week of January 2022. Instead, many useless tests to see if he was a dwarf etc wasted critical time and money (totalling £4,118 that got us nowhere.)

Various veterinary colleagues, within the practice, recorded in Rafiki's medical history a potential FIP diagnosis but not one veterinary professional took any action to slow the progress of FIP or to treat it (despite stating they knew about the new legal medication and had even attended courses in very recent months about its use.)

With no answers, Rafiki was left to deteriorate, and during the week of 3rd January 2022 had deteriorated to such an extent that he could no longer stand or move normally. The photo of Rafiki is from January 8th 2022 when we carried him out of the local vet practice and rushed him to Glasgow University Small Animal Hospital where he was diagnosed and treated (within hours) for Neurological FIP.

Rafiki remained in hospital for 14 days receiving medication through an IV, and responded so well he was one of the first to be discharged home onto daily pills (rather than injections) for the remaining 84 days of treatment. His 14 days in hospital totalled £9,066.

Rafiki completed 84 days of medication and monitoring, then another 84 days of observation for relapse with regular blood tests - and we are very pleased to say that he is now a FIP Survivor and remains relatively healthy.

We are however left with vet expenses totalling £18,508 upto 17th July 2022 - the spreadsheet below shows the breakdown of this. This total does not include items like supplements for liver support, vitamin b12, pill-giving treats, additional hygiene products etc.

We have an insurance provider that will not pay out.

We now are asking for help to pay for his treatment, pending further escalation with the Financial Ombudsman.

Anything you can donate is so appreciated, as are any shares of Rafiki’s story to bring awareness of FIP and the legal UK veterinary treatment.

Some 9 out of 10 cats carry a species-specific Feline Coronavirus and in a very small percentage of cases this can mutate into a lethal form called FIP. Legal UK veterinary medication has been available for about a year.

The pill dosage was weight based so Rafiki had 1.75 pills daily by the last weeks of treatment. We paid £45 per pill and are extremely lucky that our new vet did not markup. We are aware some owners have been charged £80 plus per pill at various locations across the UK as large/corporate vets can charge markups as they want.

This lifesaving FIP medication is the only legal option UK FIP cat owners have access to.

There is a whole blackmarket of imported illegal drugs of unknown content and quality easily accessed via social media.

FCoV is spread between cats. Rafiki came to us with this from his breeder.

Further information on why we have now started this GoFundMe;

In November 2021, prior to bringing Rafiki home, we took and paid in full, an insurance policy for £12,500 of cover.

However, the insurer has refused to pay out for any of Rafiki's vet bills because (like 9 out of 10 cats would, if tested) he had a positive test result for Feline Coronavirus within the first 10 days of his policy. This FCoV status is neither a diagnosis nor prognosis for a cat getting FIP. Feline Coronavirus is also not an illness nor a disease.

Rafiki's vet appealed to the insurer, clarifying that Rafiki's initial presentation of symptoms (which led to the FCoV test), were not due to Feline Coronavirus but instead his symptoms displayed were completely resolved with routine treatment for parasites. However, the insurer would not alter their decision.

The insurer stated they would not make assumptions that FIP cats would have had FCoV in the first 10 days of their policy and that instead they would act on clinical signs. The insurer clearly contradicts themselves in terms of Rafiki’s claims where:

2 claims were declined due to the insurer linking them back to a (clinically proven and evidenced to be unrelated) ‘gastrointestinal disorder,’ including the hospital bill which had no ‘gastrointestinal’ elements whatsoever. These two ‘declined claims’ were not made based on any relevant or linked clinical signs present within the first 10 days.

1 claim (despite all being related in the insurer’s opinion to a ‘gastrointestinal disorder’) was instead declined because of the FCoV positive test result – not based on any clinical signs in the first 10 days (as the insurer states is how they assess claims.)

We referred all of this to The Financial Ombudsman service, who has now provided a preliminary decision to rule in the insurer's favour. Their Investigator states in her response: "I appreciate it would be particularly upsetting to consider that, had the sample never have been taken, it's possible the claim would have been paid." She refers to the stool sample taken in the first 10 days of the policy which confirmed Rafiki's status (like 9 out of 10 cats, if tested) was FCoV positive. If this stool sample had been taken on day 11 rather than within the 10 day period, the FCoV status and a later development of FIP would be covered by the insurer even though the fact is FCoV would have been present (but unconfirmed by a test) within the first 10 days of the policy.

We intend to further escalate our complaint with The Financial Ombudsman as we do not believe they have come to correct conclusion, and this will set an unfortunate precedent for many more cats in the future who may be diagnosed with FIP in similar circumstances.

As above, we are now asking for help as we have used all of our savings, borrowed from our family and have taken a loan to meet Rafiki’s vet expenses. All GoFundMe donations will be used to clear the debts we have accrued.

If the insurer is subsequently made to pay out (we have not given up hope yet!) and/or we receive donations over and above our total debts, the remaining funds raised will be donated to EndFIP.com

Thank you very much for any donation you can offer. Thank you for helping us to save Rafiki, and to educate others on FIP and the legal UK veterinary treatment.

Elaine and Rafiki

Follow Rafiki on Instagram #rafiki