Thorn was adopted from a rescue in Kentucky on July 17, 2018 at the age of 2. He had been an indoor/outdoor cat prior to being surrendered. He became a strictly indoor cat when I adopted him. At the end of March 2021, I noticed Thorn wasn't eating his favorite food, or just sniffed it and walked away. I thought perhaps he needed a dental since he had exhibited similar behavior in Jan. 2020 and had a tooth extracted then. After his dental in April, he continued to show little interest in actually eating his food, despite my efforts to provide everything he loved. And I noticed his belly was beginning to get round, despite not eating. I mentioned this to his vet, who weighed him, declared he had gained four ounces since his dental the previous month, so he was gaining weight and "just fat." I protested, stating how can he gain weight when he isn't eating, and his hip bones are protruding. After requesting a belly tap, sure enough...yellowish fluid was removed. I had already researched what might be causing Thorn's swollen belly, and saw a story about the FIP Warriors. I was able to get Thorn started on medication that evening on May 19, 2021. He weighed around 13 pounds. After syringe feeding him for three days, on the fourth day he ate on his own. It took at least a month for the belly to go down, but outside of an elevated fever (104.5) for a couple of days (Metacam solved that), Thorn has done remarkably well. His weight did dip as low as 11 pounds, 11 oz., but has regained (as of Sept. 11) up to hovering around 13 pounds, 3 oz.(ish). His 8-week bloodwork, however, showed a disturbing 10-point drop in his RBC/HCT (which might have been a malfunction in the vet's in-house bloodwork machine, since it broke down two weeks later). We upped Thorn's B-12 shots to 3x weekly, got him on Lixotinic and increased the concentration of his GS treatment. Within two weeks, Thorn had an almost completely normal blood panel. He still tracked high on the globulin and ratio, so he remained on the higher concentration for an additional 30 days...pushing his treatment from 84 to 114. HIs bloodwork was perfect at week 16 on treatment. He began observation on Sept. 10, 2021.

UPDATE: Thorn has been declared cured as of Dec 2, 2021, after 114 days of shots and 84 days of observation.