Mr Blue was adopted by a family with young children from ResQcats in Santa Barbara last September.   He was brought to Dr Quinn at Wilder Animal Hospital a few days ago and diagnosed with wet FIP.   The family was not in a position to treat and so Dr Quinn reached out to us (she is our veterinarian for Smokey and our other 23 cats) and long story short, we have adopted Mr Blue and begun treatment.  He is getting injections twice a day along with other supportive care in our efforts to stabilize him and get him eating again.  As everyone who has treated an FIP cat knows, these first few days are the most critical and the most nerve wracking.

UPDATE 5/6/22: Mr Blue lost his battle with FIP this morning.  The treatments available to fight FIP are curing tens of thousands of FIP cats and work in about 80% of the cases.  Sadly, Mr Blue was not one of the lucky ones.   Even though I only spent a few days with him, not being able to save him is crushing.  I wish we could have got to him sooner and maybe he might have lived.  He is a reminder that ZenByCat's mission of raising funding for ongoing research is more vital than ever. FIP is treatable but it is still a fatal disease that is killing millions of cats.

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There is more to this story. I had actually seen Blue listed on ResQcats facebook page when he was offered for adoption last September.  We talked about adopting him but our remodel was not finished and we decided it was not yet time to welcome another cat into House Of Nekko.   Two weeks ago I reached out to Jeffyne at ResQcats and told her i was still struggling with the loss of my most special cat Cookie Monster who had lost her battle with lymphoma in Jan of 2021.  I asked Jeffyne to keep an eye out for a Russian Blue kitten(s) that needed a forever human.   When I was asked to adopt and treat Blue, it felt like it was meant to be.   Just did not get the fairy tale ending that we wanted. RIP Mr Blue.

We all deal with grief differently. For me, getting more humans to help end FIP for all cats helps.  

If you have been touched by FIP, please consider honoring fallen FIP Warriors like Mr Blue, and Miss Bean, and so many others by supporting FIP research with small monthly donations.  Join the FIP Warriors Club and you will literally be saving cats lives.   

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