Feline Infectious Peritonitis

DavidWhite

DavidWhite

Final Approach
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DW
Has anyone dealt with this before with their kitties? I was advised by the vet today to reach out to a group of FIP experts and “Do whatever they tell me to do.” Our sweet boy has been lethargic and lost his appetite for several days now, and the FIP folks have told us to start treatments as soon as possible due to his bloodwork having all the signs of FIP.

A few short years ago this was considered a death sentence for cats. Now, thanks to the miracle drug GS-441524 (Remdesivir) the outcomes seem to have improved substantially, from a 99% fatality rate to an 80% recovery rate. Today is day 1 of 84 days of injections to try and save our sweet kitty. We will hopefully see improvements within the week.
 

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Surely there are other better forums to ask this of?
Maybe go to that giant internet thingy, find a "search bar" and type "cat forum"
Perhaps there your *****/FIP problems will be solved or better commiserated with.
 
David, I'm sorry to hear about your sweet floofy little guy ...
Sounds like you have an arduous road ahead. I know we have at least a few vets and cat lovers here. And friends.
 
4RNB said:
Surely there are other better forums to ask this of?
Maybe go to that giant internet thingy, find a "search bar" and type "cat forum"
Perhaps there your *****/FIP problems will be solved
Click to expand...
Probably. Feline Infectious Peritonitis is a serious disease.
4RNB said:
or better commiserated with.
Click to expand...
Until your response I would have disagreed. Sick pet stories get a lot of commiseration here. And commiseration from friends is worth more than from strangers.
He wasn't asking for medical advice. He was asking if any of his friends have ever gong through this before.

@David. You do have my prayers. He looks like such a sweet cat that is not feeling well. I hope you are successful with his treatment.
 
4RNB said:
Surely there are other better forums to ask this of?
Maybe go to that giant internet thingy, find a "search bar" and type "cat forum"
Perhaps there your *****/FIP problems will be solved or better commiserated with.
Click to expand...
Did you also make this same post on the "Radon" thread?
What about the "How thoroughly do you clean you grill" thread?
I'm sure the "Bug proofing your home" thread really sent you into a fit.
:rolleyes:
 
This was initially in the flight following portion of the forum.
There was nothing about flying in the post.
 
The repository for the most up to date info (used by, and run, at least partially by veterinarians) on the medication is a FB page.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

There are lookalike FB pages - it appears to be the one with 64K members.

There are many stories in the international vet world of using the China-origin GS-441524, a nucleoside analog to miraculous effect.
Formerly the disease was almost 100% fatal.

It is very expensive (mid to high 4-digits).

There were also bogus versions out there too and no one was validating the product contents.

I hear it has been discovered the drug is closely related to Remdesivir, which is apparently now available in the US as Veklury made by Gilead and being used by veterinarians, but is largely unavailable still.

I just checked my vet supply shopper app (it's like Expedia for airline flights; checks all common suppliers) and it does not list Veklury or Remdesivir.

news.vin.com

Confusion besets first legal FIP treatment in US (updated)

Veterinarians can use remdesivir to treat lethal cat disease — if they can get it
news.vin.com news.vin.com
 
Wow. I've never heard of this before so have no advice to offer.

Just best wishes for a successful treatment!
 
4RNB said:
This was initially in the flight following portion of the forum.
There was nothing about flying in the post.
Click to expand...

My PoA bookmark takes me to flight following. I accidentally posted it in the wrong forum, realized my mistake, and flagged it immediately for the admins to move it.
 
DavidWhite said:
Has anyone dealt with this before with their kitties? I was advised by the vet today to reach out to a group of FIP experts and “Do whatever they tell me to do.” Our sweet boy has been lethargic and lost his appetite for several days now, and the FIP folks have told us to start treatments as soon as possible due to his bloodwork having all the signs of FIP.

A few short years ago this was considered a death sentence for cats. Now, thanks to the miracle drug GS-441524 (Remdesivir) the outcomes seem to have improved substantially, from a 99% fatality rate to an 80% recovery rate. Today is day 1 of 84 days of injections to try and save our sweet kitty. We will hopefully see improvements within the week.
Click to expand...
David,
I wanted to ask my wife about this before invoking her name here, but she is one of only 70 veterinarians in the world that are Board Certified in Feline Practice by ABVP. She is semi-retired now and only works one day a week at a Feline specialty hospital but she does stay current.

She did say that it sounds like you are getting sound advice. The drug is called GS-441524 and is not available (illegal to sell) to veterinarians. You must find it and buy it and it IS very expensive, and very HARD to find. But if/when you buy it, your vet can assist and advise you with it's use.

We both wish you much luck. Just a few years ago this case would have a mandatory sad ending. At least now there is hope.
 
JOhnH said:
David,
I wanted to ask my wife about this before invoking her name here, but she is one of only 70 veterinarians in the world that are Board Certified in Feline Practice by ABVP. She is semi-retired now and only works one day a week at a Feline specialty hospital but she does stay current.

She did say that it sounds like you are getting sound advice. The drug is called GS-441524 and is not available (illegal to sell) to veterinarians. You must find it and buy it and it IS very expensive, and very HARD to find. But if/when you buy it, your vet can assist and advise you with it's use.

We both wish you much luck. Just a few years ago this case would have a mandatory sad ending. At least now there is hope.
Click to expand...

John, this makes me so happy to hear that we are going down the right path. We are very hopeful that our kitty will be able to live a long and healthy life. We have decided that the cost doesn't matter and that we will do whatever it takes to give him the best possible outcome with FIP.
 
JOhnH said:
Just a few years ago this case would have a mandatory sad ending. At least now there is hope.
Click to expand...

That's good news as my bit of research into this (I didn't know about it at all) gave a very grim picture about outcomes. Seems there is hope and that's good.

We have a diabetic Maine Coon that is 14 years old. The vet says this breed doesn't usually live that long and they suspect he will likely make it another couple of years. We give him insulin morning and night (the hard part is the stick to draw blood to check his blood sugar level*). A diabetic family member caught his condition early on by noticing his symptoms and the vet confirmed it.

*No we don't have to draw a blood sample to know his blood sugar level. There are beads that can be used in the litter box & urine strips can also be used. Watching him closely you can usually tell when his blood sugar is high ...
 
Daleandee said:
That's good news as my bit of research into this (I didn't know about it at all) gave a very grim picture about outcomes. Seems there is hope and that's good.
Click to expand...

The outcomes from what I’ve heard on the treatment plan we have him on are 80-95% positive depending on how early you catch it. We believe we caught it fairly early thankfully due to an excellent veterinarian.

He seems to be more alert and social today, and ate dry food for the first time in 4 days. They say cats can improve clinically after only 2-3 days of treatment and we are on day two. We have a follow up at the vet scheduled for Thursday and are hoping his globulin levels are down and his fever is either substantially less or gone.
 
Daleandee said:
That's good news as my bit of research into this (I didn't know about it at all) gave a very grim picture about outcomes. Seems there is hope and that's good.

We have a diabetic Maine Coon that is 14 years old. The vet says this breed doesn't usually live that long and they suspect he will likely make it another couple of years. We give him insulin morning and night (the hard part is the stick to draw blood to check his blood sugar level*). A diabetic family member caught his condition early on by noticing his symptoms and the vet confirmed it.

*No we don't have to draw a blood sample to know his blood sugar level. There are beads that can be used in the litter box & urine strips can also be used. Watching him closely you can usually tell when his blood sugar is high ...
Click to expand...
Have you talked with you vet about one of the new oral diabetes drugs (Bexacat or Senvelgo).
For cats newly diagnosed with diabetes this can be a much better option than injections.

My wife isn't here for me to ask right now, but I believe there is also a diagnostic that requires a device on (or in) the cat that allows you to monitor glucose from your phone.
 
Daleandee said:
. We give him insulin morning and night (the hard part is the stick to draw blood to check his blood sugar level*).
Click to expand...
Get a Libre (3 is the best model).
Auto-reports to your phone. Has alert function if BG too low. Can share results with DVM.

Daleandee said:
*No we don't have to draw a blood sample to know his blood sugar level. There are beads that can be used in the litter box & urine strips can also be used. Watching him closely you can usually tell when his blood sugar is high ...
Click to expand...
Last resort, only tells you when glucose is so high it’s spilling over into urine. Will not tell you what you really need, BG at nadir. Very imprecise.
 
JOhnH said:
Have you talked with you vet about one of the new oral diabetes drugs (Bexacat or Senvelgo).
For cats newly diagnosed with diabetes this can be a much better option than injections.

My wife isn't here for me to ask right now, but I believe there is also a diagnostic that requires a device on (or in) the cat that allows you to monitor glucose from your phone.
Click to expand...

Some of this is news to me but I'm not the one dealing with the vet. I'll pass this on to the caretaker. This cat has been on insulin for a number of years and is doing well. Still, if it can be made easier for us and better for him I'm thankful ...
 
Daleandee said:
Some of this is news to me but I'm not the one dealing with the vet. I'll pass this on to the caretaker. This cat has been on insulin for a number of years and is doing well. Still, if it can be made easier for us and better for him I'm thankful ...
Click to expand...
I'm not the vet, but my understanding is that the new drugs are designed for recently diagnosed cases. If your cat has been taking insulin for years, they may not be a candidate.
 
JOhnH said:
I'm not the vet, but my understanding is that the new drugs are designed for recently diagnosed cases. If your cat has been taking insulin for years, they may not be a candidate.
Click to expand...
It won’t work In this case; must have functioning Beta cells to be a candidate for SGLT2-inhibitors like Senvelgo or Bexacat
 
DavidWhite said:
The outcomes from what I’ve heard on the treatment plan we have him on are 80-95% positive depending on how early you catch it. We believe we caught it fairly early thankfully due to an excellent veterinarian.

He seems to be more alert and social today, and ate dry food for the first time in 4 days. They say cats can improve clinically after only 2-3 days of treatment and we are on day two. We have a follow up at the vet scheduled for Thursday and are hoping his globulin levels are down and his fever is either substantially less or gone.
Click to expand...
Just saw this thread, and I'm sending my thoughts to you. I hope kitty recovers, I know what they mean to us that love them.
 
Well, the GS treatment is pretty amazing stuff. Today is day 15 and I am very happy to report nothing but good news. We ordered some pills today to switch him off the injectables, as he has his old strength and vigor back. It is exceedingly difficult to get a 13lb cat who does not want to sit still to sit still, even with two of us. He's 100% back to his old self and other than some blisters from the repeated injections (we are trying not to repeat injection sites as best we can, but its difficult) he is healthy as a horse.

If anyone ever has any questions about this stuff, please don't hesitate to reach out. We have another 69 days of treatments but are hoping that the pills make it a much easier and less painful experience for both him and us. He is playing and running around just like he used to! In fact, I haven’t seen him this playful in quite some time, which makes me wonder if there isn’t a more slow onset of FIP before more visible symptoms start to occur.
 

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David

There was a time (many years ago) when I’d have been… dismissive… of someone worrying so about a cat. Those days are long gone, and I’m delighted at your kittie’s improvement. Hope it continues apace!

—-

Was thinking about you a couple days ago - out at the ramp of T82, recalled you flying in aboard White Lightnin’ (mighty mighty pleasin’), then we motored around and did some approaches in the Bonanza, returned and called-out a corporate guy in a King Air 200 for blasting us at the gas pump. Good times.

You’ve come a long way, Grasshopper.
 
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