Vinny, gone too soon

Vinny, gone too soon
Originally uploaded by tagscats

I just don't know what to say, as I'm still in shock. I lost my sweet Vinny last Friday. He was only 5 years old. FIP. Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Incurable, deadly, cruel. A strange disease process that still so many don't understand. And it affects young kittens and young cats. No one knows why it only affects certain cats, for some reason it mutates and that is it. High fever, and a yellow fibrous fluid infiltrates lungs or the chest cavity or the abdominal cavity. There is no mistaking that fluid, and after I discovered Vinny not feeling well last Thursday evening and he had a high fever (105), I took him to the vet Friday and an x-ray showed the fluid, and a tap showed just what kind of fluid it was. He was already having issues breathing, and we let him go.

You know, after I lost Theo to the same disease process before I got Vinny, you would think that the odds would be low that Vinny would come down with it, especially so long after the fact. Theo was a snowshoe that I got as a kitten and payment for my first commissioned painting. He came down with FIP a couple of months after I got him. His breeder then gave me Vinny, different parents I believe, I don't quite remember. But FIP is still relatively rare, you don't see it often. I have had the strange luck to have been hit by it now 3 times (my siamese cat Dashiel's brother died of it back in 2000, no relation at all to Theo and Vinny). And, Dashiel is fine, he's now 9 years old. Why it takes one brother and leaves the other...why that mutates in some cats and leaves others unscathed, no one knows. It's not contagious, it is thought to be a mutation of a virus that just activates for some reason in some cats.

Anyway, Vinny came to me as a 12 week old kitten, so sweet, so laid back, delightful kink at the base of his tail. Loved everyone, and they him. Nothing phased him. Quiet meow, typical of snowshoes, and BIG purr. Often slept on my head at night. Was one of my regular crew that hangs with me in my studio. Loved to play with and tease the dogs. I miss him so.

Just not fair.