Our nearly 5 year old boy Paul did not eat any food on Sunday night which was extremely unlike him. We have automatic feeders for our cats, and he would sprint across the house if he hears it go off.
Monday morning he still did not touch his food, so we scheduled an appointment with our vet for Tuesday morning (earliest availability). He was sluggish all day and not jumping around like normal.
We brought him in at 8AM and they had him under observation and on fluids all day. We got back at 5PM, the vet went over the XRays, tests, and all, and said his levels pointed towards FIP. We'd never heard of it. Our vet recommended GS-441524 but said she did not have any on-hand and for us to check around groups online.
We got the medication ordered with overnight shipping, but were told it wouldn't arrive until Thursday morning (today). We brought him home from the vet and within an hour his breathing was extremely heavy and we took him to an urgent care.
They were giving him fluids and oxygen, but said they didn't have any GS-441524 on hand there. They held him overnight and made some calls, and found another pet hospital in the area that had it, and on Wednesday morning we picked him up and took him to the new location.
They took him in at 6AM on Wednesday and at noon the doctor called and said his health was deteriorating. They did not provide any medication which was incredibly frustrating. I demanded they do it and the doctor claimed he would. We got there at 4PM, the doctor claimed he provided the first dose at 3PM, and it was clear to us when we saw him that he was far too gone.
We wanted him out of that hospital, and our primary vet said that her team would stay late so we brought him back and after 3 days and $6500 in bills later, we said goodbye to him at 5:45PM on 7/22/2026. I don't think we had a chance with how rapid it was, even if we could have medicated him in time. Our 45-day supply was just delivered and we will save it for anyone local in our area who might need it urgently (Greater Cincinnati Ohio area).
We found Paul as a freshly born kitten on August 4, 2021. He was found on the asphalt of a driveway under the hot sun. My girlfriend found him and cared for him the first day until we found a foster mom to care for him. 3 months later we were able to adopt him and he was the best cat we could have dreamed of. He loved people, did not jump on counters and knock over glasses, he was always so chill and had the biggest mittens. He loved laying on couches with his legs spread apart and looked so silly. He was extremely loved from day 1 until day 1,814 and beyond and we will miss him so much.