Oh my, I didn't realize that I didn't post on Friday evening. We took the cats to a new vet, who specialized in just cats, on Friday evening. She did verify that likely we are facing FIP with Elliot. She felt that he was not at the 'suffering' stage yet, though and that if we wanted to take him back home for a few more days/weeks, that would be reasonable. He is uncomfortable, but not suffering. She gave us another coarse of antibiotics for him and told us signs to watch for that will indicate that he is reaching the 'suffering now' stage. She is also willing to work with us, if we can find some information about homeopathic treatments that have worked, and help us get our hands on what we need, if we need help. Which we will do on Monday morning. There are several vets around the country who are willing to do homeopathic consults over the phone. We'll be on the phone with one, first thing on Monday...
As for Lilly, she conferred strongly, that there is no indication from current test results that Lilly needs to be put down too. She has high Coronavirus counts, but that does not indicate that she is any more likely to get FIP than 80% of other cats who have high Coronavirus counts. She did say that Lilly seemed "a bit off" to her. Which was interesting, because to us, Lilly seems the most bright-eyed and playful that she has ever been. She seems to be finally on the road to being healthy and well. But she did also get one more course of antibiotics, to (this time, hopefully) actually KNOCK the last bit of the respiratory infection that she has been fighting all along.
So, they both came home with us. Elliot is basically on hospice. We are keeping him as comfortable as possible and watching some vital signs so that we will be aware of the subtle changes that will happen when he reaches the 'suffering' stage. Lilly, is likely to be our cat for quite some time to come - - she will likely be afforded a great privilege that we never thought would happen with ANY cat of ours, in that she will likely be an indoor cat. Though Emma is having a bit of a hard time with that, because Lilly does seem to REALLY enjoy the out-of-doors. We'll see. It might be up to what the vet says. If they think it would be better for her, as far as er health goes, to be in, we will consider it. And it will also be up to what the Landlord says, he does have veto poser, since it IS his house. We may offer to switch out the carpet for him, though, and put down hardwood in the living spaces. That might make a difference as to whether he is willing for a cat to be indoors or not. And we would rather have hardwood, anyway. She will need to be monitored pretty closely, over the next few months/years, to be sure her iron level does not drop off, or other key indicators of FIP don't show up. There is still a chance she will be struck with it too, as many as 20% of cats with high Coronavirus counts do. We won't really know till she's three or four years old, that we have dodged that bullet!
So this next week will be more emotional roller-coaster, I'm sure, but in the end, we will know that we did all that we could.
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