How EveryCat Is Changing Feline Medicine: HCM, FIP and More in a Free Webinar

One of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my professional life was to establish the Ricky Fund in 2002 with the Winn Feline Foundation (now called the EveryCat Health Foundation), then about a year later to join their Board of Directors which I have served ever since.

The Ricky Fund was named for our cat who suddenly died of feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Although HCM was a common cause of illness and death in cats, little was actually known about its causes, and while some drugs could treat complications or symptoms, there was no treatment specifically aimed at modifying the underlying disease.

Ricky was our piano playing cat and received national notoriety for being a “meowzart.” So, when he suddenly died – though there was little social media at the time – word somehow spread fast. We quickly raised about $30,000. Since the fund was launched, nearly half a million dollars has now been raised for HCM research.

As a result of studies backed by the Ricky Fund, we know much more about HCM. We can potentially prevent the disease in some cat breeds by identifying inherited risks to reduce transmission of known HCM-associated mutations with genetic testing. The disease itself (rather than only symptoms) that can subclinically be treated with a new FDA conditionally approved drug, Felycin-CA1 (sirolimus delayed-release tablets). We also know for certain how incredibly common the disease truly is, and arguably most important is the public attention – which motivated investigators to ramp up their interests.

FIP: The Bria Fund

Meanwhile, with the early success of the Ricky Fund, Susan Gingrich approached the Winn Feline after her kitten named Bria died of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) in 2005. For many years Winn had supported Dr. Niels Pedersen, University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and others around the world to at least understand FIP, a complex immune-mediated fatal disease caused by a mutation of the otherwise benign feline coronavirus. Soon, Peter Cohen founded the non-profit Zen by Cat to also fund FIP studies and to work collaboratively with Winn and Dr. Pedersen.

With Gingrich and Cohen on the front lines raising dollars, I was very much involved as well. When Gingrich departed from the Board of Directors in 2018 – I became even more involved in supporting and promoting our efforts to fund FIP studies.

There was even a movie about FIP, called Aeris, by filmmakers Aly Miller and Paul Castro Jr., after their own kitten who succumbed to FIP. The film appeared in high profile venues, including Lincoln Center in New York City, where I introduced the movie.

In 2019, with then Winn Feline Executive Director Dr. Vicki Thayer, I helped to organize an FIP symposium at the University of California Daivs – enlisting speakers and researchers from around the globe, led by Dr. Pedersen. At that event, called PURRsuing FIP and WINNing, I was the guy who made the announcement at its conclusion – based on the consensus of those experts attending, “Moving forward In veterinary FIP will no longer be described at fatal, but instead as treatable.” Tears were in the eyes of those attending.

In fact, that initial anti-viral drug to treat FIP, called Remdesivir,  was soon responsible for saving countless human lives when the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic struck the world, causing COVID-19. If it wasn’t for Dr. Pedersen, kittens and cats getting FIP and the EveryCat Health Foundation – countless more people would have died. I was the one who explained this to a very impressed Dr. Anthony Fauci on WGN Radio.

Here are only a few examples of the results of studies back by this non-profit: Back in the 1970s and into the early ‘80’s cats were dying of another common heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy, and it was Winn Feline that funded studies to understand there simply wasn’t enough taurine (an amino acid) in nearly all cat foods- today there is ample taurine in cat food worldwide. Blood types in cats were determined which made transfusions safer; the cause of feline diabetes was corrected; EveryCat has been the primary funder of the 99 Lives Project to better understand feline genomics, and the list goes on and on.

You can learn more about the impact for cats this incredible organization continues to have, as well as updates on FIP and HCM in a free webinar Fur Real Advances: The Latest on How EveryCat is Changing Feline Medicine. I will be presenting live on September 17, 4 p.m. ET. Hosted by Dr. Jeff Grognet, this event is free. Learn more about this talk and register HERE.