Katie & Casper

Katie and Casper joined us April 10, 2020 from June’s Senior Cat Rescue. Previously, we had adopted Malva after fostering her for Bridges to Home Rescue.  Casper and Malva were both about 1 year old and FeLV+ (Feline Leukemia positive) and they became playmates. Katie was older but had been in a room with Casper at June's because she too was FeLV+ and couldn’t be around the other non-FeLV cats.  So we took Katie too. Katie had chronic issues with respiratory infections before she arrived that continued throughout the rest of her life with us.  Katie and Casper were very close.

Casper was such a gentle soul. He never once used his claws on another creature here.  He was very playful. I called him my "bathroom buddy" as he loved to play in the water at the edge of the tub and slept in the sink often.

Katie was 5 when we got her. About 4 months after she arrived she started having trouble eating. She received a diagnosis of stomatitis, a very severe and chronic mouth and gum disease.  Because FeLV+ cats have a compromised immune system, treating them is sometimes more difficult than non-FeLV cats because medications can be riskier for them. For 16 months poor Katie would get a shot for pain and she'd be able to eat for 2 to 3 weeks, and then she'd have a flare up, stop eating and have to go back for another shot. Twice she had oral surgery to remove teeth. She got a short 12 week reprieve once all her teeth were gone but soon returned to her usual cycle.  Katie was my kitchen kitty.  She was always on the sink waiting for me to pet her or feed her. She liked being up high and was often found on top of the fridge or the cupboards. One day in December of 2021, out of the blue, she started limping, 3 days later she could only drag herself with one front leg.  The vet had no idea what it was, gave her a dose of prednisone  and pain meds, 3 days later she stopped trying to move so we decided to help her stop hurting and sent her to the Rainbow Bridge.    

Stomatitis is a sad diagnosis. Later Casper was also diagnosed with stomatitis and after watching what poor Katie went through we decided to be proactive and go forward with a full tooth extraction to try and save him from so much suffering.

His surgery was August 18, 2021and it had gone well. He started eating after a day and he seemed like his usual self. Later he became stressed when the stitches didn't dissolve as they should have. The several visits to the vet to remove them caused him additional stress. He stopped eating as much and started dropping weight drastically, additionally the tips of his ears folded over like a wilted plant.  

Two months later, just before Halloween, we put Casper to rest to be with Katie at the Rainbow Bridge.

We believe the stress of the ordeal caused his body to crash, lowering his immune system and triggering a case of dry FIP.  I was not a 501-C-3 organization yet and had no way to raise the extensive amounts of cash it would take to cure Casper’s FIP (which you can learn about here.)