Pippin survived the deadly Panleukopenia virus but we still need your help!

A brief overview of Panleukopenia...

Feline Panleukopenia (aka feline distemper, feline parvo, feline infectious enteritis) is a deadly virus if left untreated. It is a form of parvovirus, much like the virus dogs get. The virus attacks the white blood cells throughout the body, destroying the immune system and making the cat extremely susceptible to secondary infections. The virus also destoys the cells of the gut lining, causing severe bloody diarrhea which can lead to fatal dehydration. 

Since there are no medications capable of killing the virus, hospitalization and treatment, with medications for secondary infection and fluids, are important to support the cat’s health until its own body and immune system can fight off the virus. Without any supportive therapy, up to 90% of cats with Feline panleukopenia may die.

Pippin's experience...

Pippin has always been an unusually small, petite little kitten. She weighed less than a pound when I took her in this past summer after finding her posted on a Facebook yard sale group as a stray "free to good home." I could tell just by the pictures that she was sick with upper respiratory infection and I couldn't stand the thought of her suffering. After I took her in, she recovered nicely and was a very affectionate, calm and docile little kitty. Pippin was spayed and vaccinated on November 24th, 2015. She had a little bit of complications with infection of her spay incision site, but it was clearing up with antibiotics. She had been acting pretty "blah," not eating a whole lot, and had a little bit of diarrhea (which I blamed on the antibiotic), but I just chalked it up to the infection...until December 3. I went about my normal routine of feeding the colony and noticed Pippin was nowhere to be seen. This is very unlikely, as all the cats come running when it's time to eat. I found her curled up, lifeless, inside of a small plastic carrier that had a little bed in it. She could barely lift her head, and she had been soiling herself with vomit and horrid-smelling diarrhea because she was too weak to get up and go to the litter box. She was cold and stiff, and her little gums were white as snow. I immediately knew this was an emergency and let the vet know I was bringing her in right away. My first thought is that she had an internal infection from the spay incision. Never in a million years would it have crossed my mind that she had contracted the panleukopenia virus.

Pippin's temperature registered only 90 degrees. A normal temp for a cat is about 101. She was in bad shape and I was warned over and over by the vet that she might not make it through the night. However, I just had this feeling that Pippin had it in her to pull through, so I told them I was not going to have her euthanized, and to do whatever it takes to save her. The first step was to get her body temp up and start IV fluids. That evening, the vet called me and said she learned through some quick research that the dog parvo antigen test would sometimes comfirm the virus in cats too...and sure enough, Pippin tested positive. Again, I was warned to not be surprised if she didn't make it through the night.

The next morning, I called the vet first thing. Against all odds, little Pippin had made it through and was still hanging in there! There wasn't much improvement except that her body temp was up to 99, but it was enough for me to hear that she was still fighting. I called every day first thing and there was a little better news each day. The second day, Pippin was sitting up on her own. The third day, Pippin was coherent and meowing at staff. The fourth day, Pippin was eating! Fifth day, no more bloody diarrhea. Fast forward a little bit, and by December 10, Pippin finally passed a completely normal, solid stool. December 11, Pippin was able to be released!

Against all odds, and because of an amazing team of vets and staff at West Central Veterinary Services of Rockville, Indiana, Pippin had beat this life-threatening virus! We are all as amazed as we are thankful and I could not be more pleased with such a wonderful outcome!

However, this victory is not without a price. Pippin's total cost of treatment came to $642.75. Thankfully, we were able to put $250 toward the bill through donations, but we still have a long way to go. We won't be able to go into any further debt for any other animals until this is brought down, which puts a very heavy burden on the rescue. So, we are asking each person who sees this campaign to donate just $5.

As a pet-loving community, together, we can do this! The campaign will continue until the goal is met. Thank you all for your time in reading Pippin's story and thank you in advance for helping us continue to help our community's animals in need!