Mr. Mouse’s FIP Recovery
$801 raised of $8,455 goal (9%)
Mouse and his brothers ran across our path on a really sad day for us. Having spent the early morning hours in the emergency room, and saying goodbye to our beloved German Shepherd Roy, these lovable idiots stumbled into the road that very night, forcing us to pull over and bring them safely home. What could it be other than fate?
Mouse is the older of the brothers, probably just four months ahead of the other two, Raccoon and Opossum. He’s also the most mild mannered and kind natured of all three of them. Maybe it’s older brother vibes, but he carries that lovable energy into all interactions. Turns out even in the ICU he can be a love bug.
On Tuesday, March 24, Mouse was breathing pretty heavily, and didn’t seem to be his playful self. Concerned, we called our local vet, and they said they could fit us in near the end of the day. About 15 minutes later we were calling them back to see if they could see him right away. Thankfully the answer was absolutely, and they immediately took x-rays to see how our boy was doing. The family vet suspected FIP at once, and knew at once that their clinic was ill equipped to manage his care, as he would likely need to be hospitalized. Given that the drug treatment for FIP is newer, we rushed him over to University of Penn Hospital, hoping that they were cutting edge and could help Mr. Mouse breathe again.
Lucky for us, he had an amazing intake doctor, and several amazing ICU doctors looking after him. After removing roughly 100 cc of fluid from his chest cavity, Mouse was beginning to breathe a little bit better. He still needed oxygen though, and his lungs needed time to recover. He spent all 3 days being a total ham, and buttering up all of the staff. They spent time giving him belly rubs. They texted each other pictures of our boy. The ER staff kept tabs with the ICU staff on him. He basically became the mayor for 3 days, and it isn’t at all surprising. He’s a glass half full cat. We drove the 2+ hour round trip to Philly to visit him every day, even if we could only get 10-15minutes with him. He’s our bestest boy — we had to see him.
The doctors said we were very lucky to have caught this so early, and that gave Mouse a strong fighting chance. More tests and more observation would help to solidify his diagnosis, and they began him on a new antiviral medication designed to help fight FIP. Once Mouse could breathe without supplemental oxygen, we started talking about bringing him home. And once he could breathe, it finally felt like we could breathe too.
So, our saga that began at 11 AM on Tuesday was finally concluding at 2 PM on Friday. Our baby boy was strong enough to come home, but would still need to be monitored and treated for three months on the new antiviral medication. We feel so lucky that this treatment was available — just a few years ago, this would have been a much sadder story.
All told, Mouse has racked up a whopping $8,455. That is $514 from the family vet, another $6,532 from the ICU, $430 at his one week checkup, and $301 at his one month checkup. His medication so far has been $678, and thankfully we have found a place to source it that will be only $300/month instead of $750/month, (or $1k through UPenn)…
I’m so happy to have our sweetest baby boy back, AND…. we are in a bit over our heads financially.
There are three ways you can help, if you are able. Option 1 & 2 will help us the most, but every little bit counts, and we have farm merch at the ready!
Buy Mr. Mouse’s Portrait
(art donated by Stephanie Stefanik)
One of our amazing artist friends has donated her time and her art to helping us raise some funds for Mr. Mouse’s treatment, and we are endlessly grateful. We are in love with her portrait that captures the essence of eternal optimist, absolute ham, bright shining boy Mr. Mouse. By purchasing a digital copy of her artwork (which will be emailed to you directly so that you can print it at the size that suits you), you will be helping us offset the enormity of his veterinary costs.
You can (and should!) also follow the artist, Stephanie Stefanik here.
One of our amazing artist friends has donated her time and her art to helping us raise some funds for Mr. Mouse’s treatment, and we are endlessly grateful. We are in love with her portrait that captures the essence of eternal optimist, absolute ham, bright shining boy Mr. Mouse. By purchasing a digital copy of her artwork (which will be emailed to you directly so that you can print it at the size that suits you), you will be helping us offset the enormity of his veterinary costs.
You can (and should!) also follow the artist, Stephanie Stefanik here:
Alternatively (or in addition to), at the bottom of this page, you can choose to donate a custom amount to go towards Mouse’s FIP care.
fip care fund for mr. mouse
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fip care fund for mr. mouse ⁎
OR
thank you
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for all of your support
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thank you :: for all of your support ::
Thank you to everyone who has shown their support in so many ways. We are grateful to have you in our flock, and we know Mr. Mouse feels the same way. (That’s assuming he knows what a flock is yet… he’s still a young boy!)
