Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 10-07-2024 08:41 AM
    Hi Rescuers,
    I'm looking for advice or any helpful handouts you provide to adopters considering a cat that has been treated for FIP and is now doing well. We've been finding it challenging to finalize adoptions once the medical history is disclosed. 
    Of course, we want to be transparent, but we're hoping there's something we can do to reassure potential adopters and help these deserving kitties find their forever homes. Any tips or resources would be greatly appreciated!
    Thank you!

    #Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

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    Kristina Calvanico
    Director of Operations
    PupStarz Rescue
    NJ
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  • 2.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-25-2025 09:55 AM

    Did you ever find what you weee looking for on this? I found your message while searching for the same thing. I currently have a foster who is cured And he's had quite a bit of interest, but the adopters disappear after hearing about his FIP.  I can't commit see why when you google FIP and find so much scary and contradictory information. I would love a fact  sheet that I could send people, but haven't been able to find anything yet.



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    Pam Geiger
    Volunteer
    Meow House cat rescue
    NC
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  • 3.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-25-2025 10:09 AM
      |   view attached

    Hi! We started using the document from FIP warriors. I attached it here



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    Kristina Calvanico
    Director of Operations
    PupStarz Rescue
    NJ
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    Attachment(s)



  • 4.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-25-2025 03:42 PM

    Thanks! Do you feel

    like it has helped? I have been trying to find statistics on cats that has completed treatment and observation, but haven't really found anything conclusive.



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    Pam Geiger
    Volunteer
    Meow House cat rescue
    NC
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  • 5.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-26-2025 09:59 AM

    Hi Kristina, 

    I came across this feed in our email and I think that is a great document resource on FIP. I worked ICU and saw many FIP cases, working closely with Internal Medicine. 



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    Maria Putnam
    Founder/CEO
    All About the Animals Foundation
    CT
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  • 6.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-27-2025 07:13 AM

    Hi there all!  A rescue I collaborate with has recently started treating FIP positive kitties (I'm the consultant/admin for various rescues and families in the area).  Now that a few are fully treated and out of observation, they are ready for adoption.  There was obvious concern about providing the right amount of information regarding the disease, treatment, and outcome...but I couldn't find anything ANYWHERE.  I emailed and messaged various FIP "organizations" (to be unnamed), friends in rescue who have treated FIP, and went down the rabbit hole of Google to try to find something...NADA.

    So I made my own.  I borrowed some of it from the Best Friends Animal Society draft, and made it my own (since this particular rescue I work with will complete all treatment and observation before adopting).  I'll attach both for reference.

    Hope it helps!!!  PS - One of our kitties who got treated and did her complete observation has now been adopted and is doing GREAT!



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    Monica Bennion
    Clowder 9 Ranch
    Buhl, ID
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  • 7.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-27-2025 11:08 PM

    We had one kitten with FIP,  now almost 5 years old. The treatment was prohibitively expensive. We would do it again in a heartbeat. But, treating multiple kittens would be impossible. How are you affording to do it?  I am in the process of writing a book series about this cat. He arrived with a broken spine weighing just 8oz. He was not expected to walk, and it was unlikely he would survive. At about 4 months of age he developed the FIP.  He is a permanent resident.

    As for the handout, the information is good. Emphasizing the low  rate of recurrence might help with adoption? It's a challenge for sure.  More info on FIP no longer a death sentence. Are costs for treatment coming down now that it is more available?  And  approved? We had to educate our vets about the treatment, now they can administer it. In a short time the picture is much brighter! 



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    JUDITH PEARSON
    President
    The Dixon Animal Protection Society
    NM
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  • 8.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-28-2025 09:44 AM
      |   view attached

    Hi Judith, thanks for the suggestions. The cost of treatment has definitely come down since it is now legal for vets to prescribe. It's also a big plus that we can get meds from licensed pharmacies, which also makes me think relapse rates will be even lower as a result. We are still finding a lot of vets aren't yet up to date on treating it. My current foster is the first one that our rescue has treated. We're in NC, so unfortunately couldn't use SVP for meds as they are the cheapest. Some of the pharmacies also offer discounts to rescues, Mixlab was doing a 50% discount for rescues when we started, but they stopped giving the discount partway through my guys treatment. They do still give a discount if you buy more than one refill at a time though, so that helped. The total cost for his meds was around $800 I believe, and would have been less if we hadn't used Stokes for the first order.  The multiple vet visits for bloodwork adds to that cost of course too.  Here is a flyer about pharmacies and estimated costs. This is a bit out of date and I have heard there are now more pharmacies and some have lowered their prices. I believe they based the cost estimates on a 5 pound cat with wet FIP. 



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    Pam Geiger
    Volunteer
    Meow House cat rescue
    NC
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  • 9.  RE: FIP- adopter resources?

    Posted 04-28-2025 12:32 PM

    Thank you for this information. I hope we never need it but if we do, that is a drastic reduction from what we saw. We  worked with Mutian now since we were a rescue and they loved tiny Tim's story we were offered a discount, but the treatment still cost $3000! we went ahead and did the treatment partly to learn something. But with the cost of about $800 if we had an FIP survivor for adoption, we could help with the cost if there was a recurrence. We before there was no way we could have done that. So this is fantastic news.



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    JUDITH PEARSON
    President
    The Dixon Animal Protection Society
    NM
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