Hi Reader,

I have been keeping a secret, and for good reason. And gosh, I am overjoyed to finally announce this soul because he is one heck of a soul.

My cousin Jill does not have two new kittens—she has three! Meet Diddley.

Jill has three Ragdoll kittens: Diddley, MacGyver and Bo.

• Diddley, a seal mitted with a blaze, born March 30, 2026
• MacGyver, a blue torbie, born April 27, 2026
• Bo, a seal colorpoint, born May 4, 2026

Diddley is the oldest at 7 months and 4 days (31 weeks). MacGyver is currently 6 months and 1 week old (27 weeks). Bo is the youngest at 6 months today.

When Jill put down a deposit for Bo, she told me that she wanted to get one more. None of the breeders she was interested in had additional kittens, and she really wanted the second one to be a male.

One lazy Sunday morning on July 12th, I was scrolling through Facebook Reels and a seal mitted with a blaze (a Phantom of the Opera blaze) popped up from a breeder that I didn't know, but who had a large following. I debated sending the video to Jill, but decided it was her decision to make. I mentioned that I didn't know the breeder, but that the kitten reminded me of someone: Jill's cat Huck, whom she had just lost months before.

Jill responded very quickly and said she was going to inquire if he was available. The video was posted on July 2nd, so it was only 10 days later. He was available.

The breeder was very responsive and said he was ready to go to his new home. Jill texted with her on Sunday and Monday, and the breeder's husband drove from Virginia to Kansas City and delivered Diddley by Wednesday—just 4 days after I saw the video. It was all very quick. Jill named him Diddley because she already knew Bo was coming home and decided to name them after the singer, Bo Diddley.

Diddley arrived before Bo and before MacGyver, so he has been there this whole time, and I have hidden him from you all. (However, both breeders of Bo and MacGyver knew of his existence.)

Why did I keep it a secret?

Diddley was sick. Very sick, but it didn't happen quickly. He arrived skin and bones—I mean, his body condition was worse than my Charlie's at 17 with kidney disease. It was bad. His coat looked horrible, shaggy and unkempt, and he smelled badly.

Jill took him to our vet's office, but did not see our regular vet. The vet she saw was not concerned about his condition, saying that sometimes kittens can be like that if they are fighting for food with their siblings. She put him on a dewormer, I think.

There were other things, too:

1. He wasn't keen on using the litter box.
2. He had a "yellow-orange" discoloration on his blaze.
3. He wasn't interested in playing.
4. He sat in the middle of their dining area without any concern about her small children or dog.

He was super sweet the first time I met him, head-butting me.

Fast forward: Bo comes home (a month younger, almost twice Diddley's size), and Jill is keeping the kittens separate. After seeing Bo's energy, body condition, and desire to play, Jill realized something must be really wrong with Diddley. She took him back to our vet and saw another veterinarian there, but still not our main one. That doctor was worried about FIP. Diddley had a slight fever and was very underweight for his age. A fecal test, a full blood panel, and an ultrasound were done, but Jill wouldn't have the results until the next day.

We texted that night and Jill said she wanted to take him to the ER to see if they could give her more answers. He was negative for parasites. The ER vet told Jill that the bloodwork from our vet looked good [It did NOT look good], but agreed he wasn't in great shape and suggested following up with an internist—who didn't have an appointment for weeks.

In the meantime, my other cousin (Jill's sister, Mary) had messaged the FIP Warriors Group on Facebook. She sent them his bloodwork and they said, "We see markers consistent with FIP: albumin low, globulin high, total protein high, A/G ratio less than 0.7, anemia, total WBC high, lymphocytes low, neutrophils high." They thought it was dry FIP because there was no fluid in his belly.

That group and both of my cousins' due diligence saved Diddley's life.

Now here's what's really spooky. When Jill and I went to the ER with Huck on March 26th (the day he was ultimately put down), the vet was very suspicious of FIP and also suspicious of cancer. Jill did the FIP test postmortem—they had drawn fluid from Huck's belly when he was alive that they hadn't thrown out, and she asked them to send it in to see if it was positive. It was negative. However, it's just so interesting that Jill got a crash course in FIP the day Huck died, and months later, the cat that resembled Huck would actually have FIP.

The FIP Group on Facebook led my cousin Mary to a veterinarian in Liberty who was very familiar with FIP—she had an FIP cat herself and knew a lot about it. After more ultrasounds and more bloodwork, she was suspicious of a liver shunt or FIP, and couldn't really rule either one out.

To make a long story short, he was treated for FIP. The drug to treat FIP is an antiviral, so it is not harmful to give; if you see changes in the kitten, then more than likely he has FIP and is responding well to it. The drug, GS-441524, is used for feline infectious peritonitis. It is available in oral form to treat the disease and has to be given for 84 days, with the dosage increasing as the kitten's weight increases.

Jill was headed out of town for 10 days, so Mary, my Aunt Jean, and I took over Diddley's care. I fell in love with that cat. What a little fighter he was. And so full of personality. He responded very quickly to the antivirals.

We must have asked that poor vet in the Northland 500 times if it was okay for him to be around Bo and MacGyver. My cousin Mary also asked the FIP Group, and they said that since the virus has mutated, he is not contagious.

Diddley has completed 84 days of treatment and is doing so well. He is a very cool cat. They all are—but he will always have a special place in my heart after watching him fight like he did. I do not believe he would be alive today if he hadn't ended up with my cousin. I also will not be sharing the breeder's name - unless you email and ask me if I think that specific breeder is OK.

I want to talk about how you cannot trust a breeder just because they have a large following. My cousin did share with her that the vets suspected FIP with Diddley and all she said was that it wasn't possible. No concern for his actual well being. Jill probably spent the amount she paid for Diddley and more in finding out what was wrong with him, not to mention all the follow-up visits and more.

I believe with all my heart, Diddley was meant to be my cousin's cat - and hopefully he will also be a learning lesson for us all and a great teacher from that lesson.

I plan on making a video and more, but I was too excited to introduce you to him. More to come on the Did!!

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Have a great week ahead!

Peace, love, and purrs,

Jenny

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