FIP Pamela
Meet Pamela – she has been an every-day regular at one of our feeding stations in Coral Bay for several years.
About 10 days ago, her feeder noticed that she looked pregnant, however her ear clearly had a notch in it, so she was definitely spayed. How could that be?
Fast forward a couple of days and it became clear that there was something seriously wrong – the cat was surely ill - her abdomen was bloated beyond anything that could possibly be considered as being “normal”.
Checking for pictures on the internet of cats with similar symptoms heightened suspicion that the problem was feline infectious peritonitis (“FIP”) - which hit the headlines in Cyprus (and internationally) in July 2023. Naturally, everyone involved was immediately pessimistic about her chances.
Pamela was taken to the vet last Thursday (4/1) and a blood test confirmed the worst.
After talking through the possibilities, the vet agreed to drain the fluids from her stomach while we set about trying to obtain medication for her via the government scheme .. details in the blog
Unfortunately, the government vet said they had no medication left and they further advised they weren’t going to get any more (surprise, surprise…) but they suggested that we phone around local vets and try to find some – the first vet didn’t have any but fortunately the second one we contacted did.
By coincidence, at that time a second cat at a different feeding station in Coral Bay (Tyson) turned up with the same bloated stomach symptoms and he also tested positive for FIP. So 2 completely unconnected cats tested positive for FIP from 2 different feeding stations within 3 days of each other. Up until that time, there were no cases at all of FIP being recorded at any of our feeding stations! That seems a bit bizarre and hopefully is not a sign of things to come in the Coral Bay / Pegeia area. The reality is that many cats (including outside of Cyprus) at some point in their lifetime will be infected by FIP but few cats develop the attendant serious illness.
Having secured supplies of medication, we hoped that we’d be able to administer it by starting off with an injection and then providing it each day syrup form mixed into food for the affected cats at their respective normal feeding stations. However, the vet said that wouldn’t work because it had to be given at exactly the same time every day for 12 weeks (!), without fail.
So the only choice was for the cats was board, lodging and medication for 12 weeks!
Both cats have a good chance of survival and we will keep everyone updated with what happens. Both of them have had fluids drained from their stomachs and each of them is eating and generally making progress.
Tyson was kindly paid for by a long-time admirer and we negotiated what is hopefully a good deal for the two cats to be treated at the same time in the vet’s facility.
If anyone could help to meet the costs for Pamela, it would be greatly appreciated….
iFngers crossed for them both!
Watch this space….
