Shansa and Sophie

by Tori Ortiz

I found my babies, Sophie and Shansa, when they were around 5 weeks old. My brother, a security guard, had fed their feral mommy at one of his properties for months under the assumption she was a he, Hans. When she disappeared for a week and popped back up with babies, he continued to support mommy with food.

One night, he found the mom and one baby killed by someone at the property. Knowing more babies were around, he called me and my mom to help hunt them down. That night, after a few hours of searching, we found my little Shansa, a feisty girl who could fit in the palm of my hands. After 12 hours in my room, she was climbing all over me, content with human interaction. Three days after finding her, a property resident found a malnourished sissy to my girl, who I would pick up the next morning and call Sophie. Soph and Shansa adapted to life with humans quickly, and began to thrive.

Unfortunately, we had 3 big cats who were not welcoming to the babies, and after a month with me we passed the girls over to a foster at the rescue we volunteered at. Immediately I missed my babies. Finally, after 2 1/2 weeks with the foster I got my girls back and started looking for a new home for us, away from the bully big cats.

It was in January 2018 that Shansa started to look fatigued. Within days I could tell she was not getting better, and looked to have a swollen belly, so I took her to an emergency clinic late at night. 15 minutes into the visit, my mom and I were told all signs pointed to FIP, a mutated version of the coronavirus that is deadly to kittens. Devastated but determined, I left her for the night to receive IV fluids, steroids, and antibiotics. The next day, after many conversations with the vet, I brought her home, hoping for the best but aware of the worst.

With a little more energy, I got to spend the night with my feisty girl. The next morning, I could see she was struggling to breathe and was shivering - I could sense she was miserable. I called a travel vet who had worked with our other cats; she came within the hour. My sweet, strong girl Shansa passed away at 5 months old on the morning of January 30th, 2 days after her diagnosis.

Torn apart, I put all of my energy and time into Sophie, hoping she could move on without her sister. Almost as if Shansa had passed into Sophie, she began to show more spunk and character like her sister than ever before. However, one week after our baby Shansa passed, Soph showed the same signs of illness. The vet and I decided to try an experimental form of therapy for normal used for the herpes virus in kittens. Since her form of FIP was dry, we jumped on keeping her hydrated and getting her steroids, with high hopes and dreams of her defying odds like those 1 in a million stories online.

After multiple home treatments and moving her into a home without other cats, she slowly started to show signs of the wet form, belly swelling and breathing becoming labored. On February 22nd, almost one month after Shansa's passing, Sophie crossed the Rainbow Bridge to be with her sister, mommy, and other sibling. She passed in my arms just like her sister, quickly after a long, hard-fought battle with FIP.

Even now, 4 months later, I think of my girls everyday. I still feel every emotion - anger with the universe, sadness for the years they didn't get to have experiencing life and the years I did not get to watch them grow, and a slight sense of peace that they are no longer in pain, and instead with each other and their mom. Although I think this hole in my heart will be there forever, I can only hope I get to see them one day and finally get that life with them.