Frankie came to us in late 2003. One of our neighbors had rescued him from a Dumpster and brought him home, but couldn't keep him inside due to their other cat and dog. No matter; he chose to come and live with me and my elderly mother.
One of the sweetest cats I've ever met, Frankie loved everybody and was convinced they loved him back. And they did; even dog people loved him. I was expecting a friend to drop by once and told him all about her, how she loved kittycats and had a dog and cat of her own. He looked up at me with wide eyes, as if saying, "Really?!" I knew he understood. When she opened her car door in the driveway, he actually jumped in the car with her!
A few years ago, Frankie started having chronic respiratory symptoms; we figured he might have allergies. The vet said they sometimes get these cold-like conditions that are very hard to cure. Then last year, he developed digestive problems. After a week of hospitalization, they diagnosed it as pancreatitis and put him on a special diet for life.
But the worst was yet to come. I spent Valentine's Day night of 2009 in the vet ER with Frankie. He was breathing very quickly and shallowly. An X-ray revealed that he only had 1/4 of his normal lung capacity because his chest cavity was filled with fluid! He was able to come home the next afternoon for one night, but was then hospitalized at his vet until his death the following week.
Although validation would've required expensive postmortem testing, Frankie had all the textbook symptoms of FIP, Feline Infectious Peritonitis. There is no reliable test, no vaccine, no cure. Read about this awful disease online and be aware!
Neptune Beach, FL
