OK, Tabby’s Place family. You know how we love around here.

When one of us hurts, all of us hurt. When one of us is weak, the rest of us muster our strength.

And right now, our sweetest teens need us to dream on their behalf. Kitty Purry and Leonardo DiCatrio have FIP.

Kitty and Leo’s first summer at Tabby’s Place was supposed to be full of giddy games and lazy sunbeams. There were hijinks to be had and shenanigans to accomplish. When you are under one year old and fresh from a “hopeless situation,” Quinn’s Corner is your carnival.

And everything seemed to be going to plan. Although once timid, the twosome was getting the hang of happiness.

It took a little time for them to feel the fireworks. A scary diagnosis forces you to grow up fast. Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) had suppressed not only their immune systems, but also their options. Many hear those letters and wince or turn away.

But now, Kitty and Leo lived under the Tabby’s Place smile.

Smaller but braver, Kitty was wide awake, taking it all in. Could it be? Everyone adored her! Two skinny teens with an inconvenient illness became celebrities and cherished children. It was all too wonderful not to be true.

Kitty passed it on to Leo: love at Tabby’s Place does not run hot and cold. Our official adverb is “unconditionally.” It is enough to make your awkward years enchanting.

It is enough to make you want to live forever.

And so, the fun began. Maybe their little bodies were not the Titanic after all. This was just the inception, not the end. And if death had its eyes on them, well, sorry, but they would be the ones that got away.

They raced and chased like fireflies, turning Suite G as glittery as a Gatsby party. FeLV seemed to slink off the stage.

But another wolf was at the door.

For most of veterinary history, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) has been the most awful acronym of all. Incurable, unrelenting, and invariably fatal, it once stole cats in the bloom of youth. All we could do was cram their waning days with love, doing our best not to soak their fur with tears.

But during the pandemic, researchers began practicing resurrection. FIP is a form of coronavirus, and the same treatments that quelled COVID-19 showed promise in curing FIP.

Not buying time. Not bargaining with the inevitable. Curing.

It has felt like an age of miracles ever since.

We have had the privilege of saving many of our dearest friends at Tabby’s Place. Gator, Juel, Salami, Nelson, and Baby Yoda are just a few of our radiant revenants, snickering at death with a brazen “noiny noiny noin!” The dreaded diagnosis is now almost welcome. We know how to beat it. We have done it before. We will do it again.

But we have not yet seen FIP in a cat infected with FeLV.

Kitty Purry’s symptoms appeared first. Our meticulous girl became unkempt, disheveled. By nightfall, there was fluid in her abdomen. She spiked a fever and developed discharge from her eyes. All signs pointed to FIP.

Our vet team sprang into action, setting Kitty up in our in-house hospital. She would have the best of the best of the best of the best treatment. (And that is an understatement.) If this had to be her summer camp, love would bunk beside her.

Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCatrio was disconsolate. We hoped he was just Romeo without Juliet. Leo and Kitty had rarely been apart in their brief lives. Of course he would be lonely for the light of his life.

But then the fever came for Leo, with the same telltale fluid.

Now, both of our brave beloveds are in the fight of their lives against FIP.

Tabby’s Place family, we know you are as near to Leo and Kitty as their own whiskers. You are here, in the hands that stroke them and the medications that may give them back the rest of their lives. You are with us in the salty tears of two recent losses, and the determination not to face two more.

But we do not know all the verses of this song.

Kitty and Leo’s FeLV+ status makes their road to recovery steep. So we are asking you to send your light, strength, and prayers, as we do everything in our power to heal them.

We have big dreams for our sweetest teens.

I will certainly keep you posted. Thank you for loving Kitty and Leo with all your might.

Be assured that Kitty Purry and Leonardo DiCatrio will receive absolutely everything they need, no matter what. If you would like to support the care of all our cats, your donation is deeply appreciated. Thank you, dear ones.

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