Dwight came to the shelter when he was 9 weeks old. A little brown marble tabby with a manta ray on the back of his neck. He had a bad upper respiratory infection when he arrived with green mucus coming from his nose, a chronic sneeze and watery eyes. Despite his illness, he always purred when petted and was the first to come to the crate door to be picked up. Dwight stayed sick even while on multiple antibiotics for 4 months. His growth was stunted and his legs were bowed but his sweet personality never changed. When I picked him up, as I did on a daily basis, he would purr and rub my face.  

One day in December, I decided I had to get Dwight out of the shelter, so I took him home. I put him in my laundry room to keep him away from Jake, who doesn’t know about cats. All he wants to do is chase them. Dwight slept in a little leopard print bed in the laundry room where I medicated him every day. He slept quietly until I came in the room to wake him. I noticed that when I entered the room, whether it was day or night, he never heard me come in. I could bang around in there but until I nudged him, he wouldn’t rouse. Over a few days, I realized that Dwight was deaf. I attributed it to either the chronic upper respiratory infection or a bad reaction to one of the antibiotics. It didn’t seem to bother him that he couldn’t hear. I’d come home from work and sit on the laundry room floor with him every evening. He would rub me, purr and roll around in my lap, so happy to be in a room and not a crate. In the late evenings, I would put Jake in the bedroom and take Dwight into the living room. While we watched TV on the couch, Dwight would run up and down the length of the room, flying over me on the couch as he liked. He’d never known such freedom or a room so big!

Over the course of a week his nose and eyes began to improve. He still sneezed, but less frequently. He ate all his food, wet and dry, every day and never missed the litter box. It became apparent that Jake would never accept him in the house. Their few encounters had resulted in Jakes’ big wet muzzle trying to grab Dwights’ little body. I had to find a better home for Dwight. My daughter Cami wanted a kitty of her own. She had just moved to Charleston to attend MUSC’s Nursing school and was in her new apartment. She wanted companionship. I knew Dwight would be perfect for her. She agreed and the following weekend I packed up Dwight and brought him to Charleston. He didn’t make a peep in the car and when we got to her apartment, I opened the crate door and he walked out like he was supposed to be there. Cami looked at him and right away she said, “He’s Perfect!” She picked him up and he never looked back at me. That weekend they bonded and I knew they were meant for each other.

Over the weeks and months Cami and Dwight developed their little routine. He would sleep on her head at night and hide her toothbrushes by day. “Mom,” she said, “Dwight sleeps on my head every night, just like a hat. When I come home from school, my toothbrush is always gone from the bathroom counter. He hides them. I’ve had to buy 4 new toothbrushes and now I tape them to the counter. He follows me wherever I go, loves to come in the bathroom with me and he’s taken to sleeping in a pan during the day.” “Why don’t you get him a bowl of his own?” I asked. “He would like that big red bowl. Just clean out the pine cones and set it on the table.” She did and she placed a multicolored blanket that she knitted for him inside. He slept in that bowl on that blanket every day and never went back to the pan.

I received daily updates on Dwight including pictures and videos. It made me so happy to see how much love they were getting from each other. Cami told me every day that Dwight was the perfect kitty for her. Then one day things began to change. “Dwights’ not playing as much Mom,” she would say. “He sleeps all the time and I’m worried about him.” I thought, maybe he’s just growing up, but in the back of my mind I was worried. I knew his immune system was poor and he was susceptible to illness. Over the next few weeks, things started to get worse. “His breathing is funny, Mom. He’s breathing fast and sometimes I can hear it,” Cami said. She sent me a video and I got worried. “You’ve got to take him to be seen now” I said.

Cami first took Dwight to a local vet who took x rays and ran some bloodwork. She thought he had a collapsed lung lobe and a slight temperature. His bloodwork seemed normal. She sent him home on a special diet. The next day he was worse. Cami took him to a specialty veterinary center in Mt. Pleasant where they took more x rays and ran more bloodwork. He still had a temperature. They thought he had some fluids in his lungs. They wanted to run tests, but as a veterinarian I knew that these tests would not be overly helpful. I had seen many sick cats with similar symptoms and I had a dreaded suspicion. Cami took Dwight home and we started him on Prednisolone and Interferon. I was very worried about a deadly virus that has no cure – FIP.

The days went by and Dwight started to improve. He was eating more and drinking but still lethargic and still not sleeping on her head. He didn’t follow her around anymore. We were hopeful, but scared. I researched and researched until I found Dr. Niels Pederson, the expert on FIP. I began to email him and he answered my emails promptly with knowledge and compassion. He confirmed my biggest fear. In his opinion, FIP was likely. I explained to Cami the seriousness of this terrible illness and the possibility that Dwight would die. She was devastated, but she was determined to take care of him until the end. She would do all she could to keep him comfortable and try to save him. She gave him fish oil daily and probiotics and fed him salmon and sardines (even though she hated the smell of sardines). She even pulled the little bones from the fish, worried that Dwight might choke on them.

I emailed Niels almost every day and gathered information from his studies on new treatments for FIP. Unfortunately, his studies are ongoing and there is currently no treatment available to the public. I found that his GC376 drug trial was successful in many cats, causing remission of the terrible virus. Cats that would have died had instead recovered. Niels had no available GC376 to give me and couldn’t get Dwight in his new drug trial. We probably couldn’t have gotten him in a new drug trial on time anyway.  Dwight slowly deteriorated. He slept more and more. One day last week Cami called. “Mom, he’s starting to get neurological.” My heart sank. She asked me to come for the weekend, for Mother’s Day.  Dwight was weak and not himself, but he knew who I was. We spent the weekend with him, loving him. He couldn’t walk well and was too weak to jump on the couch or the bed. We had to lift him up.

That Saturday night he slept right next to Cami, not on her head, but close to her heart. He wanted to be near her all the time. That Sunday, on Mother’s Day morning, Dwight passed away in Cami’s arms. I was there to make sure that he did not suffer or feel any pain. She held him and cried. It was one of the saddest days of my life. We wrapped Dwight in his knitted blanket. I had brought him to her 5 months before and on this day, I took him away. He was only 9 months old. He had been a blessing. Cami had given him love and a home that he would have never known. Although she is heartbroken and misses him every day, she feels good about the time they did have together.

Visit Sockfip.org for more information on FIP in cats.

Dr. Stacey Levin

Veterinary Physician, Palmetto Animal League

Dr. Stacey is on staff at the Palmetto Animal League Community Clinic where we offer wellness exams, vaccines, spay/neuter and other services at affordable prices. We use the proceeds to rescue abandoned, abused and neglected animals and place them in loving homes. Click here for more details including a list of services and prices.

Click here to read more “Confessions of a Veterinarian” by Dr. Stacey.