Today, Jim and I are celebrating another anniversary of a momentous occasion. Two years ago, Athena was declared cured of FIP. Our little goddess is still living the good life.
Vet visit
Let’s get the “business” out of the way first. Her most recent standard vet visit — May 15 — went fairly well. Beyond the standard check-up items, she was also having some eye infection problems, which have continued. At the time of her appointment, her left eye was on a second infection, just two weeks after finishing medicine to get rid of a previous infection.
She only had one eye test this time, the Schirmer Tear Test to follow up on her past eye issues. Her tear production was very low on both eyes again, 8mm on the left and 9mm on the right. However, it’s likely that the decrease was because she had an infection in her left eye.
Her weight has been fluctuating, almost certainly based on how much the boys have been bothering her at any given time, but she was 0.2 lbs up from the same time last year. I’ve been adjusting her food intake regularly based on if she seems to be gaining or losing weight.
She had several levels out of normal range, but several of them were almost certainly due to her eye infection:
- Reticulocyte hemoglobin was 0.3 below normal.
- Neutrophils, as always, were below normal, but only by 0.35.
- Potassium and chloride were just barely outside the normal range, and the sodium to potassium ratio was just above it.
- Total protein was above normal by 0.4, almost certainly a result of the infection.
- Globulin was also slightly elevated, again a result of the infection.
The new vet at the practice we go to believes the continued low neutrophil levels may be a result of the FIP treatment. She is the first one to mention this, and I can’t find any information online about it, but I want to mention anything like this that comes up.
| Test | 22.5 Mo PC 5/15 | 11 Mo PC 5/30 | 8 Mo PC 2/27 | 5 Mo PC 11/28 | 3 Mo PC 9/29 | 1 Mo PC 7/28 | O Wk 12 6/30 | O Wk 8 6/2 | O Wk 4 5/2 | T Wk 15 4/4 | T Wk 11 3/6 | T Wk 8 2/13 | T Wk 4 1/26 | Ref. range | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hematocrit | 43.3 | 39.2 | 39.7 | 39.9 | 35.6 | 38.7 | 37.2 | 39.0 | 43.1 | 45.3 | 43.9 | 34.9 | 38 | 28.2 – 52.7 | percent |
| Neutrophils | 2.27 | 2.346 | 1.247 | 1.152 | 2.226 | 4.034 | 1.739 | 2.192 | 2.495 | 3.295 | 3.618 | 2.244 | 4.560 | 2.62 – 15.17 | thousands per cubic milliliter |
| Bilirubin | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | <0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 – 0.3 | milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) |
| Total Protein | 9.2 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 8.8 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 8.9 | 6.3 – 8.8 | grams per deciliter (g/dL) |
| Albumin | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3 | 3 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 2.6 – 3.9 | g/dL |
| Globulin | 6 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 6.6 | 6.0 | 3.0 – 5.9 | g/dL |
| A/G ratio | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 – 1.2 | |
| ALT | 37 | 26 | 30 | 36 | 42 | 32 | 38 | 30 | 35 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 28 | 27 – 158 | international units per liter |
As always, I’ve also updated her FIP Bloodwork Google Sheets file, which includes all of the blood work values that could be related to FIP and her blood work history dashboard.
With her continued eye issues — she’s now dealing with infections in her right eye — we have an appointment scheduled for her later today. We’re trying to figure out if something changed in the house that might be causing the eye infections, and have purchased an air purifier to see if that helps any.
General health and life
Once Athena’s eye infections are completely clear — at least two weeks without medicine — I will be giving her Genteal lubricant gel. It’s a gel for humans with dry eye problems, and works on cats, too. Our vet is hoping that treatment with it will improve her overall tear production. *fingers crossed*
Athena’s relationship with the boys hasn’t changed much. She wants nothing to do with them, nor does she want anything to do with Floofenstein, our newest family member. However, we recently started her on calm-down treats, and while the first one we tried didn’t do much, the new brand we’re trying has significantly reduced her growling. This — as I’ve always suspected — has also reduced her altercations with the boys.
She is still a daddy’s girl through and through, although every so often, she visits me when her feet get cold. Her favorite activity is still lying on her heating pad. Food and treats are always acceptable. She still wants water in her princess bowl, since she won’t drink from the fountain, which has been contaminated by the stinky boys.
Closing Thoughts
In general, our sassy little warrior goddess is still doing splendidly. My next post for Athena will be in December for her diagnosis anniversary. I’m just so happy she’s still here and still doing well.
This post is a continuation of my series on Athena — her diagnosis, treatment, integration into the household, and life after FIP. If you haven’t already, I suggest taking a look at my previous posts on her. You can find them on her tag page.
Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed this update on Athena. If you’d like to keep up with her progress, be sure to subscribe to my blog, check her tag page, or follow the AthenaUpdate hashtag on Instagram.
