Update on my kitten: bad news

[liberalhistorian]

So I picked Stormie up from the vets a couple of hours ago and finally found out what was wrong with him. It was the FIP (or FIT, I'm not sure which) virus, which is a cat virus that can be quite serious and often fatal. It's also contagious, which means my other four cats may have already picked it up, since the vet thinks he had it at the time we found him a couple months ago when he was six weeks old.

When we first took him to the vet the day we found him, we told them we had other cats and wanted every test possible done to be sure he didn't have anything contagious, so we are really, REALLY pissed off that they didn't test him for this. We're supposed to keep him separated from the other cats (and just what are my parents and I supposed to do with him, build another addition to their house?). So now, we have to worry about our other cats, one or more of which may have already picked it up from him.

But here's the really sad, awful part. He's now blind. That's right, BLIND. Apparently, that's a common problem for cats that actually survive this. It's just heartbreaking to see him stumbling and bumbling around, crying because he can't see and he's scared and doesn't know what's happening to him. And he's not out of the woods, yet, either, he's still pretty sick although he's doing much, much better than he was.

There's really nothing much they can do, since it's a virus, and we just have to "keep an eye on him." He may very well get worse in the next couple of days. I just don't know what to do. I'd hate to have to put him to sleep, but I may not have much choice. He's blind and still sick. This whole thing just makes me so heartsick, I can hardly stand it!