Notre chaton est vraiment malade

On Friday we rang the vet because we were worried about Ula. She had stopped playing and her sides were quite large.

I thought she was just putting on weight – as she loves food – and was less interested in playing because she was getting older.

The vet initially gave us an appointment for Monday but then rang back asking if we could bring her in straightaway – never a good sign.

When we got her to the vets he examined her and then said he wanted to keep her in to run some tests.

There followed a few anxious hours before we went back and were told she most probably had feline infectious peritinitis – in French la pif.

The vet explained that in France there is no authorised treatment and that without it Ula would die quite quickly.

However he also revealed that there are Facebook groups of fantastic volunteers who help you source the drugs you need on the black market and then help to teach you how to inject them into your cat.

And that if Ula gets the treatment she has a great chance of getting better.

So we left sad but with some hope and a lot of research to do.