took Kodi to the vets this afternoon. I held him the whole way down, he cuddled into me. He seemed to be doing quite a bit better this morning and ate quite a bit, although he had two large lumps in his stomach area, and his good eye was becoming quite bloody. The vet took one look at him and came to the conclusion that I came to yesterday. She said there were things that we could do for him, but even if they worked, chances are that it wouldn't work for long and he'd soon be suffering again. As much as I didn't want to let him go, I had to. She took him and put a catheter in his arm. She asked if I wanted to be with him when they put him down, and I said yes... then I said no.. but I knew I had to. Years ago I was there for a stray I took in Melody, and Id never forgive myself if I wasn't there for him. We talked about a few other things (later) and then the time came. She was very good about keeping the catheter out of my line of site.it wasn't a pretty thing to see. I held and kissed his head, and patted his tummy (the best I could) while she injected him. a moment later he shuttered, and was gone. It was unbelievably hard to leave him there.
We talked about the tests that were run on the other kitties. since both FIP and leukemia are both highly contagious, we took the other
cats in last Monday to be tested. Due to some break down in communications, we didn't get the results until this evening. Everyone in the household tested positive for FIP. Muffin and Eli had the lowest "titre" count. Em had a moderate one. Jack and Ollie had a high count. the high count was around 1 to 500. Kodi's was in the thousands.
One tested positive for Leukemia - jack.
Unfortunately, FIP is very hard to diagnose. The only test they have counts the titres in the cats blood. titres from my understanding are basically
antibodies to the disease... meaning they have been exposed. Simply because they have been exposed does not mean they will come down with the disease.
It doesn't even mean they will be a carrier. However both are possibilities. And sadly there is no sure way to know for sure.
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/health/FIP.html
http://www.hdw-inc.com/healthfip.htm
Now. Jack also has the issue of leukemia. This too might just be a false positive due to the exposure. Its a very very slim possibility.
Right now everyone is healthy, and happy and that is what matters. The vet recommends we test them all again in six weeks to get a comparison level for their titres.
It wont give us a lot of information, but it might give us some.
Right now.. its cleaning and bleach time. Seems kinda silly since they already have it.. but ..
this also appears to have put an end to my fostering days. this too is very distressing.
Muffin is sitting on the cat tree being unbelievably cute.. and here comes Em. I think its time to get off line and spend some quality time with my kitties.
