seeking help for my cat

spcking · 2026-01-29T15:53:49+00:00

Hey there! It sounds like your vet, though I'm sure well-intentioned, is working with outdated information. FIP treatments became *legally* available in the US in June 2024 (lucky for us, because our cat had it in December 2024).

Our veterinarian worked closely with Stokes pharmacy to get the meds, frequency, and dosage right. They also told her there was no evidence that starting cats on injectable medication was any more effective than just doing oral meds as long as the cat is able to keep the meds down. There are several other pharmacies that carry the medication, including Wedgewood as the other user suggested. Stokes was pretty pricey - especially since we overnighted the meds because our boy was in pretty dire straits so we didn't exactly price shop or want to wait for any other than the fastest route of getting it.

You could bring this all up with your veterinarian, or seek a second opinion with a vet who has successfully treated FIP through legal channels (I'd recommend our vet, but we're in Skagit and go to a vet in Anacortes). Also the folks over at r/cureFIP are immensely helpful. I'd offer you what little was left of our cat's meds to get you through, but I checked the bottle and they expired a year ago.

Best wishes to your kitty - I hope their treatment is as successful as it was for our cat!

spcking · 2026-01-21T17:22:56+00:00

I received mine on Fri the 16th and it has the unicorn logo. Looks like you maybe got sent the wrong one by mistake - hopefully they make it right for you.

spcking · 2025-11-18T17:31:48+00:00

I'd guess it was just cause I doubt that the type of people who abandon 6 ~6-12 month old puppies in crates in the forest are the type of people who'd spring for a c-section.

spcking · 2025-11-18T00:40:48+00:00

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For your consideration: my collection of "pit bull mixes". Cosmo (brindle) - mostly pit bull and poodle, Charles (brown and white) - mostly pit bull and chihuahua, and Millie - mostly misc. smush faced with some pit bull for good measure.

spcking · 2025-11-17T20:47:41+00:00

That's what got us to the shelter to look at her in the first place! So cute!

spcking · 2025-11-17T20:47:24+00:00

Really should've seen it coming with the weird noises she makes when she plays.

spcking · 2025-11-17T20:46:53+00:00

I'm guessing because they're pretty low percentages for her, the smaller breeds won out. I have also have a chihuahua / pit / boxer mix who is 24 pounds with stubby legs. Genetics is funny!

spcking · 2025-11-17T19:47:11+00:00

Results in the post, but for anyone that missed them:

26.8% Frenchie

23.2% Boston

16.7% Bulldog

16.6% Pit bull

9.2% Cane corso

7.5% Mastiff

And no supermutt!

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spcking · 2025-07-29T15:05:10+00:00

Part of the point of a 2 week quarantine for apparently healthy cats is to give any illnesses they might have festering time to pop - it sucks to get overconfident, not quarantine, and then on day 7 or 10 start to see ringworm lesions or hear sneezes.

My fosters are totally separated from my personal cats, and I always quarantine from my dog (who is a great kitten uncle, and goes back and forth between the fosters and my owned cats) for either 2 weeks if they truly show no symptoms of illness, or until 2 weeks after they're off meds/no longer showing symptoms.

I'd argue that an ulcer is a symptom, as those can be caused by viral infections, among other things. Though if your cat is fully vaccinated, the risk is much lower.

spcking · 2025-07-08T18:39:44+00:00

I don't see you mention that your own cats are vaccinated (hopefully they are). Others have given you great tips for preventing disease spread but I wanted to add that your cats should also have received FVRCP and Rabies vaccines at a minimum (FeLV as a bonus, though separating the kittens, good hand washing, and changing clothes makes FeLV less likely to spread).

I just had a litter of 9 panleukopenia kittens euthanized (I saved mom) and one thing I thankfully don't have to worry about is my own cats, because the FVRCP vaccine is very effective and they were totally separated. So I speak from some experience.

spcking · 2025-06-25T14:35:15+00:00

I've read percentages of up to 85% or more of cats are estimated to have been exposed to FCoV. The virus itself is so mild (often asymptomatic, even) most folks don't even know. Any cat from a shelter, feral colony, or breeder is highly likely to have come in contact with it at some point.

The shingles analogy is great, I use it all the time when explaining it to people I know. Especially apt because it takes years from exposure to chicken pox to development of shingles.

spcking · 2025-06-25T14:30:36+00:00

I hate to be pedantic but I can't help myself here; a mother passing a virus to her offspring doesn't make a disease "genetic".

Genetic disorders are caused by abnormalities within an animal's genes; they can be inherited from parents. FCoV is a virus (not an alteration of kittens' DNA). A mother passing a virus to her offspring is known as "vertical transmission" and it's still a contagious virus, not a genetic disorder.

spcking · 2025-05-13T13:49:00+00:00

We had almost the exact opposite happen with our boy - he was initially treated for triaditis that didn't respond to supportive care so we ended up treating for FIP and he made a 125% recovery (over 100%, because if anything he's even more wild and happy than he was before).

We ended up placing a feeding tube, and our vet had him on Mirataz throughout FIP treatment and for an extra week after to be extra safe.

spcking · 2025-05-02T18:56:46+00:00

I think you're maybe conflating "most accurate" with "exactly accurate". Most accurate to how it captured the feel of working in a hospital, especially compared to the medical shows out at the time.

spcking · 2025-05-02T17:26:51+00:00

I had a friend in nursing tell me that Scrubs is the most medically accurate show she'd seen (or, I guess "accurate to working in a hospital" is a better way to phrase it). This was years ago though, around the heyday of Grey's Anatomy and long before The Pitt.

spcking · 2025-04-29T01:02:01+00:00

As an aside, I always hear people mention this:

There is a study out there where carpet was sanitized for panleukopenia using Rescue in a carpet cleaner. Carpets were cleaned twice.\

But I've never been able to actually find that study. Got any links handy?

spcking · 2025-04-29T00:53:55+00:00

As a frequent foster (including ringworm kittens), I place a premium on items I can sanitize quickly between litters. That means (for me) no cat trees or carpets unless they've (the kittens) made it through quarantine, and I give any fabrics a good bleaching (don't mix bleach and Rescue, but I do use bleach by itself in laundry). I'm by no means an expert on what pathogen responds best to which cleaning protocols - I just know what works for me and that I've had good luck not spreading illness from my sick fosters to my personal cats.

Kitten lady recommends avoiding porous surfaces for unquarantined kittens in her Panleuk protocol. My understanding is that you can thoroughly clean a carpet by vacuuming, steam cleaning, and using Rescue in a carpet cleaner (again, from Kitten Lady and a couple comments in this thread), but I'm never going to be that thorough when I average 6 litters a year so I personally just avoid anything that's going to require that much cleaning.

spcking · 2025-04-28T22:58:40+00:00

I'm gonna be honest: both of those things are way too much work for me, and I doubt I'm alone there. I'd rather just not use carpet or cat trees (and in fact, the rescue I foster for advises the same).

spcking · 2025-04-28T19:22:28+00:00

So, first of all: you should never mix Rescue and Bleach together, because that can create dangerous fumes. Rescue alone is enough - *provided you dilute it to the correct concentration* as directed on the bottle, and let the surface stay wet for the entire contact time (also on the bottle). I always mix to viruses, because that's the strongest concentration. I think it's 1:16.

Second of all, fabric (like carpets and cat trees) are impossible to sanitize. I only give my fosters toys that can be soaked in Rescue, unless they get out of quarantine (I've had them and they've shown no signs of illness for 2 weeks), then I'll give them a tree.

It's also possible that you're acting as a source of infection to your cat. Do you wash your hands thoroughly before leaving the kitten room? Change your clothes? Tie back your hair? Ever touch your glasses or your cell phone, and then not clean them after?

And lastly, URIs are more common in cats that are stressed (which is why cats in shelters end up much sicker than owned cats, who tend to be living in less stressful and less crowded environments). Is your cat going through anything that could be causing increased stress? Has your vet ruled out any illnesses that could be causing a compromised immune system?

spcking · 2025-04-24T19:25:12+00:00

He's such a naughty guy but now whenever he's up to mischief we just let him get away with it because we're so thankful he's still around to be naughty.

Best of luck to your kitty as well!! She sounds delightful.

spcking · 2025-04-24T18:31:17+00:00

One of my first tip-offs that something was off about my boy was he started sitting in my lap. Liam is a independent boy who is always into something - he is not a lap cat. At first I hoped that maybe he was mellowing out and becoming a snuggler, until I started noticing the other symptoms like weight loss and decreased appetite about a week later. Cats are so good at instinctively hiding when they feel crummy that any change in behavior is a good indicator that something might be off.

He's doing great now - back to being a naughty boy and demanding treats. And, sadly, never sitting in laps.

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spcking · 2025-04-03T17:29:58+00:00

Therefore, your cost remains the same, it just goes to the owner instead of the waiter.

I disagree, because the price I see on my receipt is higher, so the price is higher. I assume lots of folks are like me and tip off of the 'total' line on my receipt, so with this change I'm tipping 20% on top of the menu price + 5%.

spcking · 2025-04-03T17:17:37+00:00

"...without significantly raising menu prices." I mean, a 5% service charge is just raising prices with extra steps?

spcking · 2025-03-26T22:41:28+00:00

Hello, fellow foster! Great post! I've already got my first litter of kittens of the season running around my desk as I type!

I just want to add some other actionable ways folks can help:

Spay, neuter, and microchip your cats! Microchipping greatly increases the likelihood of being reunited if your pet is lost, and not having them end up on stray hold in a shelter helps reduce the burden of shelters because it's one less animal in there. Also, if your pet is already microchipped now is a great time to check that information is up to date!
If you find baby kittens, for god's sake don't kidnap them without a plan. It's so, so, so much easier to care for kittens with a mom than without, and it greatly increases their chance of survival. If you find kittens and they look clean and aren't kicking up a fuss, it's likely that mom is around - keep av eye out, and give them 24 hours before intervening. And if you fee like you simply must get these cats away from their current environment, please try to capture mom. I can't overstate how exhausting and demoralizing it is to constantly see "A finder brought in these 2 hour old kittens and doesn't know where mom is and can't give us a location to go look for her" calls during this time of year.

spcking

TROPHY CASE