The spring of 2012 my Husband and I bought a house. We talked about getting a cat sometime, didn't know when we were going to get one. Every once in while we would watch the TV show "Too Cute" on Animal Channel. We seen the Bengal cats, we just fell in love with cats. So later on into the fall we did some research on the breed. To know what to excepted if we decided on this breed. The day after Thanksgiving we were watching the same TV show again. We both decided to look up Bengal cats the same time. We found a local breeder in Michigan. I don't remember the website where we found her at. She had to Kittens 8 weeks old. Cutest little kittens. We drove over 100 miles to see and buy our new kitties. The breeder was really nice. We signed some papers and paid for our kittens and we were off. We couldn't deiced on names right away. A few days later we figured out names once we got to know their personalities. The one with the Marble color He is Mr. Cuddles and the one with the Spots of grey is Spaz. February was there first visited to the vet all the employees just loved them. Loved the patterns on their coats. A in march i got there rabbi shots Spaz weighed 8lbs cuddled weighed 5.5lbs they didn't say anything about his weight .In May of 2013 i made appointment to get both male cats neutered. A little bit after getting my kitten fixed. I've notice that Mr. Cuddles was looked a little skinnier. I went to a vet that a closer to home. I went in and said my 8 month old kitten isn't feeling well. He is losing weight, sleeping a lot and not playing much at all. I brought him in and they weighed him and weight 4.9lbs i couldn't believe he weighed that much. So she was looking him over and checked his ears out and said his ear color is a little yellowish, she said there might be something going on with his kidneys, but she didn't know for sure. So she wanted to draw some blood from his veins and she takes him into the other room to draw some blood. She comes back into room and says his veins are so brittle like a old lady veins. She said we might have to put him under to draw blood. Before she did that she asked me if she can keep him over night just to see how he is. Later on that day she called me and says. " We found a mass near his organs" i couldn't believe what she told me, i started to cry so hard, i ran into my room to give the phone to my husband and said its the vet and its about Mr. Cuddles. They talked a little bit. I couldn't stop crying. The next day we both go and pick of Mr. Cuddles and she shows the x-ray of mass it was pretty big size of gulf ball. She says there is nothing they couldn't do to help him. They also think he might have FIP Feline Infectious Peritonitis. We brought him home that day. we had to deiced together to put Mr. Cuddles down. We didn't really want to but there is no cure for FIP. and that was the hardest thing to do to a little kitten. A day later we brought him back to the vet to get him to put him down. She took him into the other room to give him a shot that puts him to sleep and let me hold him. I cried so much holding him till he fell asleep. I picked his head up he drooled on my shirt and his tongue was out. Once he was out she took him to the other room to put in down. We filled out some paper work, then a little bit later she brought him into the room in a box, i just lost it i cried even harder cause i knew i would never see my little baby again. and his brother Spaz would be lonely. We took Mr. Cuddles to the Michigan state to get him Autopsy to see if it FIP and other stuff. A week later we get some resulted back saying he did have FIP and we were hoping that was not the case. They also said he had multiple masses inside of him. My poor little baby. Miss him so much, His big brother too.

My husband has been trying to get a hold of the breeder we got them through, we did call her when we found out that we had to put him down. She said to call her back for the final results, so my husbands been calling for the past three weeks now. Nothing back yet.
I just wanted to share my story with everyone. Now we cant get another cat so Spaz can have a play buddy. He might have FIP too. But i guess it cost hundreds of dollar to find out, and it can take up to years for the symptoms of FIP. We know next time to look into breeders.

What a terribly sad situation..................im so sorry for your loss! I hope Spaz gets along with his new playmate when they meet!

Lori
xx

So sorry to hear your dreadful story. My heart goes out to you all. It is better that you caught it now, though, so Mr Cuddles did not suffer. I think the question needs to be asked - How did the vet that did their ops not spot these masses....?

Please don't give up on getting a playmate for Spaz as he may well be clear of FiP and you could even look at rehoming a young cat from rescue for his life-buddy!

Ok FIP is a very difficult subject - as you know from Mr Cuddles it can only really be 100% confirmed at autopsy which is awful and I am very sorry for your loss
Spaz is a different kettle of fish - why do the vets think he has it aswell? what are his symptoms or is it because Mr Cuddles had it they are 'assuming' ? Or have they done a test ie Corona count? As really a count is very difficult to interpret and can't be relied upon alone.

If Spaz DOES have FIP then there is no cure, I hate saying that, and if so I really wouldn't get him a playmate as cats are very ill with FIP and will eventually go downhill and pass. Bringing a new kitten into that situation would be very difficult and not the right thing to do imo.

Vets tend to look at occurrences with FIP also in colonies, families, environments etc if there is more then one case occurring - so again if Spaz had it aswell then there would (imo) be some sort of genetic link. It is actually quite rare for FIP to mutate from Corona and just because a cat has a count does not mean it will go any further then that. Most cats and kittens will have been exposed to the virus, and many will be carrying it - esp in multi-cat household.

If I were in your situation I would wait until Spaz is around 2years old before I looked to introduce a playmate, and that he is of good health - no ill signs.

FIP is stress induced - bringing a kitten or another cat into the mix right now would not be wise imo.

There is lots of information you can seek - please take a look at this website http://www.dr-addie.com/

Again I am so so sorry for your loss x

I am very sorry for your loss. I have had to have a beloved cat put to sleep so i know the pain.

Regarding FIP, i wanted to say (in addition to what Claire has wrote) that breeding a kitten that develops FIP does not make the breeder bad or poor. It is how they deal with it that matters. Corona virus is very prevalent amongst cats and it is very common for cats in multicat households to be positive for Corona Virus. It is thought there may be a genetic link but has not been proven yet. Breeders can only act once they find out something bad has happened.... sometimes the kittens new owners do not tell the breeder the issues.... so they do not always find out all the info, especially if FIP develops a little later down the line.

She now has to acknowledge what has happened. Have you left messages for her to call you? I would advise sending her copies of the autopsy report and asking her to call you ASAP.

I also advise against introducing a new kitten anytime soon... wait a bit as, if there is a genetic link, it is possible that your other kitten will develop it but he won't be genetically the same as his brother so it isn't a given that he will. FIP is actually very, very rare. Having Corona Virus does not mean he will develop FIP.

Again, sorry for your loss xxx

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Lollo