Poor little Pip

Pip had something called FIP - feline infectious peritonitis. To make a long story short, it's genetic, it's incurable, and it's fatal. Pip's health rapidly declined over the course of 4 or 5 days and after a couple of trips to the vet, two kinds of pills, IV fluids, a shot of steroids and an overnight stay, the final diagnosis came and there was nothing that would have saved her.

It was just really unfortunate that we picked a lemon of a cat, as the vet said. The virus that causes FIP is carried by a lot of cats, especially those who come from shelters, but it's only when it mutates into the FIP form that it makes cats sick. Pip was just unlucky that way. And we were unlucky that the first sign of illness appeared the weekend after we'd had Pip for six weeks. When you adopt from the OSPCA, you get six weeks of free health insurance for your pet. We just missed that and all the vet bills are ours and ours alone.

The kids took it relatively well. There were tears, but far fewer than there were when we lost Captain. I think they also saw the writing on the wall with Pip; she was clearly not well. With Captain, he hadn't been eating, but we just thought he had a sore tooth.

I am sure we will get another cat someday, and probably sooner rather than later. But not right away. We were told that the virus that causes FIP can linger for a few weeks, and it was recommended that we wait at least a month before bringing another cat into the house. It's going to be a long month.