New Year

"The act of rallying forces on behalf of creation and beauty is a declaration of one's existence in the face of a seemingly indifferent ocean of reality." ~ Andres Amador

Finding this beautiful beach art by Andres on facebook felt so right today as the Chinese New Year begins and I mark a year since Mishka died. Time to reflect, clear the house, my thoughts, tidy this blog. This is my first post for a long time - months of battling to import polyprenyl for other cats, months of quietude and healing, and months of rebuilding what had to be neglected to care for Mishka. Her 'big brother' has finished school and left home too - it's been getting very quiet here.  Bad news below - Tomten continues to deteriorate; though it's balanced by more good news from Dusty's mum who wrote to say he continues well, and from Tam's mum to say she also is fine. See their stories on the'survivors' page.
"Tomten Update - I apologize for the radio silence its been a crazy couple of months at work. Wanted to let everyone know that Tomten continues to hang in there. I am almost worried that if I post that good news something else will happen to change that status. He has his good days and his bad days. He can't jump up counters any more but he still likes cuddling and eating table scraps. Though he is really thin! He is on three different meds. Lacix plus another heart med whose name I forget and Pred.For those that don't know me. Tom was diagnosed two years ago with Dry FIP. After a year of feline interferone injections we had flown in from the UK he developed more Granulomas. After surgery to have them removed. (They where about to perforate his bowl.) We discovered no sign of Corona virus and he is believed to be suffering from an unknown auto immune disease. Last November we discovered his heart was the latest to be effected. But he is hanging in there." - Cassie

Tomten might not have FIP

Goodnews/badnews update from Cassie nearly a year after Tomten was diagnosed with dry FIP and put onto interferon highlighting the difficulty with diagnosis:

"Tomten is hanging in there. I gave him the last of my interferon on Thursday night and now I am in a waiting game for the shipment to arrive from UK. I am praying it will be here on Monday. I injected him last week on Thursday, then Sunday then Thursday again. Just like last year after an injection he clearly responds for a few days so I am anxious to get him back on an every other day regimen. By Wednesday of this week he was spending all of his time in his favorite cat bed only getting up to use the litter box. He is eating but was being fed with "room service" several small amounts a day. After we injected him... he woke up at 3:30 am and got into bed with us. Friday am he woke up and followed me down to the kitchen to eat his breakfast. Last night he cuddled downstairs on my lap and even carried his favorite toy around for a few minutes.... its amazing to see his response after the injection so now we just have to pray we get the interferon quick!

On another positive note.. Dr. Ratti connected with Dr. Addie and shared Tomten's history... Dr. Addie doesn't think its FIP but has suggested another lymph node PCR biopsy but this time using a lab in California with a researcher who is has a lot of experience with FIP. Dr. Ratti is beginning to wonder if he could have a foreign body lodged in his intestine which could be causing the granuloma.. Here is to hoping we get the interferon fast and its not FIP."

just click the cloud button for the other posts about Tomten.

Tomten's Birthday

"...for us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one." ~ Einstein on the death of his friend Besso

Just wanted to drop a note to say that Tomten & Gizmo celebrated their 6th birthday last week! Yeah! Happy Birthday Tomten & Gizmo! For those of you who are newly diagnosed and feeling at a total loss. I wanted to share that bit of news. Tomten was diagnosed July 1st 2012 with dry FIP. He has been on the feline interferon and pred ever since. While he has his good days (totally normal mischievous Devon Rex) and his slow days (sleeps all day and scares us to death) his quality of life seems good. We never thought we would see this birthday so we celebrated with a nice long walk outside on his leash, a can of tuna fish, and plenty of cat nip! I don't know how long he has but we treasure each day! Thanks to everyone who helped him see this birthday! ~ Cassie (details of treatment here )

Many happy returns to Tomten and his littermate Gizmo (who doesn't have FIP)! Cassie is so thoughtfully posting his updates to keep our spirits up  as we watch the steady stream of kittens dying from FIP on the FIP fighters facebook community.
This month Mihoshi Barner - the little Ferret with FIP who has been on PI for over a year, passed away leaving a very sad owner behind. Ferrets do not live as long as cats so in ferret years I wonder how old he was? Mishka was 27 in accelerated cat time when she died, which is some sort of cold comfort. Tomten and Gizmo are the equivalent of 41 human years old wow, nearly middle aged by the catyears calculator ( in the right column menu overthere ) - no wonder he's catnapping all day. Hiphip hooray! Kill Da virus!

Gizmo on left Tomten on right