Justyna’s second chance at life!
Justyna (we also call her Tyna) is not your ordinary Ragdoll kitten. She is a very special, very blessed Ragdoll Kitten. She was born on July 4, 2016!! Yes, the day she was born, the rockets and fireworks roared!! She was a very healthy, normal kitten as she grew. From the day she learned how to walk, she would come running up to us, to be picked up and cuddled. Needless to say, she was going to be a keeper!! She loved being shown at the show halls. And loved hanging out in the hotels, while she attended all her shows. She went to a Ragdolls Around the World – Ragdoll Congress in Tucson in December of 2016. She was adored by many of the Judges and came in Third Place Ragdoll Kitten in the Congress. She went on to be a Regional Winner for that show season!!
Unfortunately, Tyna was not able to continue her show career, because in May 2017, she started becoming very ill. She cut way back on her food intake and started having fevers daily. She was rushed to the Vet’s, but they felt she was still very healthy and nothing was wrong. But me being her Mommy, I suspected FIP. I took her home and for the next 3 weeks, I took her temp (which was rising daily), syringe feed her when she completely stopped eating and gave her cooling baths and subq fluids to bring down her 106+ temperatures. We were able to get an appointment at UC Davis and meet with the most incredible, Internal Medicine Vet. Many tests were run and when the ultrasound showed the incredible amount of fluid in her belly, the results where pretty much in. Tyna has effusive (wet) FIP. We were told to take Tyna home and they would be in touch if she would be accepted into Dr Niels Pedersen’s FIP Clinical Trials. We received the phone call the very next morning at 9:30am. The Internal Medicine Vet stated, “she was accepted into the FIP Clinical Trials, and how soon could we get there”? Tyna’s temp was 106.5, so she needed a bath before we could go anywhere, but she was a good sport and after her bath, we were off to meet with Dr Pedersen and his team. We arrived on Friday at 11:30am to UC Davis. We met with Mike, Dr. Pedersen’s Vet Tech for the last 20 years. He explained the trials to us and admitted Tyna into the Hospital. She received her first FIP treatment that early evening. The staff in the clinical trials are so family oriented, we were able to visit Tyna three days later at the hospital. She was a NEW kitty. Her temperature was normal, her tummy was way down, and she was happy to see us! We played with her for about an hour, and couldn’t believe the difference between this very lively kitten and 4 days prior, she was an extremely sick, very lethargic kitten. It was miraculous!! Anyone that has had a kitten/cat with wet FIP knows, once they have the high fevers, swollen abdomen with fluid and refusing to eat, they are on deaths door.
The next day, we received the email from Dr. Pedersen, that Tyna was doing great and was ready to be discharged. We picked her up with her 21 syringes of medication and home we went. Her temp was normal, her weight was good, her tummy was almost flat and she was eating again. Tyna had a second chance in life!! After her first week of treatment, she went for her blood tests. Protein levels were still a little high and she was still anemic. Dr. Pedersen emailed and said all looked fine for her time on the treatments and that time was on her side.
Tyna is now almost 3 years old and doing FANTASTIC!! She is a very normal, very healthy kitty. We can’t thank Dr. Pedersen and his staff enough for giving Tyna a new chance at life. Dr. Pedersen is working very hard to bring this medication to the public. In in our eyes, it can’t be too soon to save so many other precious kitties lives!
