Dorothy - Somewhere over the rainbow

Today I got the news that Marcelo's cat Dorothy has also lost her 8 month fight with wet FIP.  Marcelo is in Brazil, not a native english speaker so it was hard to piece together her story. From what I gather Dorothy had a litter of kittens and developed wet FIP of the abdomen last year around the same time as Mishka. The effusion resolved on corticosteroids and human interferon by late october 2012 when Marcelo wrote to the facebook group for advice:

"Hello everyone, news on Dorothy condition. She is still doing fine, playing and eating, but she is not gaining any weight, is there anything I can give her as a supplement to food? Thanks for any help you can share."

Members reccomended Nutrical and a change from her kibble diet to something like Hill's a/d. John Robbie's mum reccomended colostrum powder (which I then started to give to Mishka who was not a fan of Nutrical as JR has been doing fantastic on PI) 

 "I've used Colostrum powder mixed wither with some water (force feed if they won't drink it) or added to wet food. I have used it on John Robie since he's eating well, but I used to give it to my FIV+ cat when he started declining as well as to unhealthy rescue dogs and cats. It really helps with weight gain and overall health and builds a healthy immune system."

Dorothy was given Nutrical twice daily. On November 22 it seems she was also started on PI and the steroids were weaned. In december 2012 she was on 1.0 ml Interferon and reduced from 2 ml to 1.5 ml of PI. but Marcelo did not say  how often she was taking these. In January the dose was further reduced to 1ml of PI and still 1ml of Interferon. In february after Mishka died Dorothy was still alive and very well. "Dory is better than ever, she is still on PI and Interferon, also on Nutri-cal. She seems to be in normal health now."  

Alas she suddenly crashed - like Mishka. Perhaps this is the best that PI can do for wet FIP, perhaps it's better to just leave it out and use the steroids early with interferon.

"My friends, yesterday was a very sad day for me and my wife, Dory health was downhill since last week, it was fast and cruel, so we had to put her to sleep. It seem that even miracle cats ends like this with this terrible disease."
Goodbye Dorothy dear ... if anyone deserves to wake up in heaven FIP cats do.

"Someday I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me."

 

Leap of Faith

"Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it." - Tori Amos

I wrote this just before Mishka died on Feb 1st but I've decided to post it unchanged. Update: a few edits and see the comment from Dusty's mum below!
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Dusty is the reason we are treating Mishka. Dusty survived wet FIP of the lungs in part thanks to injections of feline interferon and oral prednisone in 2007. I first wrote about him in a post about Hope http://onecatlife.blogspot.com/2012/10/hope-is-black-swan.html

Virbac sent me the case history and amazingly here was a cat I could believe in because I knew the vet practice in Sydney (I think my mum even took our old cat there on occasion. Chloe was a stray my brother took in who lived to be 17 on a commercial diet without ever getting regular vaccinations btw)  so I phoned the vet, Simon Craig who verified the cat was still kicking and had made it off the interferon. Based on Dusty's outcome we did the math and decided we could afford the treatment on the basis of expecting a dead cat or a cure in a little over two weeks - but there you have it, each case is unique and Mishka has not progressed as well - but she's not dead either, so the budget is completely blown by five months worth of extra drugs. We have apparently converted an acute illness into a chronic one - as allopathic medicine does so well.

Possibly due to her more advanced disease ( she has abdominal FIP as well) her own genetic challenges (she is a Birman, Dusty is a Scottish Fold) or that two week delay or not using the steroids first up. Dr Addie does mention in her wet fip case study, which I only recently read, that the wet FIP response to FOI is higher for cats with FIP of the lungs, and doesn't seem to work as well on abdominal FIP.

My suspicion is this is because abdominal FIP can be cryptic for longer in that area without causing distress. Mishka had abdominal fluid for a few weeks to a month perhaps before we knew she was sick.

It wasn't until her lungs really filled up that we rushed to the vet. Perhaps she was also dehydrated somewhat and thirstier than usual. Here she is the night before, mucking about and looking ok:

She may have been sick for much longer as the earliest signs are so hard to detect as abnormal, if indeed they were - she started being more sleepy (thought that was natural as a cat growing older and not being a kitten any longer), more cuddly and purry - well she got to know us and that's a nice thing, she was very hungry and insisted on 4 am snacks - well she's a growing cat. She got so chubby she was stuck in her cat door - that was cute (ok my son had at that stage twigged something was up. "mum Mishka is not a cat anymore" ? "Definition of a cat - fits anywhere the head fits" ??!!! )

Definition of a cat - fits anywhere the head fits

 Mishka's Leap of Faith

 
and so we followed the example of Dusty. I feel like a cartoon character that's headed over the cliff - can't stop running to look down now or gravity will reassert itself. Hoping to make it to the other side on pure momentum. Courage kitty - leap!

Die another day - Toby and 0029

"I'm checking out. Thanks for the Kiss of Life." ~ James Bond (Die Another Day)

oh heck - just as the rest of her seems to be rallying kitty has a 'funny lump' under the skin which is possibly getting bigger. The vet is ignoring it strenuously and I'm not thinking straight - perhaps I should have jumped on it last week and investigated while she was under for the drain. The thing neither of us want to face is the prospect of a malignancy.

Seems she is simply dying more slowly, as our vet puts it - or living to die from something else like Toby - who was an uneutered Tom cat from Woodstock Ontario Canada. Toby lived the bachelor lifestyle, out partying every night and returning home in the daylight hours for food. When he got wet FIP he survived due to the ministrations of his owner, homeopathy and a change of diet (he stopped Taste of the Wild dry food and the pokeweed prescribed by a naturopath amongst other things); Toby fast tracked from having a FIP belly drained in August 2011 to normal function, including the partying, by September a few weeks later. He had places to be and cats to see - ladies to romance, guys to fight I guess and in April 2012 walked off into the night, sporting a swollen leg from an encounter of the 007 kind, never to be seen since by his human, Monika.

There was similar kitty, known only to me as "29" who was one of the original cats on the Polyprenyl Immunostimulant study. 0029 had dry FIP with neurological symptoms, who during treatment got well enough to get back to the killing business but met his match in a coyote. "when he was sick he was hanging around the house, once he started feeling better, it was hunting again, it was bringing little presents to the owners on a regular basis." ~  Dr Legendre WINN Feline Symposium transcript

But of course I am the eternal optomist. Unlikely things happen such as Miko the red burmese being reunited at the grand old age of 17 with his family in Essex, UK after a staggering ten years AWOL thanks to his microchip. Who knows, Toby is merely MIA he may reappear into Monika's life somewhere down the road.

from humortrain

Blade

" For everyone of us that succeeds, it's because there's somebody there to show you the way out. " ~ Oprah

 Blade lies in Michigan USA with Joni Swanson, still hale and happy in Jan 2013 over two years since first diagnosis. When I stumbled across Blade's story I was amazed and hopeful to see he was having weekly drainages of his effusion. At that time Mishka was up to her 4th drainage and i was unsure if we were going to slowly starve her to death by doing more because that was the most any other cat I heard of ever had to have before they either died or got better. So seeing Blade in such good health after 2 whole years gave us courage to proceed even though I do not have details of bloodwork or diagnostics. His veterinarian is Dr Paul Crawshaw at the Wyandotte Animal Hospital in Wyandotte, Michigan.

"Forget the ridiculous amount of toys, I just want to sit in the basket!"

October 9 2012 Joni Swanson writes:

"He will be 8 on October 30th, couldn't believe we were dealing with this at his age, but other than his little belly, you would never know he was sick. We have 5 cats and he is the most feisty. We have gone from once a week to once every four weeks, as of last week. 

The dr uses the ultrasound machine while using a catheter to remove the fluid. Every once in a while they say he starts flipping his tail and becomes vocal, but is a good boy for the most part. The fluid removed is between 1/2-1lb...was 410cc, used to remove 300-400 per week....when they bring him back, he acts perfectly fine. Jumps off the table, is a little nosey, then goes to his carrier. Dr gave me some medication to give him before i take him next time, said it will take the edge off. Otherwise he hasn't been given anything. It is about $86 each time......don't even know how we did it financially 2 yrs ago when he was going every week, guess I always hoped for a miracle.....it kept me going. I call him my million dollar kitty. 
He gets 1ml of interferon and 1ml of prednisone. The vet charges us $20 for the interferon (good for 2 mths) and the prednisone prescription is $32. Also crush 250mg of Rutin, a dietary supplement vitamin, to put on a spoonful of canned food 2-3 times per day. 
Was told by another vet that I didn't have to bother after he confirmed the FIP, but I continue to do what I had been for the previous year. I could talk all night about my little Blade.....sorry to keep blabbing......my heart breaks for all the babies lost to this horrible disease."

November 23, 2012 Joni Swanson writes:

"He is doing good....had 320 ml removed on Tuesday. He had a plateful of turkey and is napping now Talked to the dr about the different vitamins I have seen and asked about PI (polyprenyl immunostimmulant,). He said he would look into the PI, but said Blade is doing so well, why change anything."

Blade update: good news from visit on January 2nd 2013

"only 200ml was removed, down from 260ml removed 3 weeks prior, ultrasound showed less fluid and Blade weighed the same as the did after the 260ml was removed. Dr says he is an exception....just can't figure it out, but whatever it is, it is working. I know FIP is not curable, but Blade sure gives me high hopes! I also cut back on prednisone and interferon, used to have no problem giving him the medication, but when he started running and hiding from me, I wasn't going to force it down him. Could the steroid cause more fluid buildup? I don't know, but other than that darn fluid, you would never know he was sick. He is the king of the house"  

Long live the king :)

Lessons from Dr. Lipkin

"SARS was contained not because of a drug or vaccine but because we identified people who were infected or at risk, and we isolated them." ~ Prof Ian Lipkin MD

"When DISCOVER features editor Pamela Weintraub interviewed Lipkin last year, his dog, Koprowski was desperately sick. Lipkin had a treatment plan: not an antiviral drug or chemotherapy, but red meat. “It has antibiotics, it has growth hormone, it has everything"
Ian Lipkin is a virus hunter who was instrumental in helping China get control of SARS beginning with easy low tech things like soap and water for handwashing. He treated one of the first cases of AIDS successfully for a while with the new but existing technique of plasmapharesis to remove the antibody complexes that were causing his patients neurological symptoms.

Let's follow Lipkins lead and treat FIP with these things. Raw meat Mishka wont eat so until i can get hold of raw goats milk shes happily eating a kitty powershake - undenatured whey and colostrum powders, a teaspoon of each mixed with a teasoon of water daily, and raw egg yolk - yum!

FIP shares some similarities with SARS they are both corona viruses, and AIDS a disease of marked immune dysfunction.

Here's Mishka - Half the cat she was. She's leaking about 100 mls of fluid and protein a day into her peritoneum from damaged blood vessels - if we opened her belly up we would see little lumps called granulomas everwhere as the body tries unsuccessfully to destroy diseased cells that are nestled in the tissues like splinters. Collateral damage inflames the blood vessels - so far everything we have tried has not stopped this.
I have to wonder if plasmapharesis would have any success - UC Davis uses it for dogs with myesthenia gravis just as it is used in humans with this disease which inspired Lipkins AIDS treatment.