My name is Jakey. I don't remember where or when I was born. I don't even know what they used to call me in my first home - if they called me anything at all. The fact is that the human race has long since attached me to itself by its affection, and that is not to be forgotten. But one day there came a complete upheaval in my life so far - in an instant I was left all alone, out in the open, in unfamiliar surroundings, without my loved ones, without food, without my bed, without everything that had given me a sense of security and home up to that point. Only later did I learn that the haunted forest where I found myself was called Parukářka and was part of Prague 3. This gave me additional reassurance. I soon found out that I was not completely alone here and that there was a regular and well-stocked cafeteria for all the cat wanderers.

  One night in March, I came in again for dinner. Something didn't quite sit right with me then, the bowl was perched in the middle of something strange. I didn't think much of it, I was hungry and mostly in a hurry - you know, spring... But suddenly, snap! And I was caught in some kind of wire trap. Before I could recover, I found myself in vehicle and then in, much larger and comfortably furnished, mini-room. The events went from one to another - I went straight from the new room to the vet's office, and then I was like after a night of party all day long, I was very obnoxious and letting out my terror, even though the new people treated me nice and kind. But I made up my mind and I didn't let those human liars and cheaters near me anymore. They let me stay with them for a couple of nights, let me feed myself enough and then returned me to the place where I was so foolishly caught...When I came back, the other cat boys laughed at me, saying that something was missing from my rear and that I had a comically cut out ear. I guess the nerds didn't notice that they had it just like that too!

 Days and weeks passed and I began to feel lonelier and lonelier in Parukářka... I was desperate. The memory of the kind voice, the warmth and the good food haunted me more and more. One evening I just couldn't take it anymore and I started to insist so much on my feeder that she just grabbed me in her arms and carried me to, well, you know where, where they had recently fed me, talked to me nicely and I wanted nothing to do with them and then I regretted it in the bushes alone... It was a wonderful time! They began to call me Jakub, Kubík, Kubko, Kubiš, Kubín, and because I was always biting someone and being angry, I earned the nickname Jacob the biter I. Yes, I was not an only child, I met many friends who had the same fate as me - abandoned, left behind.

  Only, I got lucky again! Believe it or not, but I, an ordinary spotted cat, one of the many thousands waiting for a permanent home, had captured the attention of another amazing human being. My temporary owner was a little reluctant, worried about me, checking out the new home. And then we were off! There was a great woman waiting for me and a great cat friend/sister, who had a fate much worse than mine - she came from Ukraine, where she lived in one crate with her kittens in a shelter for a month and lost everything and all her loved ones... My aunt from the temporary shelter said to me the words "Jakey, have a nice life!" and she left.

  Well, the new mommy calls me nothing but Jakey bakey. My sister and I are adopted, but it doesn't feel like it, we're just all together, family. We are called "the demolition crew" because we can't see left to right and we've broken a few things while playing. But my mom doesn't get mad at us because she says we're funny.

So the three of us celebrated Christmas together. It was so cool, under the tree that all three of us decorated together we had a windowsill mat, the exact same one we already have because my sister and I used to boop each other over it, so now we each have our own. There were some strange things on the tree, ornaments, I think, that my sister and I secretly played with. But the best thing was - instead of half pack of wet food a day, we now both got a whole one! Now, to be fair, I always got more than my sister, because I would finish it off after her - even now! So I had a pouch and a little bit more! Awesome!

  It was just a few days after Christmas Eve that I started to feel weird. It hurt to jump up on the bed to my mom, and when she put me on the bed, it hurt to jump off. So the very next day she shoved me into that plastic abomination and took me out at the doctor's!!! I didn't like that at all. The doctor said it was probably my back that was hurting from the frolicking with my sister, so ironically he gave me another pain, a „painkiller shot“, pffft, to make it stop hurting. Only I got worse a few days later. I couldn't go to the toilet and my mum was worried it was the wet food pouches she gave me. I tried to convince her like no, making sure she saw I was still eating so she wouldn't stop giving them to me... But it didn't go so well. I started to feel really sick. I didn't want my mom to see, so I started hiding from her. When she saw me, I made a charade, like everything's fine, just didn't want her to put me in that plastic thing again. But my mom saw through it and started worrying about me again, so she just shoved me in the plastic thing again. And I showed up at the doctor!!!! again.

  But this time something bad happened. The doctor covered my tummy with something cold and then moved this weird thing around on it. He swore (you don't do that!) and then said I had wet FIP. I don't know what it is, but my mom immediately started crying. How awkward...

  And Mommy didn't stop crying the next day. She was constantly texting and calling and cuddling with me, which I didn't feel comfortable with because she was all snotty, yuck. And what did she do? Well, she shoved me in that plastic thing again!!!! 

  This time we went somewhere else and a nice female doctor took care of me. She immediately told me I was Lemon, so I frowned at her, because I am Kubíček (Jakey). But she said it was because I'd turned yellow. My mom cried again, how embarassing, really. The doctor was very nice at first, showing me things, letting me smell them to see if it was all right. That's what I like, making sure things are in order. But then the bad things started. They shaved off a horrible haircut on my tummy, really awkward, so now my tummy is now cold all the time, plus they put that weird moving thing on it again. Then they even shaved a spot on my paw, stuck a needle in it and started squeezing blood out of me!!! Who does that?!

  I thought it couldn't get any worse, but then the doctor gave me an injection that hurt and burned so bad. Mom held me the whole time, so I clung to her and looked up at her with my big, scared eyes. Mommy had a horrible snot and when I meowed to tell her how much it hurt, she hugged me even tighter and gave me kisses, but I know she just wiped the snot on my fur. I thought we were going to go back home, but just as I was being shoved back into the crate, mom said goodbye to me. I didn't understand why, I didn't want her to leave me. I was so scared... and so was mom.

  I spent the night alone, without my mom, without my sister, I wasn’t cuddling in bed with them like I'm used to. I had a thing stuck in my paw and I wished so badly I could go home. Fortunately, that came true the very next evening. Then we just played, and I showed my mom that I was better and she didn't have to worry about me anymore. But she still took me back to the doctor for that horribly painful injection. I cried again from the pain, and mom cried again when I looked at her.

  I was proving to mom more and more each day that she didn't have to worry about me because I was feeling much better, despite the daily stressful trips to the doctor for the painful and burning injection. My mom and my sister and everyone around me were so happy about it. But then I got sick again one morning, I couldn't breathe....

  I'm told I now have a lot of tests, a lot of pills that I don't like swallowing so much, and still some of those horribly painful and burning injections that always make me and mum cry ahead of me. But I have faith that I will make it through and get better. I believe that I will be able to sleep in bed with my mom again, run around with my sister and break things in the process, finish my sister's wet food, and attack the legs that are hanging out from under the covers. Unlike mommy, I'm a strong cat, not a crybaby. I'm fighting for my life and I'm not giving up!

  Mom was always the one who tried to help and donate to those in need. But my treatment is going to be very expensive. Since it is an experimental treatment here in the Czech Republic, the medication I will now be taking daily for several weeks can only be bought abroad and therefore cannot be funded by fundraising. What can be funded, however, are supportive medications, of which there are goint to be loads and loads, vitamins, very expensive check-ups and hospitalisations, litter, disinfectants, transport fees to all those doctors and most importantly, dry food, wet food and my beloved "yummies". 

  If you've made it this far with my story, I I know t would just like to say that FIP is no fun, but treatment is now possible. I know that there are many (not only) cats with similar fates, but I so badly wish I could celebrate that Christmas with my sister and mom again.

Thank you for every coin and xoxo! Your Jakey Bakey