{"id":16271,"date":"2025-12-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=16271"},"modified":"2025-12-24T10:00:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T15:00:59","slug":"athena-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/athena-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Athena: 3 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Precisely three years ago, Athena was diagnosed with non-effusive Feline Infectious Peritonitis<\/a>, AKA “dry” FIP. The disease used to be a death sentence, but we were able to get her treatment, and she’s doing really well. Our little FIP warrior was declared cured about 2 and a half years ago, without dealing with a relapse. If you’re curious about her journey through treatment and observation, you can read through the backlog of posts on her tag page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can hardly believe it’s only been three years, because it seems a lifetime ago. There continues to be a lack of information about a cat’s life after being declared cured, so we’re taking it day by day. Or, well, technically, vet visit by vet visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, without further preamble, it’s time to dive into my biannual update on Athena’s health and life post FIP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Health<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our little goddess has been pretty healthy this year, with the only issues affecting her eyes. The eye infection issues I discussed in my last post about her<\/a> didn’t abate. Instead, her left eye started reflecting light in an odd way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Athena<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Athena<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a couple of standard vet visits, we ended up seeing an ophthalmologist \u2014 I didn’t know there were veterinary ophthalmologists until then \u2014 where we learned Athena had likely had an ulcer at some point, but it was mostly healed. As I write this, it occurs to me that I didn’t ask if the ulcer was related to her continued dry eye problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the ophthalmologist was rather concerned about how dry Athena’s eyes are, and prescribed a potentially lifelong course of Optimmune (0.2% Cyclosporine ointment) and Optixcare Eye Lube (lubricating gel) twice daily. She thinks there’s a chance that FIP or the treatment may have killed Athena’s tear glands. We’ll have yearly follow-ups to keep an eye on Athena’s… eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At her October follow-up, she had both the tonometry<\/a> and Schirmer Tear Test<\/a>. For the pressure test, she was barely within normal range on the right eye, and just slightly lower on the left. For tear production, she was right within normal on the left eye, but a bit below normal on the right. I’m planning to schedule another follow-up appointment for her in February to keep that as her annual check-up time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Athena<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Athena<\/a><\/figure>\n
Athena was the cutest jack-o-lantern the ophthalmologist had ever seen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Her most recent standard vet visit was December 11. While we didn’t do the eye pressure test, her Schirmer Tear Test<\/a> was both better and worse: down 5 mm on the left eye and up 1 mm on the right eye. Another reason for an early follow up with the ophthalmologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Athena’s bloodwork was mostly back to normal, although she did have a couple of items outside of the normal range: <\/p>\n\n\n\n