Love and loss - when FIP kills your kitten

This was such a hard post to write, i'm teared up again after abandoning the effort previously. A recent post on the FIP fighter's page showing Bella still going strong over 5 year's later made me decide to come back to this blog.

Time heals - I can look back now - and finally forward again.

The fire of FIP transformed and fused our mother son relationship in a way that's beyond that which I have with my two older boys. FIP made us talk about matters, and physically and emotionally shared a space, more appropriate to adults, with no one close to lean on but each other. To our horror we discovered some people including our nearest and dearest, just don't understand your utter emotional distress when it's a pet who is terminally ill - not say a human family member with cancer. Especially when its a cat not a dog. The vets even tried to profit from the situation beyond what is ethically appropriate for services rendered!

After FIP took Mishka not only were our hearts broken but the fear and guilt that set in was appalling. I cannot explain why exactly only that it had something to do with entirely optional nature of pet adoption. In that time my teenage son has really grown up - he's moved out of home and made the decision to aquire another cat whom he chose after 'interviewing' several kittens. He wanted an older cat - but not too old, as we know FIP more likely before the immune system is matured. He wanted a moggie from a nice family home. As we know inbreeding is a risk factor for FIP, and show cat breeders or shelter cats are more likely to have issues with corona virus due to crowding. He wanted of course a cat with a nice temperament, and last but not least - hypoallergenic. Soft long but easy to care for coat would be a clue to that, also we had a suspicion that black and white cats in the moggie population are more likely to be hypoallergenic. So here at last is my son's new kitten Missy.  

Vale Mishka, Ave Missy -Long may she purr!