Update May 2024
My gorgeous Casper was featured a number of years ago as Ragdoll of the Week along with his brother Milo.
Me and my partner have been on a rollercoaster journey with our Ragdolls since October last year which I wanted to share with you all.
Casper has just turned 12 in April and is a loving friendly Ragdoll full of life and extremely friendly. Unfortunately, back in late September, he went off his food, and the vet diagnosed that he had reabsorption of the teeth. I’m not an expert on this, but basically, his teeth were getting reabsorbed by his jawbone. So, over the course of 2 separate operations, all of his teeth were removed apart from his large canines and the very small teeth at the very front, as they were all affected by reabsorption.
At the same time our other Ragdoll Cosmo was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and was put on steroids. At the time we thought Cosmo was going to die but the steroids worked wonders and he recovered and was running around like a crazy kitty again chasing his brothers.
Going back to Casper though he never made a complete recovery from the teeth removal and continued to struggle with eating despite regular visits to the vets to get to the bottom of the problem.
Then just before Christmas last year Casper became poorly again being sick over a few days. We took him to the vets again who checked him over and couldn’t find anything wrong. He recovered from this but the first week in January he took poorly again not wanting to eat. We took him back again to the vets and they did a scan and found abdominal fluid so was rushed to a vetinary hospital where he was diagnosed with pancreatitis.
He was put on a 2 week course of antibiotics. At this point I had to start hand feeding him as he was refusing to eat.
After many visits backwards and forwards to the vets and scans as Casper was not improving they did a PCR test and he was diagnosed with feline infections peritonitis in March. Me and my partner were heartbroken as until recently this was classed as a fatal disease for cats but we were given light at the end of the tunnel when we discovered there was hope with some new medication that had been discovered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately this medication is not available in all countries but it has been approved where we live in the UK but it is very expensive at over £40 per tablet.
As the medication has an over 80% success rate we agreed to proceed with this despite our pets insurance company refusing to provide cover as they linked it to his pancreatitis diagnosis which we had already exhausted our cover for £3000.
The GS-441524 medication (doesn’t roll of the tongue) is a 12 week course and at the end the cat should hopefully go in to full remission.
A few days in to the medication on the prescribed dose and it wasn’t working Casper was developing more abdominal fluid and had a pot bellied appearance which is common for cats with FIP. One afternoon I noticed his breathing had increased to 49 breaths per minute. I called the vet immediately and he was rushed in. They discovered as well as having fluid in his abdomen it had also spread to his chest, so he had to have an emergency procedure to remove the fluid from his chest. They like to leave the fluid in the abdomen so the body can reabsorb it itself as it causes too much shock for the cat if removed all at once.
To the vet’s amazement Casper pulled through the procedure. The vet commented that they had never removed so much fluid from a cats chest before and for the cat to make it. Our FIP warrior Casper was determined not to give up the battle and neither were we.
Throughout his treatment my vets have been receiving advice from the Royal College of Vets in the UK and more recently Edinburgh University who are conducting research on FIP.
As part of this research they tested the levels of GS-441524 in Casper blood and unfortunately we received news yesterday that the concentration levels are not high enough to ensure Casper goes in to full remission.
Casper has been making amazing progress and going from a cat back in January that would sit all day in the same place not moving or eating to being 80% back to his normal self now is fantastic although I am still having to partially support him with eating as he lost 1 kilogram in weight and is still slowly putting this back on.
He has blood checks every few weeks to check his protein levels are dropping which is what should happen and the good news everything is on the right path.
His medication was due to end the first week in June but as the meditation concentration levels in his blood aren’t high enough we are having to switch from the tablet form to the injectable form from next week on the advice or Edinburgh University. I must admit I am not looking forward to and I’m sure Casper isn’t either.
We have spent thousands already on his treatment so the news that his treatment is now going to have to be extended past the initial June end date has come somewhat as a shock.
Especially when me and my partner are not high earners. But we haven’t given up yet and neither has Casper he is a fighter bless him and we are determined to overcome this horrendous disease together.
On a very sad note we lost Cosmo my other ragdoll who had IBD on 19th April he developed septic peritonitis and the vet advised there was nothing they could do. He was so weak bless him and they advised due to his existing IBD his chances were extremely slim so with a heavy heart we had him put to sleep and he is now at rest in our garden where he loved to be.
I wanted everyone to be aware that there is hope if your cat gets FIP. Unfortunately, it’s not a straightforward path to recovery. The 12-week course of medication may need to be extended, and the level of medication may need to be increased, which all has cost implications. It also impacted Caspers’s kidneys, so he is also on medication for that, but thankfully, the urea levels in his blood have returned to normal now.
We are all keeping our fingers crossed for Casper, and I hope he will be in your prayers for a full recovery.
Thank you for listening to his story.
If you would like to support Casper’s treatment, I recently set up a GoFundMe page when we found out his treatment needed to be extended. If you can support it, thank you so much. If not, no problem at all.
I just hope our story shows there is now hope for cats with FIP. Our FIP warrior Casper says thank you, too, for reading his story, which, let’s hope, has a successful outcome. I will keep you all updated.
Original story submission:
Me as a tiny baby
My name is Casper; I’m a 4-year-old Ragdoll and live in Durham City in the United Kingdom. I live with my owners and my two brothers Cosmo and Milo who are also Ragdolls. Milo was Ragdoll of the week a few weeks ago. I’m a seal bi colour tabby. My favorite pastime is eating! I would eat all day if I could. I’ve even been to the vets to have this checked out but they say I’ve just got a big appetite. I will eat almost anything, so my owners have to make sure they don’t leave anything out in the kitchen or I will eat it. I even try to steal Cosmo’s food if I get the opportunity, but I would never try to steal Milo’s as he’s almost as bad as me. My owners got me as a little kitten when I was 12 weeks old from a Ragdoll breeder in the North East of England. I’m extremely friendly and have a very loud purr. I’m also constantly on the go much to everyone’s annoying sometimes, which is why I think Cosmo didn’t like me when I first moved in. I think he was use to having the house to himself and didn’t want me constantly in his face wanting to play. We are now good friends though. All 3 of us enjoy playing chasing each other around the house and garden which means John is constantly have to pick up our fur, which he moans about sometimes. I also love to play fetch chasing and returning balls of paper. I especially love it when they throw the ball of paper up the stairs for me to chase, although I do think they do this to tire me out sometimes so I go to sleep. Cosmo and Milo always look at me like I’m crazy when I’m playing fetch.
Me as a baby again
I also love to stalk the birds and frogs in our garden. I was really proud of myself recently when I managed to capture a pigeon, plucking it out of the air as it was taking off. Unfortunately John was watching from the kitchen window and rushed out in to the garden to rescue it from my paws. I wasn’t very happy as it flew off safely.
I have a beautiful thick coat in the winter months, the only problem is in the Spring/Summer when I suffer from extreme shedding. Even though my owners comb regularly during this period my fur does become matted in places so the matts have to be cut out.
Me On top of the kitchen cupboards
Unfortunately this does mean I do look a bit of a mess until my fur regrows. My brothers don’t suffer so badly with this but the vet says it’s nothing to worry about. Me and Milo love to groom each other but Cosmo prefers to look after himself!|
If you would like to keep up to date with our exploits we have a Facebook page which we regularly update. Our Facebook page is dedicated to our cousin Harry who very recently passed away under very sad circumstances.
In my bow tie
Stalking frogs in my garden
My handsome loved cousin Harry
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Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,
